I first learned of this idea while watching an episode of Midwest Whitetail a couple seasons ago. After establishing what I call the Big Plot in the creek bottom at the farm, I cut down a sugar maple and "planted" it on the edge of the food plot near my stand. I hung a scrape dripper for the first time ever and set a camera up to keep an eye on the experiment. It was a partial success, but I wasn’t blown away with the results. While watching a recent episode of MW, I was again prompted to try my hand at creating a beacon for buck activity in the creek bottom. Since we acquired the farm in 2005, I’ve always been drawn to this bottom and the deer have been as well. However it can be tough to bring deer in to range of my stand, so I was willing to work outside the box to make things happen.
The treecoy is positioned where the red star is on the map. My stand is situated 30 yards from the treecoy on the edge of the creek. I have a ½ acre food plot of clover and chicory down here, as well as a consistent supply of corn roughly 100 yards from the stand on the south side of the bottom.
Rather than choose a hardwood, I took the advice given on MW and selected a cedar tree. We’ve all seen cedars that have been shredded by bucks and the thoughts is the stickier trees hold more scent, thereby making them more appealing to bucks looking to leave their mark. I knew of one such tree on the southern end of our farm and during a rain, we cut it down and transplanted it in the middle of the food plot.
If you look closely, you can see my stand to the right of the treecoy near the sycamore with the dead branches…
Not much activity occurred during the first week, but after week two, I found it like this…
And after week three?
Now that’s what I call shredded!
After checking my camera, I was a bit disappointed that the long delay cost me the best video to show how well it is working. I caught a small buck working it when one of my shooters strolled in to frame at the last second. With a 5 minute delay, I missed all the action and only caught his back half as he was leaving. You could tell by the color of the tree that he had hammered it, so I reduced the delay in hopes of capturing a mature buck hitting the treecoy. I have videos of both young bucks, and does working the scrape under this as well. This young buck couldn’t help himself to a nice rub…
[video=youtube;edj4taiol60]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edj4taiol60&feature=youtu.be[/video]
If you have a solid stand hung in an area where having something to catch a buck’s attention would be beneficial, I think this is a great way to bring them in. A few years ago, I read a story about a guy who killed deer using a white 5-gallon bucket. He hunted a lot of flat, open hardwoods. He would take that bucket and sit it 20 yards in front of his stand and deer, curious by nature, could not resist walking over to check it out. Our creek bottom is 75’ wide and close to 300 yards long. This tree is visible from every nook and cranny down there. Any buck walking that bottom will see this and I’m banking on his curiosity, and desire to mark his territory, to bring him in for a shot. It never hurts to think outside the box and I was happy to borrow this idea!
As a footnote, there is room for improvement here. I'm going to make this a more permanent structure with a bag of sacrete after the season is over. I plan to use the same cedar until it rots, then I'll simply replace it. I was also hesitant to hang a camera too close to it, but will fix that next year with a more permanent set up in that regard as well.
The treecoy is positioned where the red star is on the map. My stand is situated 30 yards from the treecoy on the edge of the creek. I have a ½ acre food plot of clover and chicory down here, as well as a consistent supply of corn roughly 100 yards from the stand on the south side of the bottom.
Rather than choose a hardwood, I took the advice given on MW and selected a cedar tree. We’ve all seen cedars that have been shredded by bucks and the thoughts is the stickier trees hold more scent, thereby making them more appealing to bucks looking to leave their mark. I knew of one such tree on the southern end of our farm and during a rain, we cut it down and transplanted it in the middle of the food plot.
If you look closely, you can see my stand to the right of the treecoy near the sycamore with the dead branches…
Not much activity occurred during the first week, but after week two, I found it like this…
And after week three?
Now that’s what I call shredded!
After checking my camera, I was a bit disappointed that the long delay cost me the best video to show how well it is working. I caught a small buck working it when one of my shooters strolled in to frame at the last second. With a 5 minute delay, I missed all the action and only caught his back half as he was leaving. You could tell by the color of the tree that he had hammered it, so I reduced the delay in hopes of capturing a mature buck hitting the treecoy. I have videos of both young bucks, and does working the scrape under this as well. This young buck couldn’t help himself to a nice rub…
[video=youtube;edj4taiol60]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edj4taiol60&feature=youtu.be[/video]
If you have a solid stand hung in an area where having something to catch a buck’s attention would be beneficial, I think this is a great way to bring them in. A few years ago, I read a story about a guy who killed deer using a white 5-gallon bucket. He hunted a lot of flat, open hardwoods. He would take that bucket and sit it 20 yards in front of his stand and deer, curious by nature, could not resist walking over to check it out. Our creek bottom is 75’ wide and close to 300 yards long. This tree is visible from every nook and cranny down there. Any buck walking that bottom will see this and I’m banking on his curiosity, and desire to mark his territory, to bring him in for a shot. It never hurts to think outside the box and I was happy to borrow this idea!
As a footnote, there is room for improvement here. I'm going to make this a more permanent structure with a bag of sacrete after the season is over. I plan to use the same cedar until it rots, then I'll simply replace it. I was also hesitant to hang a camera too close to it, but will fix that next year with a more permanent set up in that regard as well.
