A sunrise stealth attack: Here’s how to get your deer stand ready for early-season morning hunts

One of the most prevalent, just-won’t-die myths about bowhunting whitetails is that sitting mornings during the early season is a lost cause.

While you wouldn’t want to cross half a mile of soybeans in the predawn darkness to get to your set, there are plenty of opportunities to find quality morning setups long before the rut kicks in (check out the video below for more on this).

You just need to understand how to mitigate your impact when you do go in. Most of this can be accomplished now, well before the opener. 

Sneaky routes

Hunters generally don’t love doing extra work to get to their stands, but they do love seeing more deer and having more exciting encounters.

The key to setting yourself up now for productive morning hunts is to take a long look at where the spots are between food sources and bedding areas, and then figure out what you have to do to get there while staying in the cover.

This might be as easy as skirting the edge of a standing cornfield, or it might involve slipping for a quarter-mile through the woods.

Either way, knowing exactly how you’ll get in so that you don’t blow the whole section out is key. Then you need to get out there and put in some sweat equity.

Trimmed trails and curated corridors

The hunting industry tends to highlight a type of whitetail hunting that doesn’t exist for most weekend warriors and regular Joes and Joeanns. Groomed two-tracks, well worn from side-by-side traffic, often take hunters right to a box blind or other cushy setup.

This is great if you have it, but it’s out of reach for a lot of hunters.

It’s also not an ideal situation for the bowhunter looking to score in September or early October while hunting the sunrise shift.

That type of hunter needs a subtle yet well-groomed and marked access trail. The thing about this is that we almost all know it, but we often don’t heed our own instincts. Instead, maybe you and a friend walk in to set a stand in August, and on the way out, you pick a route through the woods and tack it.

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That might seem good enough in broad daylight five weeks before the opener, but it will be a different beast altogether when you softly shut the truck door and start sneaking toward your stand with a headlamp to guide your way. Leaf litter and sticks ready to snap under your boots are almost a certainty, and anything overhanging – limbs, vines, and whatever else that could grab your sleeves or your pack – is sure to make noise.

However well you think you’ve trimmed your access trails, walk them as if you were going to hunt. Use a pruners to get rid of anything that might get caught on your clothes and gear as you pass, and then, if possible, use a metal rake to clear the ground. This can be a lot of work in the summer heat, but you’ll never regret it when you actually go hunting.

Of course, you also want to make sure you don’t get lost.

Tacked and flagged

If you bowhunt enough mornings in enough places, you’ll find yourself sweating, cussing, and wondering where your stand tree wandered off to. It’s a horrible feeling, and it rarely does you much good when it comes to killing big bucks.

If you head out to set yourself up with some solid morning setups, don’t skimp on reflective tacks or flagging tape. Flagging tape is great for marking the start of your trail, such as on a field edge or some other opening, but reflective tacks are better for the bulk of your access route.

Most people put tacks waist to head high, but a better bet is to place them lower to the ground so that you don’t need to shine your headlamp all over the woods. It’s also a good idea to use plenty of them, and double them up on trees where the trail takes a hard turn.

If you use a hunting app with a tracking feature, turn it on and save your route when you set up the stand. This is just a little extra insurance, and it can help you time your morning missions more efficiently.