When it comes to consistently tagging mature whitetails, one of the main factors destructive to success is understanding and respecting the ripples we create when sharing the woods with deer. There are many details that must be considered before a tree stand or blind is erected.
Without proper planning, the results can be disastrous. The worst part is, we can be drastically reducing our future odds without even knowing it. What I want to provide is a basic list of key features to consider as you build your strategies for success.
Visible Cover
The first consideration I make is with regard to visible cover. This is just one key to the equation, but when thinking about a whitetail’s keen senses, their vision is not considered as their strongest attribute. However, when it comes to what we can control, being seen when entering and exiting may come down to our creativity and a planned approach. Features to consider are natural cover, such as CRP/native grass fields, switchgrass, miscanthus, or other shrubs that can create a visual barrier from bedded or travelling whitetails. With this in mind, creating paths through or next to these cover types may be all that is required.
Understanding topography or utilizing topo layers can be crucial to putting the puzzle together. Not only should you consider topography to cover your visibility, but the creative side of this must also consider that your quarry also prefers to use topography as they travel throughout your property. Distinguishing the differences between the two necessary trails is the ticket. Creeks, ditches, ponds, lakes and rivers all come to mind when using topography to your advantage.
Discouraging deer travel along your creative access is something that must be accomplished. Using hinge cuts that parallel stand only access is something that I utilize frequently. Screening can also be utilized, but is often not possible when hunting timbered tracts. These tight bottle-neck hinges or screens along both sides of hunter-only access is critical. This feeling of restricted movement and inability to flee easily deters deer from entering or travelling on a regular basis.
I will keep them narrow and also make a dead end at the base of the tree, ladder or blind. Knowing the difference in areas that are best for human travel are sometimes tough to identify. Ideally, the tougher the route, the less they will be utilized by deer. Obviously, the clean trails may draw attention and deer are lazy and will often use those paths of least resistance. The key here is to create corridors perpendicular to your stand sites that are also well away from your access trails.
Improving your long-term access is something I will never have completed. I believe there are always features that can be added to aid in reducing our visible entry. Much of what will help this that is easy to maintain take time. Time is valuable, and there are also options to create annual screens if there is ample sunlight and prepared ground to grow the many options out there on the market today.
Another Midwest feature that can be utilized is a farmer’s need to store large round haybales. If you bale hay yourself, great, but many do not and working with landowners can often reveal opportunity to provide access screening through most or all of the hunting season. Planting trees and shrubs for cover along these paths is also tricky as we do not want them to be food varieties that will draw deer into those areas we want to make off-limits.
Audible Cover
The next consideration in my list of prioritizing access is audible cover. If it is less important, it isn’t by much. Deer are not known for incredible hearing, but I would argue that they use it frequently in combination with their other keen senses to piece it all together. In Kansas and much of the Midwest, audible cover is something I key on constantly.
There are certain stands I will not hunt without the help of mother nature in the form of strong winds. Not only does the wind itself muffle our noise, but leaf cover or leaves rustling in trees create the perfect scenario for slipping in undetected. It is literally an ingredient I consider when choosing which stand I will be hunting that day. Our weather men are wrong often, but I would say they are typically spot on with the wind speeds, and they are typically stronger than predicted if they are off.
One other extremely beneficial form of audible cover I have been blessed to hunt near are railroad tracks. The lines near my hunting areas are busy and I have heard some of them are used as much as every 9 minutes on average. I can assure you, that average doesn’t equate to our best access times, so I have learned to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to when I would need to begin my approach. I have tagged multiple bucks by slipping into bedding areas that would not have been possible on calm days or without the cover of the rumbling trains. If I had the ability to roll the camera during these access times, it would be quite comical. I have pulled in to hear a train already approaching and the scramble to collect gear and actual sprint to the stand has made the difference.
Obviously, scent control can be an issue with this tactic, but that is for another topic that can be detailed another time. One of my favorite memories was using this tactic well ahead of daylight in October 2003 as I used the cover of a train to run into a bedding area of a full velvet cactus racked non-typical who sauntered in later that morning without a hint I had made it in ahead of him. Aggressive, yes, but sometimes this can be the difference. I am more conservative than most with my setup locations, but the aggressive entry and exit while using cover noise has paid off over and over.
