Blockade

[Familytradition]

What do use to block the deer from walking right up to your stand? Not really looking for answers like logs or fencing. Should like to have a plant that has some wildlife value, just maybe not in October or November. Gigantus? Some sort of screen hedge? I have full sunlight and wouldn’t want it to spread to the field too.


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[j-bird]

Can you describe the situation a little better? It sounds like you are sitting on a field or plot right on the edge and deer (curious does) are getting right to your stand and then spook and are them alerting the other deer.....and your getting frustrated. Is that about right? If that is the case I would do 2 things. #1 - if possible back into the cover 10 yards or so. I always prefer to have some trees between me and where I expect the deer to be. It helps create some shadows and helps hide the hunter some. #2 - building a small "buffer" if you will, can help as well.....nothing significant just something to nudge the deer that extra 10 yards or so. You can do this with a planting or some other means. I like dropping a big tree top and dragging it into the location. This will push the deer out and mother nature will fill in the rest. MG could very well do the trick as well, just remember the height that you would need to shoot over (considering archery equipment) could push the deer out further than you may like.

if you need screening that is one thing, but if your just trying to bump those deer out another 10 yards.....just making it difficult for them to walk in that area will "train" them somewhat. Even just a tree top to each side of the stand will do it. See my diagram below. The thin black line is the deer travel path and the red is your stand position. The brown can be tree tops or even MG clumps that simply nudge those deer out a bit and still give you a nice shooting window.



Maybe this is what your after....maybe I'm reading the question all wrong.....just trying to help.

 

[Familytradition]

Can you describe the situation a little better? It sounds like you are sitting on a field or plot right on the edge and deer (curious does) are getting right to your stand and then spook and are them alerting the other deer.....and your getting frustrated. Is that about right? If that is the case I would do 2 things. #1 - if possible back into the cover 10 yards or so. I always prefer to have some trees between me and where I expect the deer to be. It helps create some shadows and helps hide the hunter some. #2 - building a small "buffer" if you will, can help as well.....nothing significant just something to nudge the deer that extra 10 yards or so. You can do this with a planting or some other means. I like dropping a big tree top and dragging it into the location. This will push the deer out and mother nature will fill in the rest. MG could very well do the trick as well, just remember the height that you would need to shoot over (considering archery equipment) could push the deer out further than you may like.

if you need screening that is one thing, but if your just trying to bump those deer out another 10 yards.....just making it difficult for them to walk in that area will "train" them somewhat. Even just a tree top to each side of the stand will do it. See my diagram below. The thin black line is the deer travel path and the red is your stand position. The brown can be tree tops or even MG clumps that simply nudge those deer out a bit and still give you a nice shooting window.

View attachment 10259

Maybe this is what your after....maybe I'm reading the question all wrong.....just trying to help.

You understand the situation exactly. Things I didn’t add. I wouldn’t sit in this open pole sized poplar for a million dollars. Last year this tree was 15 yards in the woods, but those trees were in the way. I would love to feather the edge with some fallen trees, but if I put tree tops in this family member’s foodplot there will be hell to pay. That family member insisted on planting turnips in a poor area of the plot. I know what needs done, but I will have to sell this one. The area is far too open to have 6 does millling around for an hour and one of them not spotting you. If you hunt this location with a west wind, then you have no worries. When you push it with south winds is the problem. I want deer to walk west as quickly as possible.


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[j-bird]

Time to get creative then with your cover. Your going to think I am crazy.....because I am. But get you a climber and cut some cedar, pine, beech, oak anything that will hold its leaves and pull those pieces up into other trees to provide you some cover....in front of or behind your stand. I have even strung clothesline wire or 2x4's from one tree to another and then hung branches on it to get the cover how I wanted it. Where there is a will there is a way. You could even do it with the camo burlap they sell - it's not as "natural" but as long as it works who cares! As for as on the ground is concerned - for some reason deer don;t seem to like snow fence. Menards even has it in a dark green color.....get a few T posts and go just tall enough to where the deer can't see over it and they will more than likely go around. Again - may not look pretty, but if it does the job....again who cares. Heck you could even use that and string it up in the trees to help create you some cover. I'm all about function first.....do what you gotta do!

 

[Mennoniteman]

Planting a tight patch of sorghum in front of your tree in early summer gives you a cheap, easy to modify six to eight ft high buffer zone. My experience is that deer will stay out of tall sorghum under normal circumstances.

