# Help with setting up bow stand



## TeamJefe (Mar 20, 2007)

After hearing about a few of my targets falling to neighbors I've decided to start bow hunting next season. I am trying to figure out what type of blind I should use. I am hunting in between El Campo and Bay City. What type of blind do you guys use? Ladder stand? Tripod? Box Blind? The land has a few big trees but most are smaller post oaks/rosehedge

I am thinking about buying an 8ft tripod right now. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks


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## troutsupport (May 22, 2006)

Tripod or ground blind should work well in that area. Hard to use a self climber in that ecosystem. Some Chain on portable stands might work but still have to find the right tree. 

how many acres you hunting on?


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## TeamJefe (Mar 20, 2007)

Its a big piece of property. Mainly irrigated corn/cotton fields with about 500 acres of brush/trees in the middle of it. I was thinking about pop up blind also. Seems like that would also make it easier on an inexperienced bow hunter.


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

I have never had luck w a pop up trying to bow hunt.

Even while rifle hunting in a traditional blind when the deer are in bow range they are staring right at it.

I prefer hang on stands and get on up there. Use a Har ess. I also use portable tripods but I never leave them in place more than two hunts. It should be a surprise they have never seen before. Brush any stand in very well and only leave a couple of shooting lanes....worst mistake most bow hunters make is clearing everything so they can see....you will get busted and never be able to draw your bow. Couple tight lanes only and stay hidden . You can always get another chance of they don't happen to stop on your cleared lane where you can see....but if they bust you and spook they may run clear to the next county and not come back all season....


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## Ryan (Apr 30, 2011)

I've hunted out of pop ups for 5 years now and tripods. To me a pop up is way better, only open the windows in front to keep it as dark as possible inside. Shoot thru windows are great if shooting fixed blades. Make sure you match the inside color of your pop up most are black.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Deersteaks (Mar 30, 2010)

You might try walking the edges of the corn fields around the thicket to locate trails coming in and out. Find a trail (if there is one), on the north side of the thicket because we have a predominant South/East wind in bow season. Walk the trails back into the timber a little ways and see what you find. Deer tend to create habits of using the same trails during the summer and into early bow season, making them very predictable. Set up a good tall ladder stand or chain on stand on a tree and get ready. Tripods work well , but are usually not as tall. Pop-ups limit you viewing ability in thicker areas. Ladder stands and chain on's can put you 20+ feet up and help keep your sent away from the deer. Good luck!


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## Chunky (Oct 15, 2006)

Each of the stand types has it's advantage and draw backs. I have and have taken animals out of all types of stands and blinds.

What I would suggest is find the spots you want to hunt, and then decide what type of set up will work the best for you.

If you are hunting big trees, a hang on stand or a ladder stand might be the best. If there are short trees that would hide a tripod, then go that way. If you have a hot spot of activity that only a ground blind will work, then go that way.

Finding the right spot and what fits, works better than buying a tripod and then looking for some place to put it up. That's not to say you can't draw animals with feeders, scents, etc.....but I like to hunt areas the animals use naturally if possible.

If you are changing from gun hunting to bow hunting, there are lots of things you need to consider now, that don't necessarily come into play if you are hunting in a box blind with a long view. You need to consider the way the wind will be blowing most of the time, where the sun will be when you are hunting, how you will get to the stand without blowing the animals out of the area, etc...

Best of luck, I hope this helps.

If you told me I could only have one stand, I would probably take an 8 ft tripod, as I think it works in more places, but it's hard to beat a good ground blind for comfort.


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## Chunky (Oct 15, 2006)

I have killed a couple of hundred animals out of ground / pop up blinds, they can be very effective. BUT, there are ways to increase your chances. You can't just pop it up in plain sight, get in it and expect something to stupidly walk by. It may have happened but that is very rare. There have been some excellent threads on here in the past on the subject.


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## 41082 (Dec 19, 2008)

We have all 3 on our place hang on, ladder and pop-up. If the situation allows I always go with hang-on. I just feel to cooped up in the pop-up. You can argue pro and cons to both for me it just comes down to being able to see your environment, I love being 15' + up. Good Luck!


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## Chunky (Oct 15, 2006)

When you get high, you can see a lot, the deer have a harder time seeing and smelling you...the down side is the shot angle becomes much steeper and you can not get the optimal double lung shot. I try to stay in the 10 to 12 ft range. That's not a rule, just a preference.


