On the ground or in the air. Both work & it depends on you.

It's an eternal question that is always being contemplated by bow hunters. Which is best: hunting on the ground or up in an elevated coop or tree stand.

An elevated coop or a tree stand wins me over every time. I like the increased visibility that hunting from a tree provides, and I'm not bothered by height except in a high wind. After many years of experience, my preference is for a stand at about 15 feet. Going higher can increase the chance of a fatal fall.

Many hunters prefer hunting from a cedar or pine tree, and if I have a choice, it's one or the other for me. However, I often hunt from maple trees. There are a lot of maples on my property, and my first decision is where is the best stand location?

Personal preference plays a big role on how you bow hunt for deer.

If a cedar or pine offers the best spot to ambush a moving buck, that's where I will hunt. However, if the key area to ambush a whitetail is from a maple tree, you'll find me up one of them. Trees make little difference to me but location, as with real estate, is everything.

Some stands are permanent wood platforms and others are more confined. Some are ladder stands, and others are fixed-position stands that I reach by going up limbs or tree steps. It makes little difference to me: I go where the deer want to go.

It doesn't take much room to shoot a deer from a tree providing the stand is properly positioned and downwind of the deer travel route. The trees on my land are there to provide possible stand locations, and although it's not legal on state or federal land, I nail or use sturdy screws to hold my permanent tree stands in place.

I have a few places where a big stand isn't feasible, and some of them are no more than two halves of a sheet of marine plywood painted gray or dark brown. A narrow platform just big enough to sit down on is nailed to the tree, the two side panels are nailed or screwed into place and a narrow piece of plywood serves as a roof. These stands are narrow at the end where people enter the stand and slightly wider where they will sit or stand to shoot.

Deer seldom pay attention to them, and they are very productive if the hunter can sit still. They are not made for a claustrophobic person, however.

All of my stands, at home and elsewhere that I hunt, are strategically placed, and some designs are unlike any I've seen before. Some stand outside in the rain and snow, and we check them two or three times each year to determine if they are still reliable and safe.

Any stand that is no longer safe is torn down. I'm not a risk-taker, and if I won't hunt from a stand, no one else will hunt there. Such stands are quickly slated for demolition.

Take down any unsafe tree stand.

Hunting from a tree stand appeals to me. It's possible to see deer come from many different routes, and it allows hunters to study the animals as they approach the area. Some deer dash right in, others come cautiously and slow, and a few wise old does and big bucks often try to slip in on the downwind side to check for potential danger.

Some hunters dislike shooting down at an angle toward a deer. It is a part of hunting that must be practiced, and years ago, I would get with someone else and take turns on the ground. One would position a target at varying distances and angles, and the person in the tree would shoot a dozen arrows. He would climb down and we would change jobs. Frequent practice at shooting from a tree stand makes handling these shots as routine as ground-level shots.

Tell your friends, neighbors and relatives about my weblog. I plan to do this for a long time, and am willing to share my knowledge of what works and why it works for me. Do them a favor and give them my weblog address.

I'm a realist. Ground blind hunting can be very productive, especially in places where almost everyone hunts from a tree. I've preached the use of safety harnesses when hunting from an elevated position, but there are still people who feel wearing a "sissy" harness isn't for them. A doctor friend of my buddy learned a sad lesson this fall he fell and broke both legs, and was very luck it wasn't his back or neck.

Let's face it: some people are NOT meant to hunt from high places.

For such people, it's my personal recommendation to hunt from a ground blind. Believe me, I've been in and out of ground blinds and pit blinds all of my life, and have yet to see anyone get busted up by falling out of a ground blind.

Use the same logic when choosing a ground blind location. The proper spot is everything, and it must be downwind of where deer travel. It's possible to make a ground blind almost air-tight by installing slide-open windows. The glass can be covered with camo cloth or painted to eliminate the shine, and a motionless hunter is nearly impossible to see when sitting in a darkened hunting coop with the walls painted dark brown or black.

I favor ground blinds in windy weather or when it is cold, rainy or snowing. Properly positioned, a ground blind can blend in with root-wads of fallen trees, against a backdrop of standing corn or in an oak forest.

Everyone has their own likes or dislikes. Whether you hunt from a tree or from the ground, just remember to have the wind in your face, don't move until its time to shoot, and when you shoot, shoot once and shoot straight. And don't miss.

