strommen--tree stand west

Luke Strommen, who you might have seen shoot some great bucks with his longbow on my TV shows, is one of the best field hunters I know.

The habitat he hunts in northeastern Montana is a patchwork of huge alfalfa and wheat fields stitched with woodlots and strips. He has had to master the technique of setting his stands for close shots (15 yards or so) w/his longbow. He’s one the best I’ve seen at it, and here’s his advice to help with your stand sets this fall.

“I always try to hunt from trees on the fringes, edges and funnels around fields and stay out of the woods if I can, especially early in the season,” says Luke. “This will leave core areas uncontaminated. You won’t risk bumping bucks and does out of the woods and onto another property or out of the picture.

“Fringe setups are easier and quieter to get to and from without spooking animals, and they give you options of accessing the spot from different directions across the field no matter the wind. They can be accessed in the early-morning dark, before deer come back to their core areas in the woods, or from field side in early afternoon, before they start filtering out of the woods to feed.”

In our next post, Luke talks about hanging tree stands back in the woods.