Most hunters do not realize just how critical getting TO your stand or blind may be for their hunting success.

Even if you have the absolute best place for your stand/blind, if you blunder in by the most direct route to climb in, you may ruin your chance of scoring for the day.

If you’ve done your homework when you picked out your hunting site, then you will already know the topography of the area, either because you’ve walked it or because you’ve studied the topo maps. You’ve already plotted out where you think the deer will be coming from and where they are going.

Hunters need to use this information to avoid crossing these paths on your way into your hunting spot. Don’t be lazy! All the preparation: scent-covering, planting feeding areas, map studying, gun-preparing, and scouting, will go to waste if you aren’t careful.

Check the wind direction. Put on your drag scents. Make sure your scent does NOT go into the path of your prey, even if that means bushwhacking and sliding down ravines.

If you spook deer on the way in, check your location. Look at your map and make sure you have judged the deer feeding areas and routes appropriately. It isn’t too late!

Don’t walk to your stand beside food plots early in the morning, because that is when the deer will be using them! Go earlier rather than later. Avoid the paths from bedding to feeding at all costs. Use the open fields if you are heading back at sundown. The deer won’t be there for a while yet.

Remember, the hardest route in is probably the route that the deer would never take. That’s your path.

Practice your walk-in before you plan to hunt. If you make a mistake, hopefully, it will not have lasting consequences. Make sure you have a couple of different choices in case the wind changes directions or a downed tree or wash-out blocks your path. Alternate these routes on each hunting day.

Don’t ruin your preparation in your eagerness to get up into your stand or to your blind. Take your time and be deliberate!