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What to do with stand after you get busted in it?

goosifer

By goosifer,
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goosifer Enthusiast

goosifer

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So when you are in a stationary treestand and a deer busts you, what do you do with the stand afterwards? Just not use it for a few days? Don't use it for the rest of the season? Keep using it as you like, depending on wind, unless/until you get busted again or see deer looking up at you, then quit for the season? I am curious as to how others handle this type of situation, especially given gun season hasn't even started yet. Thanks.

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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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It happened to me last year, on this very week.  On the Saturday morning before gun-season, I got busted 7 feet up in a hang-on stand, by a big buck that came in from down-wind as I was drinking hot cider from a shiney chrome cup.  I thought the crunching I heard in the leaves, 20 yards behind me, was "just another squirrel".   When I turned around, I saw him there.  He was looking right at me and that cup, with those big black eyes and magnificent, high-tined 8-point, 3.5 year old antlers.  I stood there completely helpless, holding the cider cup, as my crossbow hung on a hook. He walked off, into some heavy cover.

About an hour later, I removed that hang-on stand from the tree it was in.   I moved it a few hundred yards in the direction where I last saw that buck.   That is where I was the following Saturday, with my Marlin m512 slug-gun and its old beat-up Bushnell Banner 4x scope.   Just after sunrise, I saw three small-bodied deer that were too far away to shoot at or identify clearly.   It was a cold morning, and I drank my first cup of hot cider, soon after they disappeared.

The big guy must have really liked apples.  Just after I replaced the cup on the thermos, I heard a branch break far off in the down-wind direction.   Looking over there, I saw a large-bodied deer moving thru the brush on the edge of a swamp.   Clearly he had a decent rack and was "a shooter" for me which means at least three points on a side.   I fired my first shot, from about 100 yards away, when he reached an opening.  He kept walking and stopped right behind a clump of trees.   

I held my gun on that clump for what seemed like 10 minutes, until he finally stepped out.  My second shot broke his back, and put him down on it.  I saw a hoof twitching, up in the air, and figured he was done for.  I had to get around some deep swamp water, to get to where he was. I was not exactly sure I was in the right spot, until I saw him lift that big, high-tined rack up with his front legs.   I gave him a third slug, to the neck, from point-blank range.

As it turned out, this was the same buck from the week before, but he had lost a couple of his tines and was now a busted-up 6 point, 42" chest girth, 182 pounds field-dressed.  I called my brother on the phone and he brought a big plastic toboggan that we used to float him across the deep part of the swamp, from the little island on which he died. 

I left that stand right where it was and have not hunted out of it during archery season this year.  I did see a big buck heading towards it from another stand last Saturday.  I know where I will be on opening day morning this year.  I feel pretty good about my chances.   My shots ought to be truer, with a nice new Redfield scope mounted on the old Marlin.                  

  

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DDT Enthusiast

DDT

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24 minutes ago, turkeyfeathers said:

I’d think if it’s a great buck you have your sights set on and he busts you move it somewhere else on the travel corridor. Any other deer busts you leave it   They’re not going to the local pub and say hey did you see that guy in the tree to one another 

They may not say hey look at that guy in the tree, but all it takes is one doe to display body language and skirt around the tree/area to alert Mr Buck who's following her. Just my take on it. Evey little thing that makes a deer go on alert can't scare the deer out of the woods either or where would they be able to live.

I keep a spare stand ready to put up if needed. I would try not to make the extra ruckus taking one down to move it during season. Or use my climber if I want to make an adjustment to location.  

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TreeGuy Rising Star

TreeGuy

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If your that sketched out, and it's a mature buck that's "been around" hang another stand close by and only hunt it with a perfect wind scenario. He will prob rely on his nose, and come down wind of that stand if he doesn't actually look up to see if there's something out of place. Ask me how I know.....

If you got busted by a doe, don't worry about it. They are gonna stick to their travel routes and right now they are either trying to hide and breed, or run and hide to not be bred, or just doing the normal routine.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

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Zag Rising Star

Zag

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Is it a permanent stand or a ladder stand? 

So I use ladder stands, sometimes I cut branches from maple or hemlock trees and nail them around to add cover around me. I've also ran 3 pieces of 2x4 around the front and sides of the ladder stand. Heights so when I'm sitting I can rest my elbow/arms on. Then I cut 2 small trees and tie those from the ground to the 2x4s then nail branches all around the outside of the 2x4s for cover. That's my preferred method of doing it, this way it also covers my legs when standing and I can move my arms and I'm fairly covered.

PS nail some branches around ya and keep hunting it.

