Avoiding sucker stands
Courtesy of Bill Winke
In a recent Ask Winke question, I replied to a hunter who was trying to figure out how to hunt a trail just inside the woods from a small food plot. He would have to walk across the plot to get to the stand, but the bigger issue in my mind was the fact that his scent would have blow out into the plot when he hunted it.
HOW WE GET SUCKED IN
The lure, in this case, was the fact that the bucks he saw from a blind on the other side of the plot (the safe side) always seemed to be passing just inside the timber across the plot – no shot. This is the classic sucker setup. The lure is strong enough to cause us to take chances with the stand selection to the point where we ultimately either kill a buck on the first hunt or two or ruin the spot for an extended period of time.
It is the kind of spot that burns out very fast, because the odds of alerting (educating) lots of non-target deer (in this case they would be in the plot feeding – or trying to) is very high. If you aren’t successful shooting a buck right away, the impact to the area will bring natural movement to a screeching halt.
There are two ways that stands can betray you. It may be hard to get to and from the stand without alerting deer, or it may be hard to hunt the stand itself without swirling winds giving you away.
Think of it this way, even if you aren’t specifically getting busted by one of the bucks you are hunting, the body language of all the other deer that are now wary of the stand site will communicate danger to even those deer you have not spooked. Very quickly, all the local deer know something is wrong with that food plot and will avoid it for a period of time.
THE LONG-TERM EFFECTS
It is hard to say how long they will avoid it, or move through there only after dark, but it could be a couple of weeks (at the very least, it will be a week). And the effects add up. Each time deer detect human presence there, they will be less likely to risk daylight activity in that area until several night time trips (without sensing any danger) have eased their fears. Your botched hunts could be as much as a week, or maybe even two, apart and they will still serve to confirm to the deer that the small plot is risky – something to approach with ultimate caution.
Normally, stands found in valleys or draws are sucker stands because the swirling wind will give you away. However, with the use of sealed blinds, like the Redneck Blind shown here, you can get away with hunting such locations. The blind helps contain human odor and significantly reduces its spread.
OTHER CLASSIC SUCKER STANDS
I have run into a number of other classic sucker stands over the years. They fall into two categories. Either they are hard to approach and leave without being detected by tons of deer (this is common near feeding areas where getting out clean is nearly impossible). Or, they are spots where the wind is fickle and can give you away at any point.
The most common example of the second type of sucker stand is one found in a draw or bottom. You can find tons of deer sign (and some impressive buck sign) in the bottoms of draws. However, as promising as those ditch and creek crossings may look in such areas, the wind will swirl relentlessly here. Soon, every deer in the area will know you are there.
You can put a blind in such a spot (this is where I really like the Redneck Blinds that will contain human scent), but otherwise, you are best off avoiding such spots no matter how good they look. Deer don’t just stay in one spot. They move. So even though you can’t hunt the very best looking spots, you can hunt the fringes where you control the access and wind better to your advantage. Yes, you have to be a bit more patient when hunting the fringes, but the reward for that patience is much more consistent season.
If you are trying to justify why you should hunt a certain stand even though you know it is risky – it is probably a sucker stand. Beware because if you aren’t successful right away, you may be in for a long season.
