Can't begin to tell you how often I thought of this thread during the past 3 months while sitting on stand and wondered how the various stand locations detailed in different posts played out for you guys.
I stumbled into a prime location in early September...creek bottom, deer were funneled by terrain features up against a high bank just before a ridge saddle which allowed them to short cut a bend in the creek. Closer inspection revealed a licking branch which later on hung over a scrape. Best of all any southerly wind was very reliable at this location. On October 24 I arrowed my best buck to date during an evening sit.
Found another ridge crossing by studying google earth. Trail cameras confirmed my suspicions that it was a buck travel corridor, but my tag was filled before I got a chance to hunt it.
I'd be lying if I didn't admit that this thread provided some of the inspiration to get out there and persist until I found these locations.
Best of all, I've already got 2 more new locations to get set up this spring.
How'd you all do? I'm all ears...

No updates???

Just saw a post on another site by Jon, seems things worked out! I hope he posts some pics and details.

That stand didn't work out this year for me - the farmer never got around to planting the field due to the wet spring/summer, so instead of soybeans I had 8 ft tall ragweed    

I DID shoot a 3 1/2 yr old on the same travel pattern in the timber off of the right side of the map, in the bottom on a crossing, about 3-400 yards from that stand, travelling the same pattern in reverse - ie. from E towards W.  Sat the stand I took the photos of twice and could have shot deer from it both times, just not getting the buck travel there as normal due to lack of crops......next year I'm planting the fingers of ag myself as food plots...so the worm may turn, as they say!

R

Thanks, Ryan.
We bow hunters are are an optimistic bunch aren't we. The never ending plans to fine tune things for next year are at least half the fun!

Hey guys. Sorry. Been busy! The header stand that I spoke of here worked out fantastic. Unfortunately I only got to hunt it one day due to wind direction. But the one day I sat there was great. I sat all day and saw 9 deer that day during the peak of the rut. Every single one of them walked directly underneath me and on the same trail. 5 of them were bucks and I could have killed any of them had I wanted to. Now when you see 9 deer and everyone of them ends up right underneath you well....it's a damn good feeling!  As I sat there that day I realized that I would not have been able to figure out this stand had I tried to scout it during the summer or even during season. March is the time to do it! That stand is not only placed correctly but I also did some hinge cutting to further route the deer where I wanted them to walk. I also blocked the trails I didn't want them on. The access to the tree is perfect. As long as I can keep permission on the property I know I'm going to kill a big one out of that tree!
Towards the end of my hunt on almost the last day I killed a nice buck out of another stand that I also scouted out this past March. He wasn't a monster or anything but a nice 5x4 and he was the best buck I saw in almost 10 days of hard hunting. This stand also worked out perfectly just like I hoped. I'll try to explain the situation with this stand but it's a little difficult to explain without pics.
Basically this stand was placed in a ravine setting that ran through a cattle pasture. Picture a ravine running east to west through otherwise open cattle pasture. The ravine was not very wide but it is very steep. Almost like a gorge. At the west end of the ravine is a picked corn field. On the east end is the main chunk of woods. This is hilly terrain and the deer use this ravine to travel through the otherwise open pasture to the field at the end.
Now, in the center of this ravine is a "bowl". I guess a way to describe the situation is picture a long narrow eliptical shaped ravine with a circular shaped bowl in the bottom. The bowl is a spot where in previous years I had seen bucks cruise through during the rut.
Obviously setting up in the bowl won't work because of swirling winds. So instead I had setup stands towards the top of the ravine. You know how there is always a trail on the side hill about 1/3 down from the top? I had stands setup on these locations near where the bucks would congregate in the bowl.
I had moved stands around the area 3 or 4 times but was always getting busted either due to swirling winds or access to the tree.
To make matters worse, no matter what side of the ravine I setup on, the bucks would invariably walk the other side of it!
It makes sense when you think about it. If I setup on the south side of the east/west running ravine, with the wind in my face, the buck would always walk on the other side out of range. This way he can walk the trail that is 1/3 down from the top with the wind coming over the top of the lip while he can also easily see down into the bottom.
So, after reading about the stand that Ryan Rothhaar had setup with the wind at his back, a light went off in my head. The answer to my situation was so simple yet it never occurred to me. I needed to setup near the top of the ravine but I actually needed the wind at my back! This way the deer would have with wind in their favor which would encourage them to walk on my side of the ravine. So I hung the stand up at the top way above the trail and right near the bowl. The idea was that even though my wind was coming from behind me, I was high enough to keep it up above the "lip" and the swirling that happens down below. I gotta say it feels weird to setup with the wind at my back but I had to try it.
It worked perfectly. The first day I sat the stand was the day before Veterans Day. I sat all day. I passed up easy shots at 3 1.5 year old bucks that never had a clue I was there. All 3 came through the bowl and then continued past me at 15 yards or less. They were far enough below me that my wind just blew right over the top of them. And I was far enough above the lip of the ravine to prevent swirling winds. Bingo. I now knew it was only a matter of time.
With the winds forecast to be the same on Veterans Day and the fact that I did not spook any deer I decided to go ahead and plan for another all day sit in the tree. On Veterans Day I snuck in early. I altered my access route a little because I knew the deer were in the picked cornfield and I did not want to blow them out.  Some does came through before it was even light enough to shoot. They came from the field and walked past me towards the main bedding cover.
After it got light I just kept watching towards the direction of the field which was a couple hundred yards off to the west. This was my 9th day of a 10 day hunt.
Somewhere around 9:00 I saw this buck coming. He was still 75 yards away when I became certain he would walk right underneath me. As he got closer he hit an area where I had hinge cut some trees to move the deer my way and he walked right into the trap. It was a steep shot but only about 8 or 9 yards away. My arrow went clean through and he only went about 40 yards before I saw him go down. Like I said he is not a monster or anything especially for the Midwest but he was the best buck I saw in almost 10 hard days of hunting. The fact that he followed the script that I had written to a T made the whole thing that much more satisfying!

