Terrain and Tactics – The Art of Positioning a Tree Stand to Hunt Deer with Outdoor Writer John E. Phillips
Day 2: How to Find and Hunt Natural Feeding Sites for Deer Using a Tree Stand with Outdoor Writer John E. Phillips
Editor’s Note: Tree stand placement not only determines how-many deer you’ll spot but also your likelihood of seeing a big buck.
 To pinpoint a buck, visit his dinner table, and bag him when he comes to eat. However, first you have to know what a deer wants to eat and when he wants to eat it. As the white-tailed deer browses, it may eat 30- to 40-different types of plants and shrubs throughout the fall and winter. Call your state department of conservation's wildlife section, and ask to speak to the deer specialist for your hunting area. This wildlife biologist will know more about deer foods, habits and haunts in your state than anyone else. He can tell you which food source the deer probably will target at the time you plan to hunt. After you obtain that information, locate that food source. Then you'll increase your odds for encountering that deer.
Also, make sure an area still has a producing food source when you decide to hunt. I've gone before to white oak acorn trees in the early fall and found . . .
* plenty of trails leading to certain trees,
* handfuls of deer droppings and
* an abundance of other sign like the shells of acorns the deer have eaten, scrapes and rubs and tons of tracks.
But if I don't locate any nuts on the ground, I’ll realize that deer already may have eaten the food source and left this site. Before you hang a tree stand at a food source, you not only have to find sign that indicates deer still are utilizing that food source, you also must see food on the ground. Then you’ll know the deer will return to eat there, while you sit nearby in your tree stand.
 Traditionally people have hunted over food as one of the most-common tree stand strategies. However, often hunters overlook where to hang their tree stands in relationship to that food. Here are some rules to follow when hunting a food source from a tree stand.
* Decide from which direction you must approach the food source to have a favorable wind before you hang your treestand. For instance, in AlabASA, my home state, the predominant wind comes from the northwest. If I can’t approach the stand from the southeast or from the north or south, then I'll only get to hunt that food source on specific days. To hunt effectively, most days my tree stand must face northwest. Therefore, before I hang a stand, I must know from which direction the wind most likely will blow. Then I can check that wind direction in relationship to the food source and begin to look for a tree from which I can hunt.
* Put the stand as far away from the food source as you can and still have the opportunity to make a reasonable shot. If you hunt with a bow, you may want to place your stand 30-yards from the food source and 100 yards or more away, if you hunt with a gun.
 But, if you want to hunt an acorn tree surrounded by a thicket, and the deer can approach the food from any direction, then you may have to hunt close to the food tree. However, if the deer have a well-defined trail that runs for1/4- to 1/2-mile from the tree, place your tree stand along the trail 200- to 400-yards away from the food source.
* Consider whether you plan to hunt from your tree stand in the morning or the afternoon. In the morning, you'll want to place your tree stand away from the food tree, maybe as much as 1/4- to 1/2- mile away along the trail the bucks will use to return to their bedding area. If you're too close to the food source, then as you go to the tree stand before daylight, you'll spook the deer you want to take. Deer most often will feed at night, especially in heavily-pressured regions. When hunting in the afternoon, put your tree stand closer to the food source to take the bucks as they come from their bedding area to the feeding spot just at dark.
 Just because you've found a food source doesn't mean you’ll have success once you hang a tree stand. If you don’t consider these other factors before you hang your stand, you will spook more bucks than you take.
To get John E. Phillips’ Kindle books, “Bowhunting Deer: The Secrets of the PSE Pros,” “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro” and “How to Hunt Deer Up Close: With Bows, Rifles, Muzzleloaders and Crossbows,” click on them, or go to http://www.ASAzon.com/kindle-ebooks, type in the name of the book, and download it to your Kindle, and/or download a Kindle app for your iPad, SmartPhone or computer.
About the Author
John Phillips, winner of the 2012 Homer Circle Fishing Award for outstanding fishing writer by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA), the 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the year and the 2007 Legendary Communicator chosen for induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, is a freelance writer (over 6,000 magazine articles for about 100 magazines and several thousand newspaper columns published), magazine editor, photographer for print media as well as industry catalogues (over 25,000 photos published), lecturer, outdoor consultant, marketing consultant, book author and daily internet content provider with an overview of the outdoors. Click here for more information and a list of all the books available from John E. Phillips.
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