2013 Stand Preview

We are on the final countdown to opening day.  To say we are a little antsy may be the understatement of the decade.  Heading into the 2013 season I want to give everyone a preview of the stands we will be hunting this year.  Hopefully this should help as the season progress's and we continue to post updates with our success's (hopefully) and our failures (that's why they call it hunting and not killing).

Existing Stands 

These stands are all in areas that we used in the past.  For various reasons, mainly seeing and shooting deer, we have decided there is a need to continue our stand placement in these spots.  We have made a couple of adjustments with some new knowledge of what we believe is the deer pattern as well as some things we have learned about shooting our bows.

Girls Food Plot Stand - This stand was one of our original stands.  We moved it last year but have placed it back in its original location for this year.  Due to the sheer number of deer and the consistent number of bucks in this area that we have seen on our Wildgame Innovations cameras this season in we are very excited to see the results soon!

Main Food Plot Stand - This stand is still in its original location.  We have done some adjusting as to the exact direction it faces based on the sun, the direction of the deer in previous years as well as taking into account our "power zones" as shooters.  These changes have resulted in a quarter turn around the tree to maximize the area of shooting to the left of the person in the stand as most of us shoot right handed.

Muddy Stand - This was a new stand last year.  Although we did not see a lot of deer from this stand it helps us cover a corner of the property that is very difficult to hunt.  It sits about 60 yards above the top of the natural field that contains the main food plot.  Our cams over the summer have shown many deer coming and going from this upper corner, so hopefully with some good timing on our side this stand will be successful.

Matt's Stand - Also sometimes affectionatly refered to as the nursery, this is another original placement.  This year we did adjust to a different tree but the area is still the same.  Hopefully the change will open up some new parts of the area and better opportunities based on where we have seen deer in past years.

Double Stand - This was the killing zone last year.  All but one of our deer came from this stand which was new to us last year.  When choosing this stand we had scouted the area pretty hard and found what we believed to be a travel corridor and our hunch was correct.

New Stands

On to the newbies.  Based on what we learned last year in the woods as well as what we have seen on the cams, we have placed stands in 3 new locations.

Ridge Stand - The choice to place this stand on the backside of this ridge came from information we obtained while hunting out of the Double Stand.  Multiple times last year we had deer come out of the swamp and cross in front of the double stand, just on the opposite side of the ridge that splits the property.  Even during rifle season this does not allow a shot.  Once they hit the top of the ridge they are able to go multiple ways, many of which we did not occupy with a stand.  This new stand sits atop the ridge, overlooking an area where 5 or 6 heavily used deer trails combine. 

GS2.0 (Grandpa's Stand, new and improved) - This stand is a replacement for my grandpa's old stand.  We were unable to use my grandpa's stand any more as of last year due to unsafe conditions.  Because of this we had to move the stand down the ridge line a bit into a large pine tree.  Again there are multiple trails that combine in this area, as it is the major pass through across a large portion of the property.

Swamp Stand - Come hell or high water we were getting a stand back into this location.  Although getting here will be interesting if we get rain, this stand could hold the key to the monsters we are chasing.  As far as we can tell the big boys like the swamps on this property and this stand is on a small high land area in the middle of the swamp.  We did not place any cams back in this area so all of our hunts will be off of in person scouting and map research we have done.  

This year should be exciting.  We are seeing some large bucks and a very large number of does.  Keep checking back for updates to any last minutes adjustments and once the season begins.

As always, we love seeing your pictures and hearing your stories.  Please email any of us your pictures and stories and we will get them posted for all to see!

E