Call the shot - no pix....

[GF.]

Here's my set-up in the Big Funnel:

I'm just about 20 feet up in a big ol' tree, facing roughly due south. The tree is in the middle of a strip of mountain laurel that the bucks use as cover getting A to B, and that strip runs down and across the hill at a modest pace such that anything coming from the south is dead ahead of me at 75-100 yards out, and will pass 10-15 yards to my left as it gets to my tree.

So any shot here would be quartering-to for a long, long while, and not broadside until directly to my left. By the time the critter is quartering away, I'm going to have to twist around the tree to do it. Visibility down into the laurel is OK, but there are not a lot of shooting lanes, and there is no specific reason for a deer to stop in any of them.

Now, I'm pretty sure that the majority of the activity will be to my left, as I have this set up right now, though I am pretty much in the center of a 50-yard-wide travel corridor and a shot off to my right is certainly a possibility.

So what would you do here?

Move the stand around the tree a bit? As it is, I'm against a wide trunk, so my outline shouldn't be too obvious 'til they're broadside to me. If I rotate 90 degrees, my profile will be obvious from a long ways off. I could swap sides of the tree entirely to get a quartering-away shot on the northbound traffic, but then it'll all be on my right.

Maybe I could move to a different tree, but there are heavily-used trails that would be out of practical bow range if I did that.

I don't know if I should clear a little more of the overhead brush and hope for a slight quartering-to angle on the northbound deer, and then hope they stop in a lane, or if I should decide how I'm going to stop them in one of the lanes that are already there... and what about southbound deer that I really won't know about until they're fairly close and already at full-on broadside?

Crazy stuff. Even the perfect funnel is hard to figure out!

[ncboman]

At some point, skill as a hunter comes into play. :D

One thing in your description I doan particularly like, ... 'a big ol tree'.

I don't like trees so big I can't shoot behind them or in all directions, ... about 18" in diameter is my preference. Also deer key on big trees often and I like to be a little off to the side of it, ... if it's the biggest tree in the crowd ... but you've been there and know what you're dealing with better than us.

When I'm in a new spot, sometimes I observe the deer the first hunt and tighten up on what I saw the next time, kinda all depends.

50yds to cover is about right though, if you've got open shooting. And keep in mind, the deer aren't on a time clock and when at ease often wander about some, often eventually giving the patient hunter a good shot.

Every time I go in there I might scatter a bag of white oak acorns in the area I want them to travel thru. ;)

[Twanger]

You can put something in the trail to catch their attention and stop them for a shot.... a scent wick with doe urine, a mineral block, a couple of handfuls of acorns, a couple of busted apples, or the golden kernels. After Halloween you can usually get pumpkins for free... as many as you can drag off. Bust a pumpkin in the trail. Deer love 'em.

I don't particularly like the "twisting around" shots to the good area you're talking about. I'd set your stand for a good comfortable shot and maybe add some cover branches. Pin oak branches don't lose their leaves for a long time. You can cut a couple and hook them to the tree to break up your outline.

[dave-t.]

I could go to an even smaller tree than NC, but just by a little. I don't mind terribley if the tree is not as wide as I am, depending on cover and height. I like shooting behind the tree. You can draw while totally concealed and then lean out. Nice.;)

I'd swap ends right off, if not go to the next closest suitible tree. I don't like facing south when the sun is shining. I put my hang on stands facing north unless it is flat impossible for that to work.

It's not comfortable trying to watch behind you, but if you sit still and can get you bow in action, they will be walking right by wether you see them coming or not. Usually you'll hear or see them from 40-50yds, and be able to get standing or to your best position behind the tree.

Don't worry about stopping them in a lane. Let that work itself out. You'll be seeing holes in brush that you hadn't spotted before when the deer is there.

Good luck on your set up. Don't burn it out right off the bat, and know that moving it 20-40+yds can bring new lite to a location.

Also something I just thought of. Look up and down that 100yd stretch of laurel, and see if there isn't a micro spot in that funnel that cuts the 50yds to 30 or less. When you have a pinpoint funnel in a funnel, you can do things with stand sets/locations that will be almost impossible to get busted from. It is hedging your bets though, as you are now hunting and even smaller chunck of land with limited shooting options, but....if its a rock solid pinch point...:cool:

[GF.]

You guys oughta know by now that I'd never be able to live it down if I were to use bait! :D

I was wondering, though, if I could put down a turkey decoy or two. I've got one on a wobbler ($16 at Sierra Trading Post, though I've got a coupon today that'll knock it down to $11.50 :D )

I wondered if a twitch or two on the bird would stop 'em without setting off any alarm bells, or maybe a toot on a diaphragm....

Good thought on choosing a slimmer tree, NC.... I suppose 'perfect' for cover purposes would be just about as wide as your back, but that would still be hard to shoot around. I'll just have to see if I can find something as promising in close to the same spot; the big one kind of makes use of a powerline cut as a shooting lane, but maybe I could relocate and be able to shoot right down it....

This is the spot where, last year, a doe caught me on the ladder, making a racket with the safety strap on the bark as I ooched my way up. She was in no hurry at all after that, but I have no clue how quick she was moving before then... I kind of assumed that she wasn't lollygagging, though, or she should have seen me as I walked out to the tree and started getting set up for the climb.

Prusic knot this year for sure....:cool:

And the buck I took off of that stand was definitely movin' on through; I was glad when he stopped to sniff at something on a branch just over the trail, so maybe that would be a spot to hit with a little something. And of course there are scrapes all through there, so if I can find a lane to them, I guess I should just stop for a pee on my way in :D

[dave-t.]

Yep, pee on the ground, vanilla extract, watered down peanut butter, or many deer specific scents could work to get them to stop.

You could also say "Baaa", or put a stick/branch in the trail.


I would not use a turk decoy.

[GF.]

I think I'd want my backside very tight to a very large tree before I started baaaa-ing...

You just never know :eek:

Hmmmmm.... What about a 'doe-bleat in a can' hooked up to a monofilament trip-wire?:D


I guess the other angle would be one of those spring-coil decoys... The real flat ones...If I set it up right, the deer wouldn't be able to see it very well (if at all) until they were nearly dead-on broadside to me. So it might get a buck to stop in the lane and turn towards the deke & away from me....

[Twanger]

A young buck deeke might be fun. I've got one and used it some... one of the flat photo-realistic ones.

A buddy put one out and two bucks approached it from broadside, bristling. Then they walked around to the front, and the interloper of course disappeared. :confused: He said the look on those buck's faces were priceless. Then they ran back to broadside, stomped and snorted, then back to the front and WTF? Where'd he go? :confused: :D

[GF.]

That's what I was thinking of.... The surprise factor would probably get you one of those classic Huh??? poses - head all the way up, and locked dead still while he decided what he was looking at.


After that, though.... I wonder if a buck would approach a buck or doe decoy more slowly? Wouldn't want him to just charge right over, knock your decoy flat and blow right out o' there, but if he'd do that Boss Hoss walk over to it, that could make for some good shot angles...