Eastern WA-WT hunting from tree stands??

[finnman]

Hello WT hunters! It has been 14 years since I have had a bow. I lost all my archery stuff and my wife’s to a thief in 2011. I never replaced it, made me sick.
Now I have 2 compound bows, my wife has one, and I have 7 recurve bows. I guess you could say “I am back!” 
We also have land in North central WA and it has whitetails on and around it. Private on 2 sides and forest service on 2 sides.
Does anyone use tree stands to hunt WT? What is your approach and setup like?
When do you like to be in the stand?
What is an effective way to analyze stand locations?
I may try to get some
Locations established after watching my trail cameras.
Thanks for any advice.
 

[hunter399]

Hello WT hunters! It has been 14 years since I have had a bow. I lost all my archery stuff and my wife’s to a thief in 2011. I never replaced it, made me sick.
Now I have 2 compound bows, my wife has one, and I have 7 recurve bows. I guess you could say “I am back!” 
We also have land in North central WA and it has whitetails on and around it. Private on 2 sides and forest service on 2 sides.
Does anyone use tree stands to hunt WT? What is your approach and setup like?
When do you like to be in the stand?
What is an effective way to analyze stand locations?
I may try to get some
Locations established after watching my trail cameras.
Thanks for any advice.
 

I thought you had posted some really good pics.
If that was you,looked like you already have a good tree stand spot.

Yup, Geek out on camera,where they going. Which direction leave/come from ect,ect.

Maybe try to setup multiple stands. Or be prepared to move as needed. Travel patterns can change . Maybe setup where the most doe activity is,if rut hunting.

Lots of possibilities.

This doesn't apply to you as much.
The public land archery hunter is gonna have to have those travel corridor locked in pretty well. Seems every tree stand I've ever found during archery ,always had an attractant.
Not saying it's impossible, probably a bit more technical on stand location without bait.

[Feathernfurr]

Place em on travel routes between buck bedding and food sources, in and around doe bedding for the rut. Pinch points and natural funnels are a good place too. On edge habitat like where timber meets ag or different age stands of timber. Mornings evenings generally. In the stand 30 minutes before legal shooting light, climb down after last legal. All day sits can be productive during the rut or full moon cycles.

[Doublelunger]

Place em on travel routes between buck bedding and food sources, in and around doe bedding for the rut. Pinch points and natural funnels are a good place too. On edge habitat like where timber meets ag or different age stands of timber. Mornings evenings generally. In the stand 30 minutes before legal shooting light, climb down after last legal. All day sits can be productive during the rut or full moon cycles.

This is spot on

I killed a few out of stands in the NE corner. Its hard in the mountains but try to play the wind. Seems like where I hunted the wind was usually out of the west or the south. So I'd always have at least one stand that was good for a west wind and one that was good for a south wind. And usually if I could get a couple more sets that were good for north and east I would try.

[finnman]

Hello WT hunters! It has been 14 years since I have had a bow. I lost all my archery stuff and my wife’s to a thief in 2011. I never replaced it, made me sick.
Now I have 2 compound bows, my wife has one, and I have 7 recurve bows. I guess you could say “I am back!” 
We also have land in North central WA and it has whitetails on and around it. Private on 2 sides and forest service on 2 sides.
Does anyone use tree stands to hunt WT? What is your approach and setup like?
When do you like to be in the stand?
What is an effective way to analyze stand locations?
I may try to get some
Locations established after watching my trail cameras.
Thanks for any advice.
 

I thought you had posted some really good pics.
If that was you,looked like you already have a good tree stand spot.

Yup, Geek out on camera,where they going. Which direction leave/come from ect,ect.

Maybe try to setup multiple stands. Or be prepared to move as needed. Travel patterns can change . Maybe setup where the most doe activity is,if rut hunting.

Lots of possibilities.

This doesn't apply to you as much.
The public land archery hunter is gonna have to have those travel corridor locked in pretty well. Seems every tree stand I've ever found during archery ,always had an attractant.
Not saying it's impossible, probably a bit more technical on stand location without bait.