Big bucks  don’t show up often but hunters must learn every stand location.

A friend of mine used to hunt 300 acres. He had a dozen tree stands and ground blinds scattered around in key spots.

He could hunt a different stand each day, and often did the first year of his lease. He then invited one or two others to hunt with he and his wife, and while he and his wife hunted every day, he always felt sorry for his invited guests.

Sometimes there would be six people hunting, and only five stands were right for the prevailing wind. Guess who sat out that day's hunt? You got it. The man that paid the lease fee.

The hunter soon cut down on the number of guest so he could hunt.

Sometimes hunters hunted from stands if the wind was wrong. He told them to not hunt rather than to risk spooking deer, but they hunted anyway and ruined that stand for the rest of the season.

It got to the point where most of the stands were rendered useless because the hunters couldn't sit still, would arrive late and leave early, and the bottom line was the deer had patterned them rather than the other way around.

One man apparently thought deer were deaf, and talked loudly.If he had to pick up his wife, he would talk to her on the way in and out.

My friend finally told them they had only two stands to hunt. It didn't take long for those stands to get burned, and their hunting success fell off.

Which leads, in a somewhat indirect way to tonight's question How often should you hunt a stand?

My buddy, noted above, never spooked a deer when he hunted a different stand each night. He had two or three entrance and exit routes, and if the wind was wrong, he wouldn't hunt. He never spooked deer, and he always saw nice bucks.

So what is the difference? One person is more cautious when approaching a stand, and they do so quietly. He is hunting by himself so there is no need to talk to anyone. He slips in, slips out, and arrives and departs by a different route every time he hunted.

He had a favorite stand, and hunted it only a few times each season. It was his ace in the hole, and it always paid off with a good buck.

Always have at least two ways in and out of a hunting stand.

If he got pinned down by deer at the end of shooting time he would wait until the deer moved off. He would take his arrow off the string when shooting time ended, put the arrow in the quiver and wait out the deer.

A famous writer from many years ago once wrote: One boy is all boy; two boys is half a boy, and three boys is no boy at all. This translates into one person, hunting alone, can be the supreme predator. Two people make twice as much noise, give off twice the scent, and make mistakes. Three people become a crowd and shouldn't be hunting together. One person, hunting alone, is more effective.

So, how often should a stand be hunted? It depends. If a hunter has only one 20-acre spot to hunt, he will probably have to hunt that one location, but it would be best to hunt it only under ideal conditions.

Much depends on the lay of the land, but a 40-acre spot may offer two or even three stands widely spaced apart. If that is the case, hunt them every three days, and sit out one night.

Back to my friend on 300 acres with a dozen stands. His favorite tree stand was seldom hunted, so 11 other stands afforded him a good chance to move around and hunt other areas. Granted, not everyone has 300 acres to play with.

Learn how to hunt each area well & it will make you a better hunter.

He would hunt them all, and start over again, and he always knew which stands had bucks coming to them and when they would appear. If he had someone who really wanted to kill a buck, he would stick them in the stand early, tell them where the buck would come from and when it would arrive, to always be ready and the hunter would shoot it.

The trick is to never overhunt a stand. Move around if possible, and if it's not possible, hunt just three or four days a week. Never hunt the same stand two nights in a row, and always approach a stand from a different direction. Avoid being patterned by deer.

Overhunting a stand will kill it faster than anything else. Always give a stand a day or two break, at a minimum, and use every ounce of skill you possess while approaching, sitting in or leaving a stand. Doing so, time after time, will help make that stand pay off.

Just don't get over-confident, and hunt the same stand all the time. Do so, and the deer will soon program you and hunters won't see as many deer.

TITLE: Learn how to hunt several blinds for various wind directions.

Tags: ((Dave, Richey, Michigan, outdoors, learn, travel, routes, blind, locations, program, deer, don’t, be, programed))

An uncovered haybale blind and covered one.

It’s time for a quick question and answer session. What is the warmest blind for winter deer hunting?

The deadliest and most unconventional but warmest blind in the deer hunting woods seems to have escaped the attention of many hunters. At first guess, many late November and December hunters feel a heated on-the-ground or elevated stand is best.