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nyslowhand Enthusiast

nyslowhand

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Any one that can predict a whitetail's behavior regarding being spotted in a stand, please inform me. After almost 60yrs of chasing deer, all I know is to expect the unexpected. Each individual deer will react somewhat differently to being spooked. From simply walking thru or away to blowing and skirting around the stand to bounding off with tails up! Clearly they'll react differently to simply seeing a motionless & usual blob (you) 15' up in a tree as opposed to seeing your movements to seeing something not normally encountered (shiny cup). Just when you think they're way too smart to return to that area after being spooked, here they come again!

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Steuben Jerry Proficient

Steuben Jerry

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I leave my stands pretty much in the same spots year after year. I've been busted and then shot one minutes later. I've been busted and then not seen a deer all day from that stand. We still use 'em.

Two years ago I shot a buck from a certain stand, took care of it within 50 yds and got the tractor back there to take it out. Deer busted me several times through the process. Snorting blowing, etc. That same afternoon my daughter took a buck from that stand, and the next morning my wife took a buck from the same stand overlooking two gut piles within 100 yds. The seat in that stand never got cold!

Last year we drew cards for who gets it first. No deer were taken from it - lol.

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goosifer Enthusiast

goosifer

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12 hours ago, DDT said:

They may not say hey look at that guy in the tree, but all it takes is one doe to display body language and skirt around the tree/area to alert Mr Buck who's following her. Just my take on it. Evey little thing that makes a deer go on alert can't scare the deer out of the woods either or where would they be able to live.

I keep a spare stand ready to put up if needed. I would try not to make the extra ruckus taking one down to move it during season. Or use my climber if I want to make an adjustment to location.  

Good points. Yes, if it had been a lead doe, I would be much more concerned about the viability of the stand. I don't think bucks are as helpful to the community. I remember reading how bucks don't tail flap as much as does do, they just run away tail down.

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goosifer Enthusiast

goosifer

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11 hours ago, TreeGuy said:

If your that sketched out, and it's a mature buck that's "been around" hang another stand close by and only hunt it with a perfect wind scenario. He will prob rely on his nose, and come down wind of that stand if he doesn't actually look up to see if there's something out of place. Ask me how I know.....

If you got busted by a doe, don't worry about it. They are gonna stick to their travel routes and right now they are either trying to hide and breed, or run and hide to not be bred, or just doing the normal routine.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk
 

There is another stand nearby, facing N instead of W, that has not yet been hunted. That corner/edge of the woods always gets a lot of traffic. We'll see.

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goosifer Enthusiast

goosifer

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11 hours ago, Bigbuckdown2019 said:

Is it a permanent stand or a ladder stand? 

So I use ladder stands, sometimes I cut branches from maple or hemlock trees and nail them around to add cover around me. I've also ran 3 pieces of 2x4 around the front and sides of the ladder stand. Heights so when I'm sitting I can rest my elbow/arms on. Then I cut 2 small trees and tie those from the ground to the 2x4s then nail branches all around the outside of the 2x4s for cover. That's my preferred method of doing it, this way it also covers my legs when standing and I can move my arms and I'm fairly covered.

PS nail some branches around ya and keep hunting it.

Could you share a pic when you get a chance, that sounds interesting. sounds like building a blind around the frame of the treestand.

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goosifer Enthusiast

goosifer

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56 minutes ago, GreeneHunter said:

Use a ground blind for a few days at least 100 yards away from that stand , the deer who busted you will look up for a couple of days and see nothing up there !

I remember reading a story about a guy who had a climber that he'd leave at the bottom of the tree. trail cams would indicate target deer passing by, yet when he was in the stand he'd never see anything. Changed cam angles, and basically figured out that the deer would look at the climber on the ground. If it saw it down, it'd pass, if it didn't see it, it wouldn't. Accurate or coincidence, I don't know. Along those lines, I've always wondered if it would be worth it to put camo manniquens/inflatable doll (sp?) in the stand year round so the deer would get used to seeing a big blob in the stand.

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DDT Enthusiast

DDT

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17 minutes ago, goosifer said:

I remember reading a story about a guy who had a climber that he'd leave at the bottom of the tree. trail cams would indicate target deer passing by, yet when he was in the stand he'd never see anything. Changed cam angles, and basically figured out that the deer would look at the climber on the ground. If it saw it down, it'd pass, if it didn't see it, it wouldn't. Accurate or coincidence, I don't know. Along those lines, I've always wondered if it would be worth it to put camo manniquens/inflatable doll (sp?) in the stand year round so the deer would get used to seeing a big blob in the stand.

I have a friend who has a couple of places that he uses dummies wearing his old clothes which he changes out to keep his scent. Some scaffolding in a hedge row that he has a dummy in and a chair in a food plot. He puts the dummy in the weeds when he hunts those. Says it works. 

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