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## wet dreams (May 21, 2004)

Lock-on or climber for me, no luck in getting a deer inside 30 from a pop-up EVEN after being in place for 3 months. I hunt E Tex and have said before our deer are smarter or more weary of them than in other parts of Texas, the ONLY way I would use a pop-up is to put a climber on a tree downwind of pop-up so when they go downwind of it....there I will be. Ladder or Tripod will work for a short while but after a bit a deer will stand in brush watching for movement on it WAY before you see them. I read up on a study using ladders on trails, it was done in several places including a pipeline where the ladder was put 25-30 yrds from a known deer trail, in less than 30 days the deer had quit the trail and was crossing the line 150 yrds from original loco. In all the test no hunter ever sat on the ladders...I have also hunted places you would think the deer are BLIND and can't smell


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## jaw216 (Sep 13, 2005)

I hunt Brazoria county and never have any luck with pop-ups or tripod, but have two hang on stands about 20' up and deer will walk right under it !


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## Chunky (Oct 15, 2006)

wet dreams said:


> Lock-on or climber for me, no luck in getting a deer inside 30 from a pop-up EVEN after being in place for 3 months. I hunt E Tex and have said before our deer are smarter or more weary of them than in other parts of Texas, the ONLY way I would use a pop-up is to put a climber on a tree downwind of pop-up so when they go downwind of it....there I will be. Ladder or Tripod will work for a short while but after a bit a deer will stand in brush watching for movement on it WAY before you see them. I read up on a study using ladders on trails, it was done in several places including a pipeline where the ladder was put 25-30 yrds from a known deer trail, in less than 30 days the deer had quit the trail and was crossing the line 150 yrds from original loco. In all the test no hunter ever sat on the ladders...I have also hunted places you would think the deer are BLIND and can't smell


I have seen you posting here for a long time and I know you are experienced and know what you are talking about. I believe that its just that our experiences have been much different.

It is true that most of my Texas hunting has been in the hill country or south texas. I have only been on one east texas lease and I killed my buck there from a ladder stand. I know that it is a different game. I have often said "It's easier to kill the biggest kudu in Africa, than to kill a legal buck on an east Texas family paper company lease."

I am not sure I want to hunt a lease where the deer are smarter than I am. It's hard enough shooting them with a recurve when I have a slight IQ advantage.

All that being said, I bet I could kill them from a ground blind...even in east Texas.

In much of south Texas there is nothing over 6 ft tall, if you couldn't use a ground blind, you couldn't bow hunt it.

The advantages of a ground blind are; you can read a book or use your phone, eat and drink, stand and stretch, and you are out of the wind and rain, you can draw your bow with out being seen....and nobody has ever broken their neck falling from a ground blind when they dozed off after having driven all night to make the morning hunt.

You might say, well that all sounds kind of soft. To witch I would reply, okay. I am not as hard core as I once was. I hunt for enjoyment and being comfortable is not bad. I spent about half this last season in trees and half on the ground. I only killed one doe and I did it from a ground blind. I let my guests kill my other deer.

The biggest deer my family has taken, was shot by my oldest daughter in south Texas on a low fenced ranch. 164 in 10 pt, taken from a ground blind, after she could never get drawn from a short tripod with out getting spotted by one of the deer in the area.

The down side to ground blinds, they are much more work to set up right. You need to put them out well in advance, they are a pain to move, and you have a very limited view.

Anyway, no offense to those with different opinions, just trying to cut down the learning curve for new bowhunters. Best of luck whatever you do, and keep us posted.


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

When I hunted with a recurve there was no such thing as a popup blind and I hunted from brush blinds and tree stand/platforms.

When I got back into bow hunting and started with a compound bow I discovered the popup blinds. Easy to set up, get the largest that you can, and easy to shoot out of. I can hunt it in the rain, when the wind is blowing and be dry and comfortable; not so much on a tripod or in a tree.

A popup is simple to set up and it only takes a minute or two and they're easy to take down and move.

I set mine up in early August near a feeder in the river bottom on my property north of Edna. The blind is 18 yards from the feeder, it is not brushed in, just in a triangle of typical river bottom trees where there are no limbs until about 8 feet up. I'll have deer on camera at the feeder the same day...the popup doesn't bother them.

I was taught to spray paint the outside of the windows that I'm going to have open when hunting black. The thought is that the deer see the blind daily and get used to the black windows. When I'm in it and the windows are open the deer still just see black holes. It works. Guys that don't do it do not have the success that I have had.

I've killed deer from that blind every year without fail since I got back into bow hunting.

My son hunts in a popup just like mine in a different area of my place with the same results.

In the end, Ford, Chevy, Nissan Toyota...everyone will have their favorites but this is what works best for my son and I.

We use popups made by Barronett. http://www.barronettblinds.com/

The model we use is the Grounder 350.

Good luck and welcome to our obsession lol.

TH


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