I woke up early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so my mind drifted to things that need to be done on the lease this weekend before opening day of deer season a month or so away. As I pondered food plots that need clearing and stands that needed moving, I realized I had decided to move my favorite stand due the land being cleared beside it, causing deer travel to switch a little further away.
Now this stand was called the "top stand" between my father and myself. It was as spot my father and I found in in 2005 after some land was cleared opening up a clear path to the creek. I had shot a 140 inch 9 point in 2003 that had died in this opening and we decided now would be a good time to check it out.
As soon as we entered the spot my dad started to grin as he looked at me and said "This is a Deer Mecca" (This phrase I have heard him say two other times, both time within a few weeks I had helped him drag horns form the area he had named this.) The spot was special you could just feel it as you looked around. There was a huge bedding area some 300 yards to the south of this little opening a clear cut to the east, and a wall of grape vines to the West. There as a creek that ran north to south and turned just before the opening and then forking just after the opening to make a little pool to the southeast... This forced the deer to walk through a 30 by 50 yard opening that had the prettiest forked oak tree sitting in the middle of it.
That lock on has sat on that forked oak tree since that day six years ago. I have sat that stand on every Northwest wind I could get. I have blown shots from buck fever in my early years of Traditional hunting, on three 140 class eight points, one high 150 inch twelve point (that my father still blames my wooden bow and arrows for) but I know it was my own dang fault for not picking a spot, lessons I have taken to heart and made me a much better hunter to date, and in later years has lead to several nice hogs being harvested from this stand.
I have seen more deer from that stand in the last six deer season than any other stand I have ever hunted.
Which brings me to ask, do you have or remember your "Deer Mecca"? That stand that as you think about it right now, you get a little rush of excitement as you mind drifts to what could happen next time you sit there.
Kodie's stand located in Bullock county Alabama. This stand was named in memory of the best dog i've ever had the privilege of knowing. The six or seven years i hunted it, i killed more nice deer there than anywhere else i've hunted combined. It was a hardwood bottom that formed a peninsula that jutted out into a sage field on one side and a small patch of oats i planted every year on the other side. It brought a smile to my face just thinking about it now.
Yes I do....VERY WELL....
I had found the most perfect funnel...and I killed a lot of deer there,....
On October 17th 1992 I killed 3 in 13....two bucks and a doe in 13 minutes. Luckily I had one of my best friends there to help me with the chores that night.
Yep, there are two stands that seem to produce every year.....I hope this year is the same.
Oh yea! I had a stand in the shawnee national forest that I miss deerly. Get it? Miss deerly? Anyway it was way out there so it received no pressure. It was about a ten acre chunk of woods on the inside of the bend in a creek. It had undergone a forest fire a few years before I found it. The ten acres was surrounded by thousands of acres of open hardwoods. The ten acre chunk was incredibly thick. Each evening when the wind was right the deer would emerge from the thicket and cross the creek in a single spot. There just happened to be a large pin oak just downwind of the crossing. I took a number of deer from that exact tree! It was a real honey hole and one of the best stands I ever hung.
Yep. One tall pine overlooking a small clearing that seperated food from beds. Always expected to see something there...no bait required.
Yes.
Took my limit year after year.
Public land that had private trails running into it.
One guy bought all the land surrounding it.
Closed/blocked the trails...the guy owns a gravel pit adjacent to it and used big equipment to dig holes and make dirt walls..lol
Now, unless I feel like walking 3 miles in I'm not there.
Not for big bucks, but I have stand on public in Nebraska simply called the hot spot. Leave Friday night, arrive around midnight and hang a stand there, catch a few hours of sleep in the truck and climb in. Its a funnel on a creek bottom and almost every deer killed from the stand has been standing in the same spot.
Yep. Elkhart IN in the early 1980's for me. Best farm I ever hunted.
The Assassination Station. Transition point between government pines, a wet swale, thick willows and poplars, and a small hillside opening. We have a 20' ladderstand there and it has been productive for the last 6-7 years!
The "Hole in the Wall". Small valley, or hole, with a spring creek running down the south side. About 40 yards across with tag alders around 2 sides. Alfalfa field to the east,thick brush to the west. The bucks leave the alfalfa in the morning, and hang around this clearing, rubbing antlers and waiting for the does. In the evening they stage here before entering the field. Put a friend in here on a frosty morning, he had 8 bucks around, and put an arrow thru the biggest 8 point. I've killed many bucks here, including my first with a bow back in 1978.
Little Horse creek in Telfair county Ga. Only bout 300 yards off the highway. It was our club boundry and there was an old clear cut on the north side and heavy pines on the south. Lots of oaks and grape vines in the early season. Large cypress pond in the middle. Deer come out of both sides! My son got his first buck in that creek. Good times!
A treestand nestled in three large poplars. Have seen more deer, shot more deer, and missed more deer out of this one stand than any other. Huge white oak just 22 yards away.
Unfortunately this piece of property was sold this Spring, so its just a memory for now :( !