early season bowhunting

Here are 4 places where you can’t go wrong hanging tree stands in the coming weeks.

Break Lines: Look for linear strips where dark pine timber and/or hardwoods come together with brush, tall grass, second-growth saplings, etc. Deer love to walk and browse on these edges year-round; bucks rub and scrape like mad on the lines as the rut approaches.

Oak Ridges. A narrow hogback with acorn trees within 100 yards of a corn or bean field is one of my favorite spots. Deer cut around points, ditches and gullies on the ridges; hang stands on or near these terrains to funnel bucks close for shots. Does and bucks eat acorns and browse in ridge thickets not only in the evenings, but in the mornings and at midday as well. Sit in a ridge stand near an ag field all day in early November and you can’t help but to see some rutting deer.

Creek or River Crossings: A water source funnels the movements of most of the deer that travel through a woodlot. The animals cling to the cover on the banks, and ford the water at shallow places. Put stands there.

Fencerows: Deer cling to brushy or tree-line fence rows when traveling from fields to woods or between blocks of timber. It’s best to play the wind and set your stand near one end of a fencerow, or in a field corner where the fence runs into the woods.

Where is your favorite spot for a bow stand?