Pennsylvania Game News - August 2011 - 57

is now less than four feet wide and barely wider than an ATV. The trail on which Bobby’s Stand is located begins in the woods near a small creek that drains the property. It then snakes its way up the hillside for several hundred yards. The trail then parallels an agricultural field that is alternately planted with either corn or alfalfa. Along its length, hemlock and white pine branches grow low to the ground, making this an ideal location to find scrapes and rubs. The road was made about 40 years ago by loggers who cut the oak and other hardwood trees. Because it’s so overgrown, deer often use the convenience of the road to move from the heavy cover in the creek bottom below to feed in the fields. Experienced bowhunters know bucks seldom walk straight out into a field, but rather follow the field’s edge for some distance to where they feel it’s safe to enter. Because the grass along the field edge is high and uncut, it’s easy to locate where deer prefer entering the field to feed. In the preseason we look for entry points and place a portable stand in a suitable tree. Because these entry points may change from year to year, the location of the stand may vary. Bobby’s Stand doesn’t become Bobby’s Stand until we put it up. What makes this general area so good is the fact any deer moving along that narrow road almost always chooses to enter the field where the old tree stumps, treetops and heavy brush along the field edge offer easy access to the field. Because does and fawns tend to regularly use the same entry path, it is usually obvious. Bucks always seem to have their own agenda, and although some may use the same path as the does and fawns, older ones are less likely to do so. Before setting the stand, I look for a less obvious trail and if I discover one, I set up where I am likely to get a shot. Food is what draws deer to the field, but there is another reason this stand site is so good. From the sign they leave it’s obvious bucks like the convenience of walking along the overgrown path. The low hangaugust 2011

THIS 7-POINT made the mistake of coming too near “The Meadow” stand after feeding in the farm fields a short distance away. The Meadow Stand is a consistent producer.

ing white pine and hemlock boughs are ideal locations for a buck to make a scrape, and every fall we find numerous scrapes along the road. It’s an encouraging sign. If I find a fresh scrape along the road early in the season, I’ll consider placing a second stand nearby. To make it even more attractive, I freshen the scrape with good doe urine and monitor it with a trail camera. Any buck walking along that road is almost sure to stop and sniff the scrape, and if they do, I’ll at least get a photo and know the area is worth hunting. “The Meadow” is just one of those stand sites where you just know you’ll see deer. Years ago, the area served as a cow pasture for a farmer friend now long gone. The land stayed in the family but none of them farmed for a living. As a result, tall, almost impenetrable, stands of multiflora rose and thick stands of autumn olive took over what once were several acres of green grass. Now it almost screams “deer sanctuary.” As I thought about what makes the Meadow such a good stand location it occurred to me, perhaps it is because my entry and exit paths allow me to get to the stand by a route that doesn’t alarm deer. By driving down the hill along an old gas well road and parking at the bottom, I can follow a small stream directly to my stand. The stream seems to muffle any noise I make, and as a result, I can usually get into
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Pennsylvania Game News - August 2011

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