My mentor never played the wind And never practiced scent control. He just hunted. He also over hunted trees A lot. However he was the original mobile hunter. He moved constantly w/ his climber. Eventually he ran into ‘em, More times than not he killed them. Most patient hunter I’ve ever seen. If he played the wind and practiced scent control, he would’ve been unstoppable. His wall was full and he killled 100’s of deer w/ a bow.
Some of my most influential hunting mentors never hunted from a tree stand nor picked up a bow. My Dad, my Brother in Law,(who was considerably older than me) And a close friend’s father, were all excellent woodsmen and deer hunters. They got it done throughout the decades of shotgun slugs only and by hunting on the ground. My Dad could tell you any tree in the woods by looking at its bark. He would scout and find terrain features, points, travel corridors and always say, “The deer will be in there.” Or, “The deer will move through there in the morning.” Many of their legacy stand spots (and again these “stands” were literally stumps, or “The old milk can by the Big Corner Beech,” on an inside corner, or the “Blind Over the Bank” were just locations they found over the years that funneled deer movement. These men grabbed a cushion or just stood with their backs against a tree. My Dad was a giving type, would find the best spots and surrender them to me and other family members. He truly got enjoyment through other peoples success and being the one who found the clutch locations. He shot his fair share of deer and some bucks but lead others to many more. My brother in law had an impressive wall of bucks in his day. Employing the same tactics as my dad. And many of my Dad’s chosen spots. My best friend’s dad was what we called a “Stitching Hunter.” He would find lowland cover spots, swamp edges, upland successional growth areas near feed fields and after posting in the morning would loop back in and out along these transitions like a sewing needle into fabric and in so doing would often come upon deer or see them moving and get a shot. He had some great bucks to his credit in those days as well. This was the era of “brown is down,” or any rack will do, I can’t imagine their success if they would have been Bowhunters or hunted from treestands or saddles or even had a sliver of the deer knowledge we all enjoy nowadays. I’m sure many of us know men like these too. Don’t laugh at my meager upbringing and our pragmatic display of game…. Here are some pics of my Dad and I in his later years.
Ha, this was my first decent bedding buck when I started putting 2+2 together in setting up on bedding areas. I kinda chuckle as so many people talk now about hunting beds or bedding as something new but we really have all probably been doing it for years. I was getting frustrated not seeing anything with decent antlers my Dad said “I think they’re on MaryLou’s property during the day.” I went out the afternoon before and scouted the heck out of that place. It had snowed and I found some decent sized tracks fresh from that morning going into the thick area known as MaryLou’s property. I couldn’t hunt that afternoon and the wind wasn’t right anyway so we looped way around the next morning and pushed into that area before first light. Just after sunup this buck was walking from my left to right coming into the thick area most likely to bed. I couldn’t tell then he had one whole side broke off but I saw a decent rack with the naked eye and put the open sighted 1187 up as he was working through the thick brush a good 55-60 yards away. Nobody I hunted with or used binoculars back in the day in our hunting circles. The wind was settling in a low spot and he was coming down from the feed fields into the thick bedding area for the day. Those were some of the first lessons on paying attention to access and setting up early on intentional movement back to bedding. I was on the ground standing in front of a big tree to break up my outline when I saw him come in.
I don't even remember where I heard this, but it's stuck with me so long that it's not something I even think about... Sometimes you just take certain things for granted.
My dad is probably one of the best woodsman and hunters that I know, corresponding with a high body count. Growing up I remember my dad hunting in blue jeans and a flannel. I would probably have to say that he over-hunted individual stands, and didn't play the wind at all; but he was deadly. And all that was before trail cameras, etc. If he had used the wind to his advantage, I can only imagine!