 

[catscratch]

I'm a fan of hunting from the ground if I can't find the right tree to put a stand in. My two most prevalent reasons for a ground blind are: an open canopy where you get pegged easily, and to deal with wind direction where a suitable tree isn't in the right spot. I don't like hunting from tents much but dragging some brush around combined with a little camo netting can open up a lot of opportunities. It's just a thought... seems a lot of people get stuck in the tree stand mentality and forget that the ground is an option. Hope this helps.

 

[Mennoniteman]

I'm a fan of hunting from the ground if I can't find the right tree to put a stand in. My two most prevalent reasons for a ground blind are: an open canopy where you get pegged easily, and to deal with wind direction where a suitable tree isn't in the right spot. I don't like hunting from tents much but dragging some brush around combined with a little camo netting can open up a lot of opportunities. It's just a thought... seems a lot of people get stuck in the tree stand mentality and forget that the ground is an option. Hope this helps.

Every year I plan to take a deer from the ground but usually don't get it done although I've done exactly what you said, a little brush and cutting at a strategic location can get you in a better spot if there's no trees available. Taking a deer indian style with just a bow in hand and no blind whatsoever is what I see as being a real challenge though.

 

[catscratch]

Every year I plan to take a deer from the ground but usually don't get it done although I've done exactly what you said, a little brush and cutting at a strategic location can get you in a better spot if there's no trees available. Taking a deer indian style with just a bow in hand and no blind whatsoever is what I see as being a real challenge though.

Give it shot Minnoniteman, it's not as hard as many make it out to be. Just takes a little planning.
Here are a couple of pics from my hunt from the ground Saturday morning. I didn't shoot anything but neither the deer or the yote pegged me. They both could have been shot.

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[j-bird]

I will support Cat in hunting deer from the ground. I will also say that IF you can get some elevation advantage that works in your favor big time as well.

The first deer I EVER killed was with my compound....on the ground....no blind. Only advantage I had was I was higher up the steep hill than she was so I had lots of backcover and was out of her direct line of sight. I cleared the ground in front of the stump I was sitting on to eliminate any noise ahead of time. I was shaking like a leaf.....I shake like that in public and somebody will think I am having a seizure! She looked out towards the cut corn field (and 180 degrees away from me) and I raised my bow, drew and let fly. I had a whole lot of luck on my side that morning!!! Later I learned about thermals and how being higher up the hill in the morning as the air warmed was helping carry my scent away from her as well.

 

[catscratch]

Jbird brings up a good point. While I say "go for it" I'm leaving out a bazillion things such as elevation, backlighting, thermals, etc that I pay very close attention to. It would take a book to write down all the little crap that concerns me and my little brain while setting up for a hunt.

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[Familytradition]

Jbird brings up a good point. While I say "go for it" I'm leaving out a bazillion things such as elevation, backlighting, thermals, etc that I pay very close attention to. It would take a book to write down all the little crap that concerns me and my little brain while setting up for a hunt.

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I agree. I’m a perfectionist when comes to hunting setups and things I don’t like drive me nuts. This for a stand that my dad hunts. I would move it, but he won’t. I would change the location of certain foods in the plot, the location of the stand, and I would have left more cover. I’m trying to help, but I need things that he will want near him. He hates hinging, using up foodplot space, and sorghum. He has to get the deer to move from the northeast to the west as quickly as possible. If hang out there he is asking for trouble. Been busted too many times.


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[j-bird]

Sounds like he pretty much has his mind set. Good luck changing that! Sometimes you have to let it be his idea.... pushing just makes them dig in their heals that much more.

This may be a little sneaky - but what if you intentionally fertilized only the areas of the plot you wanted the deer to be maybe on that west side so the deer don't linger much in other areas of the plot but simply cut across to get to the "better" stuff. May not keep him from getting busted, but it may help move the deer where you want them. Just a thought.

 

[Familytradition]

Here is a screen shot from a video he took this weekend. This is the deer that would eventually bust him. There were 6 feeding around him. They cross the lane onto our property, mill around the turnips, then walk right down that edge. Now the redbud in the picture is gone.

I don’t like the food on the edges anyway, but it a powerline cut and one of our only flat areas. I want to build a fence down the property line, turn the turn ups to cover or some our summer food, and make blockade.


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[j-bird]

That red bud was his friend and he didn't know it. He should have found a way to pull some cut cedars up into that redbud and make holes in it so he could see the deer and get drawn as they moved towards him. Once they got past that cover they would have been looking beyond where he sits..... Based on the pic. I think he has to consider moving into the cover more to the right. In a tree or on the ground. He needs to be positioned more to be perpendicular to the path of the deer. He essentially appears to have them coming right at him right now. OR plant some shrubs or put brush on that path and mow a path thru the brown stuff more to the left to guide them. Good luck