I am struggling with stand location decisions. The draw they like runs north south. The property is at the head of a large meadow that runs near Ruth south and it funnels the wind hard from the south most of the time.
The property also gets steep 3/4 the way in the back, the evening drafts come hard down slope headed south. The day time wind likes going up north.
Still analyzing the deer activity from the cameras and since they come from private n the south I have not pinned down where they bed or where they feed. I did get one WT doe that took a hour nap right in front
Of my camera. I deleted about 200 pictures of her sleeping.
They did just thin the property east
Of me….i may try to see how this effects the travels by putting a camera 📸 n the property line on a trail.
Just a lot to all take in. Thanks for all of the suggestions.

[hunter399]

Hello WT hunters! It has been 14 years since I have had a bow. I lost all my archery stuff and my wife’s to a thief in 2011. I never replaced it, made me sick.
Now I have 2 compound bows, my wife has one, and I have 7 recurve bows. I guess you could say “I am back!” 
We also have land in North central WA and it has whitetails on and around it. Private on 2 sides and forest service on 2 sides.
Does anyone use tree stands to hunt WT? What is your approach and setup like?
When do you like to be in the stand?
What is an effective way to analyze stand locations?
I may try to get some
Locations established after watching my trail cameras.
Thanks for any advice.
 

I thought you had posted some really good pics.
If that was you,looked like you already have a good tree stand spot.

Yup, Geek out on camera,where they going. Which direction leave/come from ect,ect.

Maybe try to setup multiple stands. Or be prepared to move as needed. Travel patterns can change . Maybe setup where the most doe activity is,if rut hunting.

Lots of possibilities.

This doesn't apply to you as much.
The public land archery hunter is gonna have to have those travel corridor locked in pretty well. Seems every tree stand I've ever found during archery ,always had an attractant.
Not saying it's impossible, probably a bit more technical on stand location without bait.

I am struggling with stand location decisions. The draw they like runs north south. The property is at the head of a large meadow that runs near Ruth south and it funnels the wind hard from the south most of the time.
The property also gets steep 3/4 the way in the back, the evening drafts come hard down slope headed south. The day time wind likes going up north.
Still analyzing the deer activity from the cameras and since they come from private n the south I have not pinned down where they bed or where they feed. I did get one WT doe that took a hour nap right in front
Of my camera. I deleted about 200 pictures of her sleeping.
They did just thin the property east
Of me….i may try to see how this effects the travels by putting a camera 📸 n the property line on a trail.
Just a lot to all take in. Thanks for all of the suggestions.

How big is your property.
Maybe setup your tree stand near your original cam.
Do some ground blind stuff for other areas.

I wouldn't wait to add this stuff. Sometimes changing stuff too much a week before season can freak em out.
That's all I got . I'm not even a archery guy.
Hopefully some other peeps chime in.

[finnman]

It’s just 20 acres. But I have neighbors who do not hunt and they have an adjacent 100 acres combined. There is also a posted piece that is off limits south of me and it’s 850 acres.
So there is only one other guy up here that hunts rifle season for bear and deer. So I would say the pressure is light. Especially with hard access for the public land.

I will take your advice on adding or moving things around. I will try to get some locations and trees figured out this summer.

There is also a tiny spring creek just over the line on public. I will walk that creek for any sign of trail crossings and look for a tree to hang a camera from.

There are many options here for sure.

Thanks!

[nwwanderer]

Any late seasons?  Darn tough in the early one.  How is your WT population?  They are home bodies, ID your spot and stick with it.  Tree stands get your scent and movement off the ground, so yes.

[finnman]

Yeah the unit I am in is open for the archery late season, WT only.
I have a feeling the WT are locals and hang out all year. The area is an elevation range of 3,600-5,000’ elevation.
The area around me is south facing so that helps with snow melt and warming.
I am still looking for antlers to see where they are dropping them….

[addicted1]

Depends on the set for when I get into it. There’s been a few times I am climbing up my tree and see deer coming in, thought I was hours early and didn’t matter. Other times I’ve gone in 2 hours before sunrise. I try to play if safe and commit to all day sits, it’s not easy. In my experience hunting public land that a lot of guys don’t like going out into the woods when it is dark, I like to be the first one in and I like to think that my car might be pushing other hunters to different areas.

Once you get a couple years worth of data on some of your trails you might notice annual patterns. I have one trail that I always get one mature buck on between a 3 day window during the rut, when modern is going on. So I know if I want to shoot a mature deer I can do all days sits there and wait for one to surprise me. Seems like they always pass by between 10AM and Noon. 

[finnman]

That seems like good advice.
I might try building a permanent elevated stand/blind on the main route on the property and let them get used to it all year long. 👍🏻