Originally Posted By: perchjerker
Jono , you sound like you are making it hard on yourself. First find the food source they are using. Second decide where the wind comes from most in that area. Then it's just a matter of finding the tree. Then deciding if you can climb or you need a loc on. We are lucky in the South. In most places there are plenty of climbable trees. It may be hard to understand, but in the mid west they are very few. they fork or are limbed out at a low height. Something I failed to mention is safety. Get a harness and use it. wear it during practice and get used to it. It is not a good feeling to be hanging upside down 20 ' up before daylight. I can assure you of that. Don't get me wrong, if there is a mistake. I've made it. HUNT SAFE


Sounds simple except that the woods, at least early season, are absolutely covered up with food. Seems like acorns are the ticket as long as they are available, and then clear cuts. I hunt public land and they plant a bunch of fields every year but for the most part, I don't think the deer could be bothered. I never hunt the plots. It's pretty tricky to try and predict which hardwood finger they will want on a given day. I will start off this year on white oaks or sawtooths as close to known bedding areas as I dare go and after that I think I will be focused on trails and concentrations of oaks, and of course places where I've seen deer in the past. I've seen the most deer though on trails leading into clear cuts (I think I'm going to save those spots until the rut). Still learning, but I'm a lot more confident. Of course last year I was pretty confident too and wound up killing 1 deer ... with a rifle.