Not to my way of thinking. For my money, a hay-bale blind beats whatever else comes in second-place. It has many advantages, and one disadvantage. Hunters afflicted with hay fever shouldn't hunt from a hay-bale blind.

Haybale blinds are great for coyoe, deer and fox hunting.

These blinds are like dipping snuff. It can leave you rather sneezy, but you won’t be sold.

The solid points in favor of these blinds are many and all are valid. Here are solid reasons to use such a blind.

1. Hay-bale blinds can be constructed from big round bales or the smaller and more manageable rectangular bales.

2. A round bale blind is made by putting two round bales together at an angle to form a capital "V". Put a sheet of one-inch marine plywood over the top, and stack six or eight rectangular bales on top to provide a warm and dry roof over your head.

3. Hatbake blinds can be made without a top although there is a slightly greater chance of deer or predators catching your scent when hunting from an uncovered blind.

• The trip here is to stay back in the shadows to remain hidden.
• I always wear a face mask and brown Jersey gloves.
• Avoid movement when hunting haybale blinds because often are close.

4. A rectangular blind requires quite a few rectangular bales.

• Pile as many bales up on the left and right sides, and behind you, and put a chair inside to sit on.
• Stack the bales at least two high in the front, and leave just enough room to crawl over and to shoot through.
• Cover the top with plywood and more bales, and you are set.
  • The disadvantage of this blind is if one or two bales get bumped, the blind can fall like a house of cards.

Hunters stay back from shooting window.

Of the two, my favorite is made of two round bales. Five minutes with a tractor to move the two round bales together, laying a sheet of plywood on top and several rectangular bales on top and in front to form a shooting window, and the blind is completed.

Any hay blind placed early in the fall in a key location where deer regularly travel will pay off when November and December rolls around. The deer get used to it, and by the time the winter archery season rolls around, it will entice deer to your area.

Key spots for a hay-bale blind is near the edge of a cornfield, in an open field where two or more trails converge, or back in the woods where a good trail carries a great deal of deer traffic. Wooded hay-bale blinds are much more difficult to construct. Most people place them in open fields or close to heavy cover.

Put haybale blinds in key locations and don’t near them until hunting season.

5. This blind is warm. Unless the shooting window faces directly into the wind, this is the warmest blind possible. Wet hay builds a certain amount of heat, and hunters can stay warm in the most brutal weather.

Human odor isn't a problem with hay blinds. The heavier odor of hay serves to cover human odor inside the blind.

6. Of major importance to me, and to others who use such blinds, is they offer straight-out, horizontal shots at whitetails. There is none of the problems of shooting downward while sitting or standing in a cold tree stand or elevated coop, and deer often walk within six feet of a hay-bale blind. The shots can be easy to make unless the hunter suffers from buck fever.

The hay absorbs almost any noise. I've coughed, sneezed, and done other noisy things in a hay-bale blind without having nearby deer hear it. Of course, any movement visible through the narrow shooting window can be seen.

Deer often take three or four days, and sometimes as much as a week, to become accustomed to the blind. Even though it’s best to put hay-bale blinds in place early, it can be done anytime.

If I were a hunter with a new hay blind, I would not sit in it for a week. The one exception to that would be if a major winter storm was due to hit that morning or evening. Every deer in the area will be on the prowl before the storm hit, and I'd suggest being in the new stand early before a storm hits.

If snow falls before the deer move, so much the better. It will help cover any human scent, and it can produce the occasional big buck.

Hay-bale blinds are not difficult to make, and they provide everything a December bow hunter could want:

• no scent
• being as warm as toast
• good visibility when properly placed

Winter deer hunting just doesn't get much better than that. An added bonus is that these blinds are great places to call coyotes and foxes.

Two type of hay-bale blinds. Usually the hunter sets farther  back in each one.

A hay-bale blind is warm as toast as long as the wind doesn’t blow in.

Place hay-bale blinds close to a food source such as a corn field near a trail.

These blinds produce heat and absorb most small noises.

A buck like the one on the right was my goal today.

The northwest corner of the Lower Peninsula has a shortage of deer.

Is a return to limited baiting on tap for next year. It does draw more hunters.

RIGHT SCENT

The hunting world is filled with things that are supposed to help eliminate human odor, and help make a hunter scent-free. It’s my intent every time I hunt big game to be as scent-free as possible.

