Mobility Creates the Element of Surprise

Many bowhunters think of public land as the only place for a person to leave his vehicle in full camo while carrying a treestand on his back. But the run-and-gun approach that works so well on public land is just as effective on private land.

I grew up carrying my stand into the woods almost every day, sometimes on public land but mostly on private land. While this hunting style is definitely more of an adventure, there are also tangible reasons why an ultra-mobile approach will make you a better bowhunter. The ability to read and react to changing deer behavior is a huge advantage for a whitetail bowhunter, whether that means well-timed, mid-season adjustments as bucks change behavior or an aggressive hang-and-hunt strategy that you employ nearly every day. If you can stay ahead of the action, you are going to have a successful season.

Serious deer hunters quickly realize the odds of taking a nice buck are never higher than the very first time they sit in a new stand. I remember that at the end of the 2000s I looked back and analyzed my past successes. I was surprised to discover 13 of the 16 mature bucks I’d killed during that decade fell the first time I sat a stand. It’s not hard to see why. Deer are very sensitive to hunting pressure, and when they realize humans are sneaking around their living room, they quickly change their behavior.

Whitetails detect our presence in ways few hunters even consider. Sure, they can see us walking to our stand or smell our scent in the air as we sit on stand — this is obvious — but we’ll educate the greatest number of deer by our scent trail on the ground. Deer can smell where we’ve walked, especially through brush and high weeds, for many hours after we pass.

A mature deer’s ability to detect human intrusion should not be taken lightly. You can do a lot to reduce the number of deer you educate, but I’m convinced that regardless of the measures you take, you’ll never fool all the deer all the time. Some are going to know you’ve been there and start avoiding it immediately. Their body language will affect others, and soon the spot is not as productive.

If you go to incredible lengths to choose low-impact stands and then keep from being seen, heard or smelled on stand and on your way to and from the stand, you can certainly prolong its life. Even then, you will still notice slow erosion in the level of activity in the area of the stand. There is simply no substitute for having plenty of good, fresh stands to hunt during the season.

The mobile strategy is a unique approach to deer hunting. It’s not an add-on to your permanent stand strategy. It isn’t something you do to fine-tune an existing stand. Instead, you start from scratch every day to assure you are hunting fresh stands as often as possible.

As I pointed out already, deer are very sensitive to hunting pressure, and when they realize we are hunting them, they change their behavior fast. For that reason, hunting fresh stands every day of the season will increase the number of deer you see. A mobile approach is the simplest way to produce “first-time freshness” throughout the season.

The hang-and-hunt strategy grew from this desire to have as many first-time hunts during a season as possible. By moving often, you are always hunting fresh stands. I did this a lot when I was younger and had permission on several farms. I rarely hunted the same tree more than two times per season!

Hang and hunt works best when you have large or multiple tracts of land where you have many options. This allows you to cherry pick the best spots each day and then move on. It also works well when you are forced to hunt a new property you have never scouted. Selecting a location for your stand can be tough in the darkness of morning, but I know guys who do it consistently. Most often, however, they go back to trees they have hunted in years past or to trees near those that they’ve hunted. Rarely are they going in blind.

If you have never hunted the area before, you really need daylight recon to make successful scouting decisions. Study your aerial photos and topo maps, select terrain or cover that suggests a deer funnel — a terrain or cover bottleneck — and then head in and hang the stand during the middle of the day. Take everything you need to hunt it that evening. If the wind holds, you can hunt the same stand the next morning before pulling it down and moving on. Occasionally, you will hit on a winner, and you can leave the stand to hunt again later in the season. So, be sure to have a few extra stands in your garage.

Just a word of caution when hunting small properties: be sure to stay on the fringes and only hunt perfect setups. Bouncing around on a small parcel will soon educate all the deer, ending your chances for a successful season. When hunting small tracts, I would still rather have my stands up ahead of the season or hunt very carefully around the fringe.

First, you’ll need a lightweight treestand or saddle that is easy to carry and put up. Any stand under 12 pounds should fall into this category. I personally prefer fixed-position stands over climbing stands, because I can attach the hang-on to any shape of tree. Saddles offer even more flexibility. Everyone thinks they are a new phenomenon, but saddles have been around since the mid-90s. They definitely have become more popular lately, though, for this very reason — flexibility and mobility.

As mentioned, I am not a huge fan of climbing stands for this style of hunting (at least not in the Midwest), because it is very hard to predict what type and shape of tree you will find in the “perfect spot,” or how many limbs it will have.

Second, you’ll need some type of system for quickly and quietly climbing the tree. Climbing sticks that strap onto the tree are ideal if you plan to hunt it only once or twice; carry enough sections that you can reach 18-20 feet even without the aid of tree branches. If you think you will be back often, then screw-in steps might be a good option, if allowed.

Finally, you’ll need a good folding saw. Most public lands don’t permit cutting of shooting lanes, but on private land it really improves your chances for a clear shot. This may be an obvious point, but don’t shortchange quality. A good saw with sharp teeth will make your chores much quicker and allow you to keep noise to a minimum.

Remember, you’ll rarely tag a mature buck if he knows you’re hunting him. If you have the energy, an ultra-mobile strategy will have you in fresh, productive stands more often than any other approach you can use.

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