Your best improvement???

[ranwin33]

Stand locations, and finally figuring out a little bit deer behavior.

[schlupis]

Scent control for sure, but I would like to add the scouting camera it helps me find out early if the area I have picked has the deer I am looking for or if I should find a new location. I have found locations that appear great put the cam out and found the area not holding the deer or amount of deer I would like. So I moved saved me alot of hours sitting in a tree getting frusterated.

[Woods Walker]

ORIGINAL: shaman

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

Ghillie suit. It's not a magic bullet, but if you exercise the other "basics" (scent control, playing the wind, NOT MOVING), it works so well it outh to be illegal!

Ghillie suits rock. I have one that I made out of Jute twine.  It's awesome.  It has major flaws:

1)  It reeks!
2)  There's no way to get legal hunter orange on it without totally hosing up the whole idea.
3)  It reeks!
4)  It's bloody hot.

As a result, it stays in its trunk until after the freezer gets full, and then I get to thinking that I should have brought it out and given it another try.

I hear what you're saying shaman. I had mine for about 3 years before I gave it a serious try. It DOES feel very awkward, and the fire retardent in the jute does have an odor, but I found that by hanging the suit in an open air place for a while will negate a lot of that. Besides, the other thing I've noticed, is that if the deer DO smell it, they aren't afraid of it.........
 
Because (and this is the best part), since I've started wearing mine, I have NEVER been as close to deer on the ground undectected as I have been the past few years. I mean REALLY close, like 10 to 20 FEET close, and although they may look at you, they DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE.
 
I've even been caught out in open woods, where although I had  no resemblence of human form, I still stood out like a big blob, and as long as I didn't move (you MUST see them first, they went on by with no notice! This has happened to me more than once.
 
And when I say "DEER", I mean does, AND bucks, some of which were 2.5 years and older. This past season I had a 130 class buck that came by just as I sat on a log, and I hadn't knocked an arrow yet. He at one point was TWELVE FEET from where I sat in sheer frustration. He stood there a moment, nuzzled the leaves a bit, and then walked back the way he came, none the wiser of my presence.
 
3 years ago I killed a 170" typical double drop tine at 35 yards on the ground while wearing my suit during gun season. He never knew I was there.  I've tried to post that photo here, but it says that the file's too big. I will try just posting the link so that you'll have to click on it.
 



 
I tie a blaze orange bandana in the head piece, and I wear an XXL blaze orange vest over it.
 
Will you feel like a dork when you wear it? YES! Will your hunting buddies make fun of you? OF COURSE, that's why they exist! (I'm now known as "Swamp Thing"....[:D] )
 
But when you start having the up close and personal experiences that I have had, you won't care anymore! That, and my best friend just went out and bought one!
 
Now get that ghillie out and USE IT!!! You'll wonder why you waited so long....[:)]

[Goose]

Scent control for sure, but I would like to add the scouting camera

 
I never thought of that, it sure keeps you on stand longer when you know whats out there.

[NYSupersportsman]

Pre,Post, and in-season scouting. Experience in the stand most of all Trial and Error!!!
As far as products, scent blocker/ Scent-loc. Scent free showers sprays etc. Lots of stands and a grunt call.  Good luck to all. 24 days until I am in my stands again!!

[Robert Rowland]

For me it is having an area that is close to home so that I can really get to know the ground and how to hunt it. 

[peepsight]

Wow, that was picture and a half of a tremendous buck..  Nice one!!
        I just bought a ghillie suit, and I have not worn it yet, and was wondering if it was worth the fuss.  Now that I have heard from you guys, I am inspired to use it this year.
       I would say the proper use of a grunt call and scent control has taught me a numerous amount of things.  The grunt call especially has gotten me into quite a few situations where I did not know that Big bucks had such a deep and voluminous voice.  When Ole' Mossy Antlers answered my call, I thought he was a bear going to come up out of that bottom and eat me!  During my first bow hunt.
        Bow hunting is all I do now, because it requires more skill and more strategy to pull off a buck.  Which gives me more satisfaction.  I was so dead when I was only rifle hunting and did not know these things, that I was close to quitting the sport.  So tired of seeing people that were the lottery winners on the first day, that did not care how they hunted or who they ruined the hunt for, that I am now a bow only hunter.
         I guess I should attribute all of my joy and success in the field to bow hunting, which has made me a better hunter, because now I have to pay attention to scent control, morning stands, food crops, wind direction, and whatever calls I use, and how I use them.
            Have not really had too many successes with decoys, but just recently got into them.[8D]
           Peepsight.

[shaman]

Woodswalker,

You've given me the impetus to try the ghillie suit again.

The only problem is I'm already wearing a 2X vest! 

Actually I've got some fabric I can  pin on that will work fine. Thanks for the tip.

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: shaman

Woodswalker,

You've given me the impetus to try the ghillie suit again.

The only problem is I'm already wearing a 2X vest! 

 
Maybe you should go as a big haystack with a flag sticking out the top?

[Woods Walker]

Ghillie suit users:  Here's another tip for you. I bought several bags of these things last year, and I covered my ghillie suit and headpiece with them, except for where the bowstring is. If you have these on, and you sit in the woods, you blend in as well as anything there is. It's as close to being invisible as a human being can get.
 
http://www.turkeyhuntingsecrets.com/store/store-camo-3d-leaf.htm