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Cover

lpv77

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
418
Do you guys feel your trees have less cover in order to accommodate saddle hunting or am I missing something. I feel like I can't have branches due to the need to shoot around the tree.
 
You can settle into spots between the branches. Sometimes I will have to cut a branch at the level I want to hang to make it work. Other times if I can have the branch going straight out at 12 oclock or out to 2 oclock it doesn't get in the way much and provides even better cover. Its all about taking what the tree gives you to work with and making the most of it.
 
I am not an expert deer hunter. But it is always a compromise between cover and shooting lanes. I had a nice buck within about 15 yards for probably 20 minutes last year. He never saw me... Good cover but he refused to take two more steps into a shooting lane. Maybe I should have removed a bit more cover.
Even though you can shoot 360 degrees around the tree, you do not always have a shot because of the cover around you. I cannot see how that is much different than a hang on. IMO limited non expert opinion.

I guess experience will tell me over time what the balance is between cover and having an open shot and how the deer will move into a shooting lane.
 
You can settle into spots between the branches. Sometimes I will have to cut a branch at the level I want to hang to make it work. Other times if I can have the branch going straight out at 12 oclock or out to 2 oclock it doesn't get in the way much and provides even better cover. Its all about taking what the tree gives you to work with and making the most of it.

This x 2. There will always be times when you don't get a shot and it is easy to say (I should have cut more shooting lanes).... truth is that's hunting. I try to pick a tree, climb it until I get to where I can shoot. I will trim shooting lanes in late spring but I don't clear paths to shoot through. A limb here, a limb there. last year I did ZERO tree prep and hunting 75% of the time in a tree I never say before. many times I climb before daylight. Only in 1 tree was I not able to shoot effectively from. There were a few occasions I made a slight move after daylight to take advantage of better shooting lanes - easily done with a saddle.
 
I like the deer to have cover, not me. Hunt in the thick stuff and deer will be less likely to look for you in the first place, and there will be plenty of times when they have a branch/treetrunk/etc blocking their line of sight. "Cover" in the tree is just something to block your shot.

If there is no ground cover, I go high. Deer may look up, but at 30ft you can get away with murder.
 
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