Hunting Blind Placement for all Phases of the Season

As summer progresses, we start imagining the bucks we catch on trail cameras. We can see them stepping in front of our hunting blind and into a shooting lane on opening day. While everything goes picture perfect in our minds, deer hunting rarely plays out like it does in our minds. That’s what makes it so fun.

In case your opening day vision doesn’t come true, hunting blinds in various locations will pay off later. Here are some tips for hunting blind placement for early, mid and late season deer hunts.

Early Season

The placement of early season bowhunting blinds depends a lot on your scouting. In most states, bow or early muzzleloader hunting seasons open while bucks are still in a summer pattern. Most hunters opt for a hunting blind on or in the middle of a field where deer feed on a regular basis. This works well if you are seeing deer show up in daylight hours when glassing the fields or checking trail cameras.

But if the evening weather is abnormally hot, or the bucks on your property are conditioned to stay out of big fields before dark, it might be best to put your hunting blind in a staging area. If this is the case, opt to hunt water holes, small food plots or clearings with natural browse tucked back in the timber. These are early-season hotspots. Identify these quick-stop locations close to trails a buck uses to navigate between bedding and feeding areas.

These areas should show you consistent early-season action until the acorns drop. Which brings us to our next area to put up a hunting blind.

Scout for acorns during the summer to determine the best blind locations. Ideally, you want to find isolated white oaks on the edge of fields, atop ridges or surrounded by red oaks. While deer will gorge on all acorns, the white oak crop is the most palatable. Scout for the presence of these candy-crops in July or August.

Distill the white oaks from red oaks by checking the leaves. Red oak leaves are jagged with pointed edges. The leaves of a white oak are rounded. Once you determined which type of tree it is, break out the binoculars and check for acorns in the upper tiers of the tree. When you find them, place a hunting blind within bow range and wait for them to drop. They will pull deer away from all the other food sources around. On a windy day, an evening hunt in this stand can be filled with non-stop action thanks to the fresh supply of acorns knocked down by the wind.

Mid Season

When the rut starts to pick up in most states, the key to seeing and getting shot opportunities during the rut is hunting pinches and funnels. It’s hard to pattern wanderlust bucks when they are searching for does, but when they are on their feet, they usually opt to take the easiest path. Look for places where ridges intersect with areas of cover so thick, there are only one or two places a deer can travel through them. Fingers or draws connecting blocks of timber and crossable creek banks are also great natural funnels. Something as small as a low spot in a fence might become a deer highway during the rut. Set up your blind around these runways and get comfortable. These are usually all-day sits when bucks are up on their feet, moving all day in any weather as they search for mates.

Late Season

During the late season, it’s back to the food. But it will not be the same food sources as early season. One big challenge of late-season deer hunting is identifying the preferred food source.

Standing corn and soybeans are great, but those choice crops can be scarce during the late season, especially if the deer population in your area is high. Brassicas and wheat are excellent late-season food plots, and many of our customers shoot big bucks from their blind overlooking these food sources when cold weather arrives. Finally, deer will consume brushy vegetation when nothing else is available.

If possible, leave some beans or corn standing or plant late-maturing food plot seeds like Winter Greens, wheat or brassicas.

When you have a good food source to hunt over in December and January, it might be your best chance to see a giant during daylight hours. Bigger and more mature deer are sort of forced to feed with the rest of the herd when the groceries dwindle.

A banks blind right in the middle of these feeding areas will allow for easy access and exit, and reduces the chance of being smelled by bedded deer as long as the wind is right. It will also keep you warm on those brutal cold days that keep treestand hunters on the couch.

Although it is hot, humid and buggy outside, a few hours of work in the summer to set up you bowhunting blinds will pay dividends in the fall. Set up some Stump hunting blinds in a variety of locations so you have a backup plan if you don’t tag out on opening day.