spooking deer

[Jal5]

Two early bow seasons now on my friends small 14 acre property I spook deer walkng in.  Property is bordered by a small woods to the left, straight in front of me a strip of woods with highway beyond that, and a ravine on the right with larger field beyond that.  The open area of his field is loaded with deer crap, wooded areas have some nice rubs too.  he claims he sees deer morning and evening. I have only seen does so far.  Wind direction when I have hunted has been from the highway blowing towards me.

Any suggestions about how to approach this area without spooking deer? I park as far away as I possibly can already and walk in quietly.
Might try again during our upcoming ML season.  Nobody else hunts this property, although the neighbor hunts his property during our gun season.
Joe

[wink_man]

What time do you go in in the morning? You mention how the wind blows, but does it blow from you to where the deer would approach you once you are in your stand? I had a similar situation on a farm I used to hunt, where the only way to get to the stand would spook deer if they were in the vicinity. I found that being in my stand EARLY, an hour and a half before light, without making a sound, pretty much eliminated the problem, they seemed to have a short attention span, and I think that being in the stand for an hour and a half convinced them that the problem was either gone, or moved off elsewhere.
Sincerely,
 Garry

[Jal5]

Thanks Winkman-
I know I am not getting in there as early as you indicated. As far as wind direction, I can get in the stand with the wind blowing my scent away from where they enter the area for the most part. It seems like they enter from any of the three directions I mentioned in the post.

Joe

[Graybeard]

Fourteen acres is a pretty tiny piece of property. Depending on what surrounds it might be fine but it does take some special attention to detail to hunt successfully.

First you need to know when the deer are using it and why. It's way to small for them to spend more than a small part of their day there. Are they using it primary to feed or to bed or just traveling thru. Once you've determined that it helps to narrow down when they will be there for you to hunt. Make darn sure you are there well ahead of them and only when the wind is right. Otherwise you're only ruining your chances.

It's too small an area to come into it when the deer are there and hunt from a stand. You'll have to be in stand when they arrive. And wind is a really big factor too. It absolutely must be right.

I've spent many years hunting on a 40 acre tract but surrounded by many hundreds of acres of other deer cover. In that time most of my hunting efforts have centered on an area no larger than you are hunting. I've learned when they come thru and when I can and can't hunt there successfully. I also know what direction the wind is most likely to come from. I try to hunt on any given day at one of several stands I have in place there based on the likely wind direction for that day.

I think you're going to need to learn your area that way.