One of the most difficult temptations to resist is the urge to hunt when you shouldn’t. After waiting for months and months for deer season to finally open, how you can you stay away from a stand, especially if you have a picture of a great deer passing by? It’s tough, but you need to do it, especially if you hunt in the morning. The following actions are bound to bust that buck so avoid them at all costs.

Here's a great place for a stand, but how you get here matters.
Here’s a great place for a stand, but how you get here matters.
  • Buy gas or eat at a fast-food restaurant before the hunt. No matter how much scent elimination you use, your feet will smell like gasoline and your hair like bacon. Gas up the night before and eat cereal for breakfast.
  • Approach with the wind at your back. If you walk with the wind, your scent is announcing your presence like a loud speaker at a football game. If the wind is wrong, wait for another day.
  • Blow out game on the way in. Some stands are wonderful morning sits, yet you need to spend the night in order not to scare game away as you walk in. Sometimes you can make a wide circle and reach the stand without bumping deer.
  • Don’t enter at daylight. Especially in early season, be in your stand in the dark, dark. It’s exciting to see and hear the woods come alive and you’ll spook less game in the dark.
  • Finally, plan your approach and know the tree you will use if using a self-climbing stand. Lay a stick against the tree so its easily identified in the dark and make sure you can approach the stand quietly.

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