In your corner
Don't overlook inside corners when setting up for deer
By Don MulliganHaving trouble choosing the perfect spot to hang your deer stand? Try thinking about the last place you caught a bass or kicked-up a covey of quail.
That's right. Deer, bass, quail and a lot of other wild creatures have something in common: they all find security and comfort in naturally occurring and man-made corners. Try the inside corners of a pond for the greatest concentration of fish, a brushy spot where two fences meet perpendicular to each other for quail, and inside corners where clearings meet cover for whitetail deer.
My 2005 opening day Indiana gun hunt was a great example of how productive corner stands can be, especially in places where whitetails are heavily pressured. The scattered woodlots I was hunting that day sit less than 10 miles from the bypass around Indianapolis. Though deer frequently move around the area, so do other urban hunters, farmers and hikers.
Despite seeing deer move through one particular inside corner of cover throughout bow season, I reasoned that as soon as daylight broke on opening day of gun season, and the shooting started, big bucks would immediately head for cover and stay there. So, against my own better judgment, I set up inside a thicket.
As dawn broke, the annual barrage of opening day gunfire filled the air as expected. As I waited for deer to head for my position in search for cover, I kept an eye on the corner spot I opted to forgo because I could partially see it through the tress.
About an hour after the shooting started, I detected movement 200 yards away under my corner stand. It was a big buck that I had not seen in the area that year, and he was standing under my corner stand, surveying the field before him.
As luck would have it, he did not enter the field, choosing instead to disappear back into the cover that sat behind the corner stand. The next morning I sat in that stand, and on cue, the same buck arrived at the same time to consider another ill-advised walk across the cornfield. Before he had the opportunity to decide, however, I killed him with a single shot from my slug gun at less than 20 yards.
Corner logic
Though all corners can funnel deer, inside corners are clearly superior to outside ones. They are more tucked away and shadowy than outside corners and points, providing deer that last bit of seclusion before entering a grain field or meadow.
Even at the peak of the chasing phase of the rut, a big buck is more likely to follow the contours of an inside corner than an outside one.
"The inside corner is hot because whitetails will cut around this corner when traveling from one end of the woods to the other during daylight hours," said Brad Herndon, author of "Mapping Trophy Bucks."
Though big buck hunters have known about the importance of inside corner set-ups for decades, Herndon's book is the most comprehensive and current look at the subject. In fact, "Mapping Trophy Bucks" is one of the best selling hunting books on Amazon.com, and can be ordered through Cabela's catalogues.
He dedicates two full chapters to the subject, and even describes situations where inside corners are a bad choice for a deer stand.
"Down low in hollows and gullies, the wind switches directions quite often, and will even swirl," Herndon said. "Of course, these often changing wind directions allow whitetails traveling through your ambush locations to catch your scent quite easily, possibly ruining a hunt."
For this reason, Herndon said most of his hunts in hilly regions take place on high ground, even when the gully or low spot is an inside corner.
Not all woodlots are L-shaped, however, with one easily discernable inside corner to target.
Some fields and meadows jut into the middle of cover, creating two inside corners close to each other. In that case, Herndon said the hunter must take several factors into consideration when planning a stand site.
If handled correctly, Herndon says these "double inside corners" can be deadly for intercepting bucks all season long.
"Generally speaking, I've found the point about half way between the double inside corners to be the best position for a tree stand," he said. "Once my stand is there, I wait for a wind that will carry my scent directly down the length of the field behind me, parallel with the field edges."
The toughest part of hunting double inside corners is having the discipline to avoid the stand site until the wind is perfect. Hunting the site when the wind is blowing into the woods or toward one of the corners is usually a waste of time.
And while the point about half way between two inside corners is the best place for a gun hunter to intercept a buck, it may be a poor choice for a bow hunter if both corners are out of range. There is often a trail connecting the two corners that would pass by a half way deer stand, but the most heavily used spots in double inside corners, is still where several trails converge at the corners themselves.
When two inside corners are too far apart to bow hunt, Herndon simply reroutes the deer closer to him.
By piling trees and limbs along the old trail, he cuts off one of the spots. At the same time, Herndon clears a new trail that funnels deer right past his stand.
By cutting and clearing limbs and brush, and smoothing out the dirt to simulate a well-used trail, he assures the path of least resistance travels right past his stand.
The inside corner where I killed my 2005 Indiana buck has since betrayed a few more mature Hoosier whitetails. And unless the lay of the land changes, I'll be there waiting again this season for yet another inside corner buck.
