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I waded through this creek this morning for about a hundred yards and picked one of the maple trees on the edge of it for my stand. I’ll go out the same way. Treestand access is something I think about nonstop when it comes to my hunting locations. I'll design a food plot around stand access. I would argue that stand access is probably the most important factor in consistently having good deer encounters and successful hunts. Sometimes, the exit factor gets forgotten about, but it's just as important that you don’t spook deer leaving your hunting spot as it is when you’re entering it. To take that a step further, it's just as important not to spook them with residual scent well after you're gone. So, if you're walking through a spot with tall vegetation rubbing up on everything, your target buck may come across that spot later that day or evening, and that can do as much damage as if you had spooked him in person.
I won’t leave any scent when leaving this hunting spot today because I can use the creek behind me. The water is high enough that it almost goes over the top of my chest waders. When you can do that, you’re pretty much bulletproof. Not all stands will have this kind of perfect access, but it’s something you must think about. I could probably think of hundreds of examples over the years where my access was key. I’ve harvested many bucks with great access via a creek or a ditch. Had I not done that, there’s a good chance those hunts would not have been successful. That sort of access is something I think about before I even pick a hunting location. How will I get in? How will I get out? It won’t be bulletproof every time, but that doesn't mean you can't get there to hunt.
It may have to be the right conditions where you go in early, before dark, and stay all day so you're not getting down and spooking deer during the daylight hours. Or it may be the situation where you consider only hunting it during the heart of the rut on a calm morning when your thermals will help carry your scent. I don’t automatically cross off a spot just because it is tough to access. It’s just that you won’t be able to get away with hunting those spots time and again as you would in a spot where you enter and exit through a creek that hides you and your scent.
Another thing you can consider doing when it comes to these creeks and ditches for access is utilizing the off-season to get them cleared out. Noise is another issue. If you're constantly breaking sticks that have fallen into that ditch, that's not good for going in or out, either. So, you spend some time in the summer clearing out that ditch, so it's easy, quiet access.
In my experience, rubber boots go a long way in minimizing the amount of ground scent you leave behind. As much as you can, try not to rub up on the vegetation. If the only scent you're leaving is the bottom of your rubber boots, it's very minimal. I've seen deer not pay attention to that at all. Sometimes, it's such a faint smell that they'll try to trail it to figure it out. It's when you're rubbing on vegetation a couple of feet off the ground, closer to the height of the deer's muzzle, that it becomes a lot easier for them to pick up. I like to wear rubber boots all the time, especially for those tougher-to-access spots. If I can minimize the amount of ground scent I'm leaving on the way in and out, I'm also minimizing the residual damage in that spot and helping keep it as fresh as possible so I can continue hunting it in the future.
Always remember to ask yourself, "How will I get in? How am I going to get out?” If there are questions, if it's a challenging situation, weigh that risk versus reward. I'm an aggressive hunter, and I'm not saying don't hunt those spots. Just know going into it that if the access is challenging, either with entry or exit, it won’t be a spot you can hunt repeatedly. Instead, you’ll slowly build up the burnout of that location. Sometimes, it only takes one hunt to ruin it. I hope that helps. Good luck out there!
--Jared Mills
