My favorite stand overlooks a long narrow field at the top of a ridge.  When deer come out in my end of the field, they are usually close enough for a shot.  Last season, we shot two bucks from this stand, the one that I hit in Novermber that got away (that Will Prucha found while shed hunting) and the one Chad shot on December 27 in Episode 30.  Chad also missed a buck from this stand in mid-November.

I see a lot of bucks here, but the main reason it is my favorite is because I can hunt it often without alerting deer that I am there.  I can sneak through ditches to get in and out clean.

As mentioned, the stand is on the edge of a narrow ridge top field.  My scent blows from the majority of the cover (which is to the west), out over the draw in the direction from which I approached (the east).  It is very rare that deer ever smell me on this stand.  Most of them come out in the field, upwind of me and they approach it from the opposite side from where my stand is located - they come from the big block of cover.  That’s why it is the perfect no-brainer stand.  They come out and work their way toward me into the narrow field.  As long as the wind is from the west or northwest (which it often is in the fall and winter) I can hunt it nearly every day.

Either the deer approach using the secondary ridge straight across from the stand, or they enter from the north.  For some reason, they never seem to enter on my side.  They like to use secondary ridges when traveling, so keep your eyes open for them when setting up your stands.  The field is only 50 yards wide and unless the deer stays right along the opposite edge, I can usually get a shot – even with a bow.

The buck I talked about in yesterday's blog (I've included another picture of him here) lived on this ridge for several years.  He was the playground bully, puffing up his hair and running all the other bucks off.  I had seen him on this ridge for three years and his antlers hadn’t grown an inch bigger.  Though he had a decent spread, the points on his right side were short.  He is a classic management buck, fully mature but with genetically inferior antlers.  I passed him up from the same stand on November 28, of 2007 but realized moments later what a mistake I had made and vowed that if I ever saw him again, I would shoot first and ask questions later. 

On December 18, an hour before sunset, a beautiful young ten pointer approached from the north.  I grabbed my bow and got ready, but he shrunk as he drew closer.  He was obviously a 3 1/2 year old buck with a small body that made his antlers look bigger than they actually were.  He had tremendous potential so I let him go.  Within a few minutes, another buck stepped into view in the same spot and began eating hedge leaves off the ground.  It was my old buddy, the king of the mountain cull buck.  He was the one I was after.  Though I had virtually ignored him last time he came out, this time my breathing immediately grew raspy.  It is funny how the green light causes that kind of reaction.  I love it.

As he finally came out into the soybean field, he paused for a few seconds at 40 yards.  The arrow caught him right through the lower part of the chest.  He barely made the edge of the field before going down. 

The location of the stand is important.  To summarize, it is set up on the downwind side of a long, narrow ridgetop food plot that the deer approach from the opposite direction.  It is as perfect as any feeding pattern set up you could ever want to find.  Undetectable access routes to and from the stand make it a no-brainer.  Try to find (or create) a spot like this where you hunt and you will be very glad you did.