I've not done a lot of bow hunting deep in. Most of my hunts have been the kind where you walk along the edge of the woods, climb into the stand, turn the heat on, unwrap your breakfast sandwich, set your rifle in the shooting rest and wait for the deer you chased out of the field to come back out.

Now the bow hunt so far. I'm 50-60yds in the woods standing on a small platform with a safety rope holding me to the tree so I am able to lean out if need be. I'm able to shoot 180* to my left, which is where the clearest trail is. If one comes to my right, I can only watch it go by. Is there something I can do about that?

Also, I noticed going in I make a lot of noise walking on the ground clutter so I raked a path exposing the soft, spongy forest floor. Was this a mistake?

You should cut a shooting lane to the right leading to their trail so you have a clear shot. I do this at a lot of my stand locations. Best thing to use is a pole saw and you can cut most of the branches from in your treestand. Obviously do this on a day you’re not hunting cause you’ll make a lot of noise.
Clearing the ground is not a mistake. The only thing is it might draw attention to other hunters and lead them to your stand.

Pruning shooting lanes is totally normal, but usually done in the off seasons. Also prepare multiple trees for a given hot spot so you can play the wind appropriately. Raked path isn't going to "hurt" but first windy day you'll find it pointless. The idea is to leave as little indication that a human presence has been there as possible.

Thanks.

I leave my tether long enough that I can turn around facing the tree and shoot behind to the right of the stand. I will clear lanes in all directions and have shot while facing the tree quite often. As for raking the path I wouldn't say it's a mistake. I have a friend of a friend that actually uses a gas powered leaf blower in the timber to clear his path. I would think the smell and noise would be a deterrent but he kills big deer so it must not be.

Here is a little trick I used to use on Bucks just before or during the peak rut. If you are on a ladder stand or a stand with steps that you can get up and down fairly quickly, this may work at times. The leaves need to be dry and crunchy for this to work well. Late in the morning or in the afternoon, leave your bow up the tree and come down to the ground. Walk a circle around your tree and make sure you make loud leaf crunching sounds as you walk. Walk a couple times around and back at your ladder or steps take a stick or something and stir those leaves around good. The idea is to sound like another deer walking and raking in the leaves.
Don't stay down on the ground to long because when this works(and it does at times) the buck will show up pretty quickly. It will be looking for another deer.

Spooking deer going to stand in the morning is one of the big problems most Archer's face. This may sound weird(but I am weird),but to over come that,try skipping to your stand. Animals do not have the same walk cadence as we do. And they know the difference. I try to sound like anything but a human when going to stand.
Don't laugh till you try it.

Walking around your stand will only spread more of your scent around your stand. Not a good idea, especially for bowhunting. Cut good shooting lanes, minimize your scent and pay attention to the wind.

If your spooking deer in the morning, get ahead of the deer...Most morning hunts I do, I arrive at my tree 1-1.5 hours before the hint of any daylight. As long as your not hunting in a feeding area like oaks or apple trees, you should be ok...most of my setups are in a draw or in a scrape area that borders a food source like corn..deer are out feeding in the crops making my entrance undercover of darkness pretty easy...

I hunt out of a sling so if I wanted I could shoot 360 around the tree....most setups I take the best sign and set myself up for that shot..
Bedding areas during the rut phases I will make sure I can shoot in any direction just don’t know how a buck might work the bedding area...

Before hunting out of a sling, if the deer worked to my right side I’d just slip around facing the tree making this right hand shot Easy..

Im not laughing, but can you get someone to video tape that or maby get a gopro?

Trim your shooting lanes with a pole saw and try to sound like a squirrel going to your stand. Lord knows they aren't afraid to cause a ruckus.

That was unexpected. lol

Had a big doe and a smaller one making their way toward my stand. They were about 45 yds out in clutter when they spooked and returned where they came from. No major alarms but a couple tail flashes then quietly disappeared. Five minutes later a small deer (doe) comes right straight to the corn pile and is munching for five minutes then moves off to the non shooting side of the stand, gets in my cleared path and takes it out to the field. Then takes it right back to the base of my stand where she must have winded me because she bolts complete with the scream and tail flagging. I called it a day.

Gonna try'em first thing in the morning.

I always tried to sit in a position where i could draw and cover all of my shooting lanes. I almost always shoot sitting down from an old man climber. I also practiced from my stand in that shooting position. If i have to stand up i try to do it as soon as possible when i know a deer is coming in from the wrong way. The closer they are i want to be in position to just lift my bow and draw all at once and then its game over. I also will climb as high as possible safely. Always always always wear a good safety harness. Also i would never try to lean out relying on my tether to hold me. You are gonna fall if you start doing nonsense like that. Also always have a backup safety tether to use as a foot hold in case you do fall you can get back up to your stand and not just hang there like a pinata. I also believe in the scent killer when i bow hunt. It did seem to help and im not much on gimmicks. If you climb high enough you can hunt when the wind is wrong. Thats not always possible though. Another tip is if you get in a stare down contest with a deer thats close enough to see your eyes, never make eye contact. If they havent made you for a human and just think you are a weird lump in a tree sometimes they might calm down and look away long enough to draw. If you make eye contact they will bolt every time.

Also if you get busted in a tree, dont hunt from that tree until you kill the deer that busted you, next time she comes back she will look at where you were. Its usually a big nanny that does that stuff. Down here in alabama the deer walk around looking up in trees for hunters i swear. When i hunted in kansas as long as you were high enough the antlers didnt hit your boots when they walked by they were pretty oblivious. Also kansas deer are 10x easier to hunt than alabama deer especially after a few days after gun season opens up. They get nocturnal quick here if any pressure is put on em.

For getting to your stand you can't beat a $3000 electric bike! Or do like any sane person like myself an buy a 10$ garage sale bike an ride as close to stand as possible an ditch out of sight. I try to ditch an start to the stand in the same motion, never stopping. Sounds crazy but sure beats trying to sneak on foot. (Granted this only works on fairly level ground). Been doing it for 15yrs works good

That didn’t work out. Lol

to me,and i'm sure from following you're posts,learning something new is a great time eh.

I'm not sure about your terrain there, but keep in mind Thermals will screw a bowhunter in a heart beat. The uphill and down hill wind currents will bust you quite often. As for the one on your trail, she didn't know what it was that left the scent, she does now.

Today's lesson.

Corn is not good.

This morning's hunt went like this:

Didn't get up at 3:00am like I wanted. The wife left for work and I said what the heck and walked out to the stand, the time is 7:00am. Not much going on so I grabbed the antlers and rattled on and off for about a minute, time is 7:20am. Roughly 7:25am the deer pictured below comes out of the swamp and starts making his way toward my stand.



40yrds......35yds......25yrds.....walking right at me, I can't draw, or don't realize I can so I'm still waiting. He stops and looks right at me. I can't control my breathing and my chest is a heaving. lol He drops his head and steps behind two large pines 15yds away. I finally draw. A squirrel on the corn pile 10ft away goes bullistic and the deer breaks back to the swamp huffing and puffing.

I suck.

Back in the house at 8:00am.