PoisonSnake Tip of the Week (Week 11)

[PoisonSnake]

Well, I have been busy as heck all summer. Traveling some. Writing a few papers. Submitted a grant. Bought an ocean home. Started teaching August 1. You know, the general life of any gazillionairre. Sorry that I have not been able to grace you fellows with my knowledge. I'll try to change that up some in the coming weeks.

Anyway, I know I have talked scent control, washing hunting gear, antler judging, and all of the other basics. But, today we are going to talk about tree stands. First of all, I think it is necessary to have as many as you can possibly afford to have. I place them every few hundred yards so that I can just slip into one if need be. But, that is not the jist of my post. What I want to talk about is shooting lanes. Now, over the years, I have been mocked and made fun of for only going so high in a tree. First, I see no reason for a stand to be any higher than 15-18' at the base of the stand. If you want to be 25' high in a tree, knock yourself out. I don't like it up there with buzzards flying around my ass. But, that is just me. Furthermore, I don't like the shot angles produced from heights above 25'. I have hunting some tower stands with a rifle (better than 50') and I just don't like the angles. But, let us get back to shooting lanes. Some folks like to disturb the area of which they hunt minimally as to not disturb the deer. Poisy don't play that. I make certain I have at least 5 shooting lanes cut in every direction around my stand out to a distance of at least 40 yards. I've never shot at a deer over 50 yards with a bow and that was pretty much in an open field situation. Used to, the Perfect Stand had one trail at 37 yards where all of my deer came through. Just so happened there were no other trees closer, so I had to make it work. Well, back to the Tip of the Week... The Snake makes certain that he clears every limb, bush, sapling, tree, etc..., in that shooting lane. If you can't drive a bulldozer through it, then it isn't open enough for me. I hear all of the time the excuse of someone hitting a sappling. That only happens to me when I'm shooting at deer that climb trees. That happens sometimes on the HFA. It is a unique spot. My point is..., you can never cut enough brush out of a shooting lane. The lane itself needs to be about wide enough for a deer/cow to stand in it. That is about right I feel. Second, do all of this cutting in the Winter or Spring. At the very latest, try to have it all done by the 4th of July. Third, don't hesitate to do the heavy work with a chain saw. Those extend a chain saws work wonders for limbs 20 feet up. At the very least, invest in a pole saw. Or, do like I do and borrow one from your buddy. Last, if you make a habit of hunting fence lines next to properties you cannot or do not have permission to hunt, leave the understory on the other side of the fence alone. Only cut into the canopy and be very discrete about it. Just give yourself enough of an edge to get the job done so you can place an arrow into the vitals of a deer or turkey. I don't hunt fence lines much anymore. But, I have been told this works wonders.

One last point. If you wish to be as OCD about bowhunting as the PS is, then you really need to consider your approach to and from your stand. You seriously may wish to consider raking a path to and from your bestest, highest-producing, rainmaker of a stand. It can honestly work wonders. In the very least, it can make you truly feel like a jungle cat when you are easing in there early in the mornings.

That is enough for now. I could spend countless hours chastising folks for wasting good money shooting does with an arrow or killing them prior to the rut. But, I'll save that for sometime in February.

[RB]

PS, I agree on stand height. I have shot as many from a ground set up as in trees, not with a bow though. As far as shooting lanes your strategy is a good one. I hit a sapling with a 7mm one time and deflected the bullet under his belly. It was a nice 8 pt that is now a good looking ten.

[Triton X2]

I need the cliff note version...

[Limbshot]

"Poisy don't play that"
Pretty sure you misspelled that first word. It's supposed to have a "u" and two "s's."

[Warmouth]

I don't cut a lot of shooting lanes as I like the brush for cover since I also typically hunt between 14-16' up a tree. It has come back to bite me a few times though with missed shot opportunities.

[SAMCRO]

SAMCRO doesn't cut shooting lanes. SAMCRO doesn't require shooting lanes. SAMCRO finds that those of us with advanced shooting skills can always find a hole to snake an arrow through. In all of the bow-kills that SAMCRO has had, SAMCRO has NEVER hit a sapling or other obstacle.

SAMCRO will give you a piece of advice, though - shoot your dam bows, shoot them well, and understand your trajectory. When lining up a shot, look at ALL of your pins, and you can quickly determine whether or not that arrow will snake through the micro-hole you want it to, or if it will hit a limb like some first-timer.

SAMCRO has killed many a deer that left others wondering just how in the hell SAMCRO got an arrow through there, and SAMCRO enjoys this little fact. Again, understand how your bow works, pick and time your shots, and leave that cover up there for you to reap the rewards from.

[SAMCRO]

I'll leave you with this. Last week, SAMCRO was hunting a honey-hole of a place. 600 acres of prime north MO ground. SAMCRO's ninja-stalks revealed a little opening along a fence row he suspected deer were using to access a bean field.

So, SAMCRO crawled in there with a Lone Wolf stand and sticks, and hung a set. SAMCRO's hunting partner, while SAMCRO was hanging the stand, cut down two saplings. SAMCRO saw this happening, and asked the partner to stop, but it was too late. SAMCRO knew this wasn't necessary, and knew it could have dire consequences.

