Some hunters believe that game has an internal calendar: During the closed season, roe deer, in particular, are familiar with the open areas during the day and when the hunting season begins, it becomes downright invisible. The reason for this, however, is the hunting activities of the resident hunters. For this reason, for some years now there has been a demand from wildlife biologists to hunt hoofed game effectively only on a few days of the year on driven hunts across territories with as little disruption as possible.
The disadvantage of driven hunts, however, is that the hunted game moves, worse shots occur, more searches occur. The required dogs are endangered by defensive or shot game and road traffic, hunters, and drivers are exposed to an increased risk of accidents. The game by drivers and Dogs is stressed, the game quality is poor, and that it is much more difficult to address the game – especially leading dams – correctly.
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Important: Good Preparation
With the right behavior before, during, and after the hide hunt, the hunter can do a lot to ensure that the game is disturbed as little as possible. The basis for undisturbed hide hunting is the planned installation of hiding facilities and the ways to get there. As invisible, inaudible, and imperceptible as possible to come and go is the keyword here. This requires precise knowledge of the territory and habits of the game.
Various Types of Elevated Stands
Raised Houses
Raised houses should offer a good overview of open spaces, aisles in the forest, and deer passages. The stalking paths to the high seat should start from the main paths that are often used, run in good cover, and be as short as possible. So that noiseless walking is possible, the stalking path should be free of vegetation, branches, or cones during the hunting season.
This works best if the turf and other floor coverings are hacked down to the raw soil when the path is laid out. Regular maintenance can then be carried out easily and effectively, for example with a rake. It is important that the stalking path only begin 32 to 65ft after the main path so that it is not discovered and used by walkers in the forest.
So that the game does not notice the hunter on the way there and back, the raised hide ladder should be grown in by covering trees and bushes all year round and thus protected from view. Alternatively, stacked branches can achieve this purpose. Attaching a screen made of so-called wooden slabs or shuttering boards on the outside of the ladder and in front of the pulpit platform has also proven its worth.
Tree Hunting Posts With or Without Ladder
Without going even to assess which of the two models is more comfortable or practical to be seated in, while hunters wait for the game, they must decide on which tree chair to expect to buy based on its greater or lesser difficulty to climb and get off it.
You must also assess the greater or lesser difficulty of assembly and installation of both models. Neither of the two models can be considered as a portable tree stand, about taking them and bringing them the same day of waiting. If it is true, some are more difficult than others are and need more than one person for their correct installation.
Ladder Stand or Elevated Position with Ladder for Waiting
The positions of high hunting Ladder Stand, are a chair await leaning against the trunk of a tree and have built a ladder to raise and lower them. The chairs ladder tree, usually are made of high-strength metal alloys and consist of soft or padded seats for waiting more convenient and comfortable.
The height, at which these types of elevated hunting posts are placed, varies logically based on the size of the ladder or the number of steps it has. Although there are models of tree posts with extendable ladders, in which hunters can vary the height of placement according to your needs or the configuration of the land where they are waiting for a game and the needs of visibility or cover more land depending on whether hunters are in open or very closed places.
The positions for waiting with stairs or ladder stand are considered more or less mobile positions. Hunters can change places, depending on whether the game changes their desire, which cannot be done at the same time or easily by a single person. Therefore, from this point of view, they are stalls or fixed turrets for night waits.
Treestand or Tree Chair without Ladder for Waiting
The elevated hunting posts without ladder or TreeStand are a variant of the Ladder Stand, which, as its name suggests, differs from the previous one by not having a ladder to go up and down the post.
They have some advantages and some disadvantages over their older siblings. As for the positive, it could be highlighted that they are portable and easy to transport and install by a single person, being able to choose the tree and the position that most interests you.
In addition, the Tree Stand or tree stands without a ladder can be placed at the height you want and that the thickness and measure of the tree trunk allow you.
The main drawback of an elevated hunting post without a ladder or a tree chair for waiting. It is the one that hunters already imagine and is that since it does not have any type of built-in steps. The difficulties of the post must be done by other methods such as trampolines, climbing straps, or attachment of additional rungs to the tree trunk.
Portable Waiting Turrets
Another magnificent option to have a good high hunting post is the portable turrets for waiting, which are called portable because at a certain moment hunters can change their location within the game, depending on where they are moving. Nevertheless, it is neither an easy nor a fast process.
