If you’re an experienced whitetail deer hunter, I don’t have to tell you that perhaps the most important aspect of your hunting success is the proper placement of your deer stand. You can have the most expensive rifle in the world, the best hunting clothes and boots, and drowned in buck lure, but if you’re not where the deer are, all of this is in vain. And even if you are where there’s a healthy population of whitetails, unless you spend some time on your stand, the deer will steer clear of you…and your stand.

So-called experts disagree on how high your stand should be. I think it totally depends on the type of terrain and cover in which you’re hunting. For example, if you’re hunting in thick woods, the stand won’t have to be as high because the deer won’t have a long line of vision. On the other hand, if you’re hunting stand is near or adjacent to a clearing, the deer have a longer line of sight, so the stand needs to be higher off the ground.

To be effective and successful, you can’t just tromp into the woods and plop your stand any old place. You need to begin planning months before the season opens.

If you’re a seasoned hunter, you probably do a lot of scouting in the summer months. This is integral in deciding the location for your deer stand. Look for trails, rubs, and wallows – any evidence that the whitetail deer use the area frequently. The best places to look, of course, are near sources of food and water.

Once you find such an area, don’t put your stand up in the middle of a well used trail. The deer will probably figure out its presence pretty quickly. Place it near the trail, where you’ll have chances for decent shots. Get in the stand and check your line of vision in all directions. You can never be sure exactly which way the whitetails will be coming from.

After you’ve chosen your location, view the stand from different vantage points. Be a deer for a little while, and try to view the world as a whitetail. Does the stand “stick out,” or does it blend in naturally with its surroundings?

I’ve found that when choosing a location for a deer stand, the camera was one of my best friends. Back when I was hunting regularly, I always took several photos my deer stand or stands. Then I would take them home and study them. One problem with this is that if you set up your stand pre-season, the foliage is much different then that it will be in the fall of the year. The trees are greener, and there are a lot more leaves to cover and camouflage your stand.

So should you wait until autumn to set your stand? No! The stand needs to be in place weeks before hunting season begins in order for the deer to get used to its being there.

So what’s your best option? Employ a two-season improvement plan. Take photos of your stand this fall to use next fall. The foliage will typically be about the same from one year to the next for any given season, so use this to your advantage of planning ahead.

What’s the best way to camouflage your stand and make it fade into the surroundings? You can use paint, camouflaged covers, or buy stands that are already sporting a camo finish. Be choosy, however. I’m always amazed at inexperienced hunters with a one-size-fits-all mentality when it comes to camouflaging a deer stand. If you’re hunting in tall pines, for example, the trees don’t usually have any branches on the lower section of the trunk. If your stand is done in fall-leaf camouflage, think how it’s going to stick out against bare gray pine bark. You might as well paint it neon pink.

Pine bark camo can be effective when used in thick mixed foliage because it breaks up the pattern of the stand. Still, a camo in similar colors and patterns to those in which you’ll be hunting will prove superior. And when you’re engaging in whitetail deer hunting, you need to take advantage of everything you can, no matter how small and insignificant it might seem to you at the time. It could be a huge difference to that super-wary trophy buck you're hunting. He didn't get that big and that old by falling for the tricks of hunters.

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