I was just wondering how everyone goes to their stands when you go hunting. I have heard a few very different ideas and have used the first two from time to time.
1. Sneak into your stand as quietly as possible. Sort of like a sloppy spot and stalk to get to your stand. The upside – it minimizes noise. The downside – if a deer does hear you trying to sneak they feel threatened as though a predator is attempting to hunt them.
2. Walk as casually and almost clumsily to your stand as possible. The upside – you get to your stand quicker. When deer hear you going to your stand they almost ignore you since they don’t have natural predators that travel through their area so loudly when attempting to hunt them. The downside – it creates a huge amount of racket.
3. Skip to your stand. I have never used this method. The writer must have been working on a deadline and made this one up on the spot. This is supposed to break up the two legged gate when we walk and more closely resembles a four legged animal moving quickly through the woods. Yet again this would create a huge amount of noise.
I don’t know if it’s an issue of exposure, wind, pressure…… or anything at all! All I know is I try to control scent. Other than that, all you can do is follow your gut, based on your experiences. Most of my hustling was to get out of the woods before I lost all daylight (almost walked into a porcupine once so….. yeah!) and next thing I knew I’d see a flicker of white, the sound of hooves, and a snorting like I ain’t heard in months! Come to find out that it’s come from both bucks and does doing it to me too!
Good luck to all! 
i try to break up my steps so it does have the same pattern.