Another typical drawback to a hunting property is proximity to highways or busy roads. The unfortunate loss due to deer versus vehicle issues can be devastating news when you see a photo of your target buck hit by a vehicle, or worse yet, no picture or closure at all when loaded up and off to the unknown. As detrimental as that can be, using highway noise is another great option for accessing and departing stands nearby. As you know and the collision statistics reveal, deer are not discouraged from living very close to them. I believe some mature bucks even learn to utilize these often-overlooked locations.
One last audible feature that comes to mind is one I used to close the distance within 50 yards of a native prairie giant years ago. It was a calm afternoon and I had spotted a target buck that had secluded a doe out in the middle of a wide-open pasture. The stalk took hours and I was stuck at about 100 yards where I knew I was pushing the limits as the noise of the dry grass was on the verge of reaching the bedded duo at that distance. After laying in the grass for what seemed like an eternity on what felt like the calmest day of the year, out of nowhere an approaching airplane came in to provide the gift of cover noise that I needed.
I utilized that noise to quickly stalk the final 50 yards. That particular stalk did not end in a filled tag, but it wasn’t for the lack of opportunity. That one still haunts me! Yes, this is not your typical access, but it comes to mind when we struggle to get into those tucked away stands in tough to access locations. If we are patient, we can use many forms of audible cover to help us with a clean entry.
Covering Our Tracks
I am a firm believer that we cannot completely eliminate our human scent and presence from these cagy whitetails. In my opinion, they rely on their noses more than any other of their keen senses. When it comes to a clean entry along our access, doing as much as possible to reduce our scent is critical. Whether you believe in cover scents or not, keeping as much of our human scents out of the woods is paramount. One way to eliminate much of their ability to catch our scent is to eliminate vegetation that will hold that scent. Often, hunters only think about scent while actively on a property. The reality is, our scent can remain for weeks in the right conditions.
All of my access trails are either mowed when outside of the timber, access roads, or cleared timber paths that take hours of work throughout the year. I am not big on using herbicide sprays to keep them clean, but that is an option that can be very effective. I choose the option of using a weed eater in the off-season to eliminate young vegetation, weeds and shrubs. It is key to use that tool to get completely to the dirt, keeping that growth to a minimum. It does take continual maintenance, but the more you are able to keep these lanes cleared, the easier they are to maintain.
I clean access trails each time I am in to mow clover plots and/or trails with the very last mowing of the year being one of the final checks in late summer. With regard to the timbered trails, continually clearing is just part of the struggle. Branches that have fallen or clearing ditches and creeks when storms or floods litter them with logs and debris are just a few of the challenges we face. Lastly, leaves can be a continual battle on slower dropping seasons. I typically wait until most of them are down and I will sacrifice a day with strong winds to go in on the tractor and I will leave it running while I use a backpack blower to clear the access trails of leaves.
This is a critical step that I strongly believe is part of a clean entry. Yes, there are times that is impossible and, in those cases, I am a believer in using a cadence more similar to nature by running through leaves to make entry where necessary. I try to avoid that option, but believe it is the only way I have found it possible when the winds or moisture are not present to mask an entry.
When it comes to utilizing these trails, I have and use my favorite cover scents but do not think that is the important discussion here. I want something as natural as possible and not something that will draw them to my boots. I will also sacrifice I also utilize water as much as possible. Water for access via kayak/boat is an excellent way to access and especially where you can slip right up a bank and into a stand with very minimal impact. Not only is water key for access, but it is something I make a point to step and slosh my boots in while on my way in if I am near a creek, stream or pond.
I hunt in cattle country and one of the absolute best cover scents readily available is their waste. I know that may sound a bit disgusting, but when it breaks down and dries, it’s not as bad as it seems. It binds extremely well to my boots and provides the best cover option available, in my opinion. This is where keeping separate boot totes or in the back of your truck is highly suggested!
Creative Thinking & Re-Evaluating Existing Hunter Access
Lastly, I want to touch on the topic of creative thinking. Every time I visit a stand site or when conducting year-round maintenance, I am constantly evaluating my existing access. There are really no limits when improving your routes, but there is no better way of evaluating our impact than through trail cameras and observations throughout the season.
One of my favorite quotes is from Albert Einstein stating, “If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.” Let that sink in a minute and be honest with your evaluation. We may never fully beat a whitetail at this chess game we play, but it is sure fun making modifications that may just give us that additional edge we need to be in the right place at the right time.