Kevin, that is awesome! Sounds like one hell of a setup! Show us a pic of your buck! Congrats!

Great story and great deer, Jon!!! Made me feel like I was right there. Thanks for sharing.
I will see what I can do about posting a picture. I'm not sure how to post them to this site.

That's a great buck and well earned! Thanks for sharing the journey that led to this harvest. Well done...

Congrats Jon

Vey nice buck! ...even for the Illinois he's not bad at all.

Awesome Jon!

I've really enjoyed following this thread.  Congrats Jon on your great descriptions of your area and for harvesting your nice buck!    

Bernie

Hey, Jon, he's a dandy, congrats!  This has been a great thread, good cross fertilization of ideas.  So often we get stuck in what we "know", its great to get different perspectives.  One thing that guys lose sight of so often is that we are hunting animals that move by instinct, path of least resistance (ie laziness) and some learned response (particularly areas of learned safety)....but the deer, even "old smart ones" don't REASON like people can (notice I didn't say like people DO...as that can be debatable sometimes   ).  Keep that in mind, keep your eyes open, don't overthink yourself and it starts to make more and more sense!

Would that deer be a 3 1/2 or a 4 1/2 in your area?

R

I agree Ryan. Hopefully we can keep this thread going while we all plan for next season. I think the buck is a 3 1/2 year old. I shot him south of where I live and the deer down there seem to take an extra year to "catch up" so to speak but that's my guess. I'll probably send a tooth in just for perspective but I really don't think he's older than that.

Yeah, I know what you mean about areas with the deer a year behind, that's what my place in Mo is like compared to here..average 3 1/2 there is a 110-120 inch deer, your buck would probably be 4 1/2 there based on the mass, that's why I asked.  4 1/2's and better are great.... but the November woods sure would be a lot more boring without the randy 3 1/2's around to make mistakes      

R

Congradulations Jon-Hap

Congrats John.  

I have an area as well for some reason when the wind blows, its usually opposite from forecasted unless you get up to the first shelf, then its back to forecasted direction.

Doesn't matter though, no deer there anyhow. lol  I did see a doe this year, first deer I have seen bow hunting in about 30 sits.

I love the information on this thread. Its so refreshing to see instead of the usual equipment discussions. Not that I hate those threads, I love diversity.    

Congrats! Great buck and great story!

Yea. You kinda got me curious Ryan.  The deer down there are smaller in body and everything than the ones where I live.  But there are a lot more of them and more of them get a little age on them.  I'll send in a tooth so that I know what I'm looking at in future seasons.