With his broad shoulders and high beams, he was a shooter buck, and as I watched him slowly walking by just out of shooting range, a wave of regret enveloped me. Obviously, I had found the sweet spot for that particular postage stamp of land, but just as apparently, I had not located the sweet spot on the sweet spot. Specifically, that certain tree that ensures that when a whitetail does come by, it will be within our shooting range.

Pre-season scouting to determine the feeding and bedding areas used by deer on the property you hunt is a critical beginning step in determining a stand site. Photo by Bruce Ingram.

I believe seven factors go into our making a logical decision concerning where to position a stand. At one point in my bowhunting career, I would have rated one or more of these steps as the most crucial ones, but now I feel that they are all relatively equal in importance. For if we fail to consider any one of the seven, then we may not be able to arrow the buck -- or doe for that matter -- we are after.

STEP ONE: NOTE THE BEDDING AND FEEDING AREAS
Although each of the seven steps is equal in importance, the one I want to take first is to establish where the bedding and feeding areas exist. Regardless of whether I want to bowhunt an area in the morning or evening, I don't want to be too close to the bedding area -- or too far for that matter.

Bedding areas often remain constant for whitetails even when the feeding locales change. There are too many factors involved for anyone to list an arbitrary yardage on just how close to set up to a bedding area, but here is a general guideline. Based on the terrain, don't go so close that a resting deer can either see or hear your approach. If the wind is blowing toward a bedding spot, you shouldn't be in the area anyway.

Regarding the food destinations, veteran hunters already know the obvious -- set up closer to food sources in the evening and nearer to bedding areas in the morning. But here is one mistake that even many long-time archers commit when the topic is stand selection. The day, the very day, that deer don't stroll through an area or the first time you notice that the sign (droppings and tracks primarily) appears just a tad stale, abandon the area. Don't be loyal to a stand site just because you viewed deer from that perch the day or days before.

STEP TWO: DETERMINE WIND DIRECTION
Once again, an obvious statement must appear -- we bowhunters have to take into account the prevailing wind direction when locating the sweetest sweet spot. Of the seven steps, this is the one that the deer will be less forgiving, if you will, of any error we might make.

For example, about five years ago, I had truly found a wonderful, potential sweet spot for opening day. The few acorns that were falling were concentrated in a small grove of oaks that were situated between two clearcuts. The area was a natural funnel, and deer traffic had been heavy as evidenced by fresh droppings, new rubs and scrapes, and nut hulls that littered the ground.