Deer rely on their nose first and their eyes second. Though young bucks and does may stand and stare, bigger bucks trust their eyes completely and are constantly scanning for trouble, sometimes standing 30 minutes without moving. Stands help move the odds more in our favor. These hints may help you.

As an example, we’d built a large, raised stand. The original intention was to install a small stove and beds in it allowing the hunter to spend a comfortable night and literally wake up hunting. However, the building wasn’t set back in the trees like it should have been and the deer always regarded it with suspicion.

Unfortunately, the windows were too large, silhouetting the hunter against the opposite windows. Bad. They allowed far too much light inside. Any motion was spotted instantly. Even worse, when the sun shone through those windows it lit you up like a spotlight. That stand took a tremendous amount of effort to build, sadly it didn’t work out as we had hoped, but it did teach us some important lessons.

The first time I hunted this stand a doe emerged from the woods some 35 yards away. I turned my head to look in that direction as one normally does keeping watch. The doe was not only looking in my direction, she was specifically checking out the same window I was looking out of. She purposely exposed only her head and neck from the brushy cover. She saw me instantly, turned and ran, many tails following her. One was a very nice buck. He never followed that group of deer into the field again until dark. Ouch! Once alarmed larger bucks remember such encounters and don’t repeat their mistakes.

Having been to the school of hard knocks, the stand we were now constructing differed in many important ways. Not having the inclination or means to build the stand 15 or 20 feet high the decision was made to build it on an existing 4-foot-high platform. The wind was normally cooperative, many apple and pear trees grew nearby and the clover field it was to face was a big plus as well. The previous year a small ground blind had been placed there and the deer weren’t alarmed by it and continued their normal feeding patterns. Because of the prevailing wind and the deer’s acceptance of the blind we believed it would be possible to construct a permanent structure here, but on a much smaller scale than the previous one.

The building would be 5 feet square and 7 feet high in the front tilting down to 5 foot 8 inches in the back. A much smaller footprint, but large enough to allow adequate room to move quietly around in. The back wall held the door only, no windows The windows we built this time were much smaller and staggered in height. Only a little over a foot high and 2 feet wide they greatly reduced the light entering the stand. The right wall window was much lower than the left-hand window as well. This greatly reduced the chance of becoming silhouetted against the opposite opening, very important. Keeping this in mind, the back wall was windowless. Since the front window was the most likely to have deer in front of it, this eliminated any chance of becoming silhouetted and spotted.

The orientation of the sun is seldom considered in stand placement but could make the difference between success and failure. In early morning and late evenings, the sun’s low bright beams act as a search light streaming in through any windows in a stand or blind. If at all possible, stands and blinds low to the ground should be positioned to prevent the sunlight at those times from illuminating not only you, but the entire inside of the blind.

Consider placing the shooting window of your blind facing North, the only direction the sun cannot shine during the day. The orientation of your food plot, the direction it runs, and width can help move the deer into the optimum position. Blinds in thicker, shadowed cover are not as susceptible to sunlight, but it’s something to keep in mind.

Our new hut had to face south. Not ideal but we were lucky here. A small, branchy, 10-foot tree grew on the corner of the platform, its limbs actually brushing the walls as we erected them. Angling the building slightly allowed those limbs to shade the window. Perfect.

Material wise we lucked out; a recently demolished deck provided the floor and walls. This material was perfect for the job, not only giving the building a rustic charm, the decking’s worn, brown, weathered appearance blended in naturally to its surroundings.

Another small tree growing within 4 feet of the rear of the hut provided additional cover, helping to break up the building’s outline. The 2 trees will continue to grow and only increase their effectiveness in blending the blind’s outline into its natural surroundings.

We have high hopes for our new stand. The deer find it far less suspicious, most likely due to its smaller size and it’s possible they find the smaller windows less threatening. Perhaps large windows appear as eyes or is it simply the fact they allow the deer to see in easily?

Deer take time to become accustomed to blinds, now isn’t a bad time to place them. Good hunting.