I also make every attempt to be downwind of where the bear, caribou, deer or whatever game I’m hunting will travel. Sometimes it’s easier said than done, but before I go any further in this discourse, I’ll state that even though it is important to be scent-free, it’s much more important to be downwind of the game, and know how to sit still and control your movements while on stand.

Years ago I smoked cigarettes. Nasty habit, I know, but there it is. The world is filled with former cigarette smokers. Smoke is an odor or scent, but guess what? During my smoking days I shot six bears, many whitetail bucks and a few moose while smoking. What spooks game for smokers is the constant hand-to-mouth movements.

That’s a true fact. On many occasions, I’d sit my smoke aside, draw, aim and shoot one of the above animals. The smoke was drifting around, and in several cases, it was blowing directly to the animal. The critter would walk in, pay little or no attention to the smoke or the accompanying human scent, and putz around for a few minutes before giving me a broadside or quartering-away shot.

How can this be? It flies in the face of common belief that game will spook at the first sniff of human odor and that smoking hunters will be pinpointed immediately. That may be true for wilderness deer, but where most people hunt on a regular basis, deer are accustomed to smoke from a wood fire, burning leaves, and cigarette smoke.

I quit the cigarettes many years ago, feel no different for having quit, and hunt avidly. I own one old and raggedy Scent-Lok suit, an old Scent Blocker suit, and using Scent Eliminator, Scent Shield, Vanishing Hunter and other sprays whenever I hunt.

Does this clothing and sprays help? I honestly think so. Are these carbon laden clothing and scent eliminating sprays the complete answer? Absolutely not.

SCENT REVELATION

So what is? Hunters would be better served by believing in themselves, believing in their scent-free clothing and scent eliminating sprays, and the most important point of all. They must believe in their ability to be downwind of game.

The wind must be in your favor to be successful. Go back to the note above about shooting bears and deer while smoking. All of those animals were shot within 15 yards and two or the bears were within 10 feet when I shot. The truth of the matter was that I was downwind of the animal, sitting motionless and silent, and could control my nerves as I waited for the animal to offer a good killing shot.

Those three factors – being downwind, sitting still and knowing when to draw my bow – were the main ingredients in this hunting success stew. I suspect that wearing scent-free clothing or soaking yourself in scent eliminating spray would help, but conquering those three key factors have long been the keys to my hunting success.

Those products named above are fine, and I wear them and use the sprays. I also spray my tree stand, the ladder steps, my hat, gloves, clothing and rubber boots to further enhance the possibilities of success, but most of all, I play the wind like a fine violin.

One area I hunt is relatively small, and getting to the three elevated coops, four ladder stands and one pit blind really boils down to knowing the wind and knowing which stand will produce best in certain winds. The stands are approached from downwind, which incidentally is downwind of where the deer come from.

SCENT SENSE

Famous deer hunter Claude Pollington of Marion, Michigan, once showed me how to really keep track of the wind direction. Many people carry little squeeze bottle of (hopefully) unscented talcum powder but it quickly dissipates in the air. Instead, get milkweed pods, wrap rubber bands around them and set them aside for a year to dry. Pull out one or two of the dried seed filaments, and set them adrift on the breeze.

Crawl up into a stand, and repeat the process. If the filaments, which are easy for me to see out to nearly 20 yards, drift toward where the deer will be coming from, try to find another stand in a different area. The milkweed filaments from inside the dried pod will drift on the slightest breeze, and this is especially true when you can’t feel a breeze.

The weed seeds and fibers are free, and one or two pods will last the average hunter a full season of steady hunting. Get in the habit of releasing a couple every 15 minutes to test the wind. If it shifts direction, as frequently happens, get out of the tree so you won’t spook incoming deer and render that spot useless for the rest of the season.

Many people pick a spot that looks good without checking the wind, and they may spook unseen deer. A night without seeing deer (if you are in a good deer area) means they’ve scented or seen the hunter moving.

Never go hunting without checking the wind. To do so is to court failure. Once a deer sees or smells you, you’ve just educated those animals to your location. An educated buck or doe is far more difficult to hunt in the future. Just remember that the wind can be your enemy or your friend, and it all depends on how you play the breeze.