Fast forward to later that afternoon, when a doe group was walking across the bean field, right to the fence hole SAMCRO suspected they'd use. The lead mature doe spotted these fresh sapling cuts, burned holes in them, and freaked out.

I realize that PS's advice is to do this trimming well in advance, but not all of us hunt the same dam spots year in and year out. For those of you who like a little adventure and do a little traveling, learn to shoot and leave the woods the way you found them.

[RB]

call 911 SC has spoken and deer will die.

[Warmouth]

That is a topic in of itself, the differences in hunting the same grounnd over and over, vrs. hunting new ground, and what a guy should look for in either situation.


Still, as a next installment, I'd like to hear PS's thoughts on scents and calls.

[JimDog]

Again, understand how your bow works, pick and time your shots, and leave that cover up there for you to reap the rewards from.

Did SAMCRO end a sentence in a preposition?

[PoisonSnake]

Dave: It generally takes me 3 years to figure out a property that I hunt. I'm not talking about killing does here. I can sleepwalk my way into a tree and get that done. I'm talking about killing mature bucks off of the farm, sometimes moving the stand only 20-30 yards each year until you hone in on it.

Scents and calls..., that would be a good topic of discussion as I have been blessed and burned by each of them. I'll get that started come Monday morning.

[SAMCRO]

You know, PS, I don't discredit what you're getting done on your place. However, I highly doubt you could keep up with me on straight killing on unknown ground. The ability to set a stand based on nothing other than a quick walk, hang it and kill the same day.

Dave's right - these are two different games. One of pure hunting instinct and the other of waiting and taking years to find that perfect stand. They both have their place.

[Warmouth]

But can you kill does while sleep walking like PS? I'm thinking that there should be a mutiplier for bow kills while sleeping, and walking. That's bound to catch up to your sheer numbers Craig.

Hell, anybody can kill does when you're wide awake.

[PoisonSnake]

SAMCRO: I used to do exactly what you do now way back when starting about age 18 and in college. Except, I was hunting on public ground. Many times, I would go in blind and hang a stand and kill a sammich on the first sit. I think there was a lot of luck involved, but I killed deer. The number of times I hung stands at midnight was countless as I never wanted to do it right at first light or during the middle of the day (for the most part). Before age 18, from the time I was 11, I hunted Mingo NWR nearly exclusively. Now, that place will humble you.

One particular time I hung a stand down around Zalma, MO about 4 a.m. Got on stand after sweating my ass off and sat in the dark for a good hour. Right after daylight, I grunt this little sammich in. Coming head on to me, I decided to try to spine shoot him once he dropped his head. I hit that buck right in the base of his antlers and broke the arrow in three pieces. That afternoon, about the same thing happened. I moved the stand about 400 yards. Got in there, hung my bow, and realized I hadn't put my Tink's 69 out. So, I opened the bottle and began pouring it in the lid and began throwing it in every direction. The wind was blowing hard that day and a nice deer (I'd guess 140") must have been just over the ridge because he came running in. I barely had time to put down the bottle and grab my bow. Shot over that deer by a foot and he was only 10 yards. I had cut a shooting lane as well. I guess that is what being 20 years old will do to you. But, by that time, I had killed a few public land bucks so missing should not have been an option. Twice in a day really sucked. None-the-less, from 1987 until 1993, that was pretty much the only way I hunted. I've got 3 other pretty good storied that were on Duck Creek, Drury Mincy, Prarie Home, and MTNF where I did kill bucks pretty much going in blind (one was a 145" deer even). Did it in IA and IL not so long ago. I'm sure there was some luck involved. But, I learned much from hunting public land. Hunting private land anywhere is 1000x better. Even on some of the deadest parts of the Ozarks.

Once I began hunting private land exclusively, all of that changed. These days, I'm not hunting the same deer you are hunting or the way you are hunting them. I will never do that chit again. I decided once I could afford to buy land, my ways of doing things would change (I guess my damn wife has the same philosophy I have, but her thoughts are more in tune with not going to the beach the way she used to do it). And, they have. I would not mind going back to the days of turkey hunting the Ozarks and other public lands, but I do not believe it is in me to go back and begin deer hunting that way again.

You are good at killing deer. That is a fact. If someone were to discredit you, all they would need to do is ask you to be informed otherwise. But, when you begin to lay big bucks down on a consistent basis with a bow in hand, then we will talk. It is not an easy task on any piece of property (even from your back deck over a corn pile). If it were, everyone would be doing it.

One last thing..., we made our own portables. That was an experience for sure. But, they were nice. I know where a couple still hang down around Willow Springs. I'm sure the wood is long gone, however.

[SAMCRO]

Look, there's no need to chest-thump, or start trying to compare yourself to me or anybody else. I started off by telling you that I didn't discredit what you can do. I simply said what I do, and what you do, are two different games. That's a fact.

I haven't had time to read your whole post yet, but from the length, I'm guessing you're telling me not only can you do what I know how to do, but you're better in some way, also.

Congratulations, Snake. You're the man.