Help from treestand coues hunters

[dobbs07]

hey guys, I usually hunt whitetails with the spot and stalk method, and have recently tried my hand at treestand hunting these guys, and wanted to get some pointers.

 

1. When you have deer hitting you stand salt/stand, do you try not to get close to it because of your scent?

 

2. Do you generally hang you stands ahead of time to familiarize the deer with it, and again eliminate scent?

 

3. i've heard some guys wear rubber boots and such, do you guys do this? Or do you have other methods?

 

 

Any tips suggestions would be amazing. Thanks for the help in advance.

[bowsniper]

1. When you have deer hitting you stand salt/stand, do you try not to get close to it because of your scent?

 

10 to 30 yards really won't make much difference scent wise. Closer will make a difference for noise and motion when you are drawing you bow. I usually try to put my treestand about 20 to 30 yards away from where I think I might get a shot.

 

 

2. Do you generally hang you stands ahead of time to familiarize the deer with it, and again eliminate scent?

 

I usually try to hang my stand a week before, but I don't think that it is absolutely necessary.

 

 

3. i've heard some guys wear rubber boots and such, do you guys do this? Or do you have other methods?

 

I have had 100s of coues walk over my tracks an hour later and have never seen them care. Other guys on this forum have seen the opposite. I think rubber boots are necessary for eastern whitetail, but not coues. I have had coues walk up to blunts (arrows) that I have shot, bend down and smell them, and not care at all. For me, coues have never seemed to care about scent that I have left on an object or the ground. But if they catch my scent from the wind directly off of me, of course, they bolt. I do wear scent lock over my whole body, including scent lock booties over my boots. Your boots are the smellyest thing you wear because they are not washed. I think that the single most important thing that you can do is to place your treestand in a position where the wind can't blow your scent to the deer. Put your stand in a flat area or on top of a hill. If you put it on the side of a hill, any deer that can get above you will probably scent you out.

 

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Mark

[dobbs07]

thanks for the info Mark. much appreciated!

[bowsniper]

There has been a lot of controversy about scent lock. I don't have a clue if it works, but I spend $$ on it, and wear it, just in case.

 

A few years ago, I let a buddy sit my stand. He had been sitting and sweating in a blind for a week with no action and no shower. He climbed into my stand stinking without scentlock, and shot a buck in an hour.

 

Mark

[dobbs07]

oh i know about the blind thing, i sat a tank this weekend in the sun and sweated out about 2 gallons of water a day.... gawd its hot in those things...

[dobbs07]

anyone else have any additional thoughts/opinions on this?

[DesertBull]

Getting your stand as high as possible has to help keep your stink out of their noses. That said, It looks a lot higher when you are in the stand, looking down, and heights are not my cup of tea. 12-15' are the height of most of my tree stands. If you are not a wuss like me, then 15-20' is probably more effective.

[dobbs07]

Yeah my stands up like 20 ish feet, and its downhill behind it so probly closer to 25 on the downhill side....

 

I just wonder if i need to wear rubber boots or Ive heard some guys dont put their clothes on til they get to their stand site...

just curious how concerned with scent i need to be....

 

Bowsniper indicated he hadnt reallly had any issues with it, and I was wondering if anyone else had a similiar take on it.... or a different experience...

[Huntn coues]

I have never used rubber boots and don't think I ever will unless I am hunting a swamp.

Only thing I do is use scent away (some times) or I sometimes throw a wafer in the pop up when I am not using

my stand.

[gotcoues]

I was in my stand last weekend and several different coues were milling around just a couple feet from where I had walked in. I was in deer all morning until ten. Five bucks and two does, the funny thing is the only deer to spook and not finish coming in, were the ones who didn't cross my entrance trail. Go figure! I think scent in the air is more alarming than scent left on the ground. Good luck