Of course, you alone will not be able to take the portable turret to wait one afternoon before dark and put it next to a field that is being taken by the game, but it will require several people, machinery, and a suitable means of transport such as a truck or van.
The turrets are made of wood or iron of different heights which are characterized by high stability and therefore safety, comfort for long waits, and having bases and platforms spacious where they can stand quietly two hunters to see spend hours in the evening.
The turrets for waiting have against them the relative fact of being portable due to their large size and weight. Moreover, with the difficulty of mounting and dismounting that they have for a single hunter, it practically makes them into fixed elevated hunting positions. They require significant planning to be moved from one site to another on the hunt. The turrets for portable waiting are within the group elevated hunting stations with a ladder.
Price of Portable Hunting Turrets for Waiting
These models of high hunting positions, due to their volume, size, and weight, are not another accessory of equipment that hunters can keep in a closet. For this reason and because they cannot be considered as cheap hunting turrets, hunters should only consider their purchase when they have a long-term hunt.
Due to the given possibility that next season you will not hunt on the same farm, it is better to start with something smaller. It will be preferable to buy a simpler model of a tree stand or a high hunting position, which does not suppose a great investment and that, meets your needs.
Advantages of Elevated Hunting Posts
- Distance to the dump: The use of tree or elevated hunting positions will allow us to be located a short distance from the place where hunters expect to play the final set with the game and although it is perfect for any type of weapon, it is especially recommended for archers and you wait with a shotgun.
- Visibility: From a high waiting position, you will dominate much more ground than if hunters are placed on the ground, having the possibility of seeing the game much earlier and calming the nerves before the final moment.
- The air: Being high above the dump or place where the game will be, the waiting position with a chair, either tree stand or ladder stand, is something hunters will avoid aerating the game.
- Camouflage: Placing in an elevated hunting post will hide silhouette and although they say that the eyesight of the game is not good, they will be wary of any strange bulge that they see on the ground and that in their opinion was not there the night before.
- The angle of fire: A high hunting post allows a shot biased diagonally from top to bottom, which is placed in a good place will be fatal of necessity, almost with any caliber that hunters use.
Importance of Weather
Promising raised hide weather is, for example, when there is no wind, clear visibility, and after rain and thunderstorms. The wind direction at the seat is a decisive factor for a successful and undisturbed hunt. Therefore, the seat should always be chosen so that the wind does not pull on the grazing area, in the entrance area, and on the deer crossing. The problem is that the wind at the edges of forests, depressions, and stream valleys can turn and change completely unpredictably.
To get more clarity for the hunt planning, the hunter should climb his high seats over time in different wind directions, which determine and document the local direction of movement. It gets even more complicated when you consider that the wind can change its direction while you are sitting in the seat or that it mostly kisses towards dusk, i.e. that it constantly rotates. Then the hunter has to break off the hide because the game will notice him anyway and he would only be disturbed.
The decisive factor for the disruptive effect of the wind is that the game does not associate the individual weather of the hunter with the pursuit of the hunt. Human weather is the constant companion of wild animals in the cultural landscape. It is therefore extremely important to hunt in such a way that the hunter does everything possible to avoid making the connection with the hunt. If the hunter only starts hiding when the game is already changing or is already standing on the grazing area, the risk of disturbance is very high.
The same applies to the termination of the residence. If the game is still on the grazing area or if hunters see the game stalking back, they must take the time and wait until the game can no longer notice them.
Before and After the Shot
The hunter can also make a significant contribution to lowering the hunting pressure through correct behavior before and after the shot. Hunters on the hide and possible companions should only move slowly, wear dark clothing that covers the light parts of the body, not talk, not makes phone calls, and constantly observe the surroundings. So-called break-open rifles have the advantage when hunted down that they can be loaded and unloaded silently. In principle, larger packs or jumps should not be shot. It is best to shoot individual pieces or small family groups. This works especially well at the beginning of the hunting season.
After killing, the hunter must remain motionless on the hide for at least 10 to 15 minutes so that the game does not bring the shooting and the hunter together. Experience in military training areas shows that it is not the shooting that disturbs the game, but everything the hunter does before and after. Often the game is changing or is hoped for in the stock and observes the environment after the shot without the hunter noticing.
If the game that has been shot is recovered, it should, if possible, not be broken open at the place where it was killed. The scent of blood makes other game suspicious. It is best to break open the hunted piece first in the game room.