Food/beverages in the stand?

After 10 years of not deer hunting, I am finally getting back into the stand. I grew up deer hunting with my dad, but once I got into waterfowl/upland hunting and got a couple labs deer hunting went by the wayside. Deer hunting growing up was never a die hard trip, we walked out in the daylight some mornings….probably smelling like a cigar! And, in all the years hunting the same public land as a kid I only dropped one deer.

Now that I have a little land at home, I would like to take it a little more serious as my time in the woods is limited and I would really like some venison in the freezer. I am going to try doing the scent free stuff (washing clothes, spray, etc), and that got me thinking.

Do you guys drink coffee or eat snacks when in the stand?

I only have one stand up for this year, and tomorrows west wind does not favor that stand (wind at my back).

I avoid any foods with onions and/or garlic for a week before and during the hunting season that I am in the woods. Scent blocking clothes are worthless if you eat either of these because the odors come from your mouth for a day or two even after eating them and brushing doesn’t help. Garlic will crawl out of every pore in your carcass for two days after enjoying it and since this new clothing doesn’t completely cover you, the garlic will get out.

Coffee? I enjoy it in the stand and have shot several deer over the years after setting the cup down. Now anything with alcohol…..same as the garlic.

You mean no beer Tom? Thoroughly enjoy sitting in the lawn chair on the back reading, sipping a brew and shooting deer.

I’ll sip on some water and have some leftover Halloween candy while I’m out in my stand but that’s it. I drink my coffee before going out and I don’t really like to eat or drink much in my stand. Not so much for the affects on the deer, but more so in hopes that I won’t have to go to the bathroom too often while I’m out.

This and Halloween candy. Maybe a Poptart for breakfast.
DT

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(2) sandwiches, a granola bar, (2) 5 hr energy, and a 32 oz bottle of H2O for an all day sit. Keeps me alert (usually), full, and I don’t have to take a leak til I climb down. 32-64 oz after hunting and I am rehydrated and ready to go the next day…I try to avoid coffee while on stand. Not due to odor though…

candy sandwiches and you need a game! TREE YAHTZEE!!!!! 351 high score!!!!

I got a 389 yesterday! No deer though.

With a rifle it matters much less than a bow. I drink coffee and eat smoked deer sticks, use deodorant, store my coat indoors etc. I know a guy who smokes stogies in the stand, one who smokes an occasional cigarette and several who run gas heaters. We all shoot deer. IMO keeping still and on high alert is more important.

Thanks all. I did enjoy a coffee in the stand, but so far have not seen anything come through. I only have about a 50-60 yards to either side of me that I have open shooting lanes, so I will need the deer to come in within that range.

Needing to get deer that close I’d make a point of limiting your scent and movement as much as possible. At that range its almost like bow hunting. A good scent killer spray should take care of the majority of contact scents. As far as what to eat and drink I’d stick to water and food with none strong scents. A apply or several Granola bars would be 2 good choices I’d think.

One definite no-no, I learned this weekend, are Fiber One bars! My mom left some out for us to take hunting, and I just threw them in my pocket not really thinking. Moral of the story is fiber bars work, and when you’re deer hunting it’s not the ideal time for that kind of work.

BigWerm wrote:

One definite no-no, I learned this weekend, are Fiber One bars! My mom left some out for us to take hunting, and I just threw them in my pocket not really thinking. Moral of the story is fiber bars work, and when you’re deer hunting it’s not the ideal time for that kind of work.

I’ve heard that about them!!

I make 3 sandwiches using hamburger buns. One is just right at about 9, another at 11 to noon, another at three. In between I have granola mixed with a few peanuts, chocolate chips and cranberry raisins. I maybe bring some snack type crackers along too. I enjoy reading a my current book is always in the backpack with my reading glasses.

The wind and nice temps had things pretty slow for us so far. I gave a nice doe a couple foot long buzz cut right along her flank yesterday, but not a drop of blood. I’ve never seen that much hair fly in the wind.

I climb a mountain to get to the stand and after a couple days of that I am taking today off and plan to hunt in the afternoon tomorrow thinking that the changing weather might help kick start the critters a little. I don’t know if its just our general area or what but there certainly wasn’t the shooting we normally hear on opener weekend.

You know, the biggest thing for me is that if I’m trapped in a deer stand with a bunch of snacks, well, I’m going to eat a bunch of snacks. And when I’m NOT eating a bunch of snacks, I’m going to be thinking, “Geeze, now would be an awesome time for a snack because seeing nothing is getting kind of boring.”

So if I started bringing food to the deer stand, it’d have to be like celery sticks or something. Otherwise, I’d end deer season just in time to start my new career in sumo wrestling.

I do, however, drink coffee. Which, in turn, has the side benefit of allowing me to practice yoga as I work myself into multiple, finely balanced yoga poses while attempting to relieve myself while not actually moving very much given the confines of the space.

It’s at time like this that I’ve often wondered how many families got the wrong idea about what their loved one was doing during his unfortunate demise after falling from a deer stand.

Sheriff: “Well, mam, we found your husband in a rather strange position, his pants were around his ankles, he had something called a “grunt tube” in his pocket, and it appears he may have been holding a Twinkie in his left hand at the time of his, ummm, demise.

We can only conclude that he was involved in some bizarre, ummm, trysting at the time he met his death…”

Grouse

I go with:
A thermos of hot chocolate
A bottle of water
Some kind of pre-cut sausage or beef jerky and cheese (smoked gouda is my favorite)
Then some kind of candy that I can eat quietly

I used to take a thermos of hot soup which I preheated on the stove prior to leaving but I never usually had the time to eat it. Also I have an enclosed shack with windows that I keep shut most of the time so I am not so worried about smell giving me away. To my knowledge I don’t think it has ever cost me yet. Also I run a mr. buddy heater and no issues with being scented yet either.

The one thing I can tell from these posts is the mentioning of minimizing movement, which I probably didn’t do all that well this past weekend. Something to think about moving forward.

I did have a deer snort behind me around 4:45 last night, but never saw it. It’s think trees behind me, and when I knew something was back there I decided to stand up for a better shooting position and was moving around a little….granted quietly.

My deer stand breakfast for the morning.
DT

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deertracker wrote:

My deer stand breakfast for the morning.
DT

Oh my. Oh dear. Oh no.

This may not be a good time to mention this, just after your, err, breakfast, DT. But 1 can of Monster energy drink mixed into a sprayer tank with 25 gallons of water has proved to be an excellent brush killing herbicide on my property.

Ever thought about embracing yoga and vegetarianism?

Grouse

@thefamousgrouse, I’ll embrace a yoga instructor but that’s about it. Next you’re going to tell me to stop drinking whiskey…..
DT

deertracker wrote:

I’ll embrace a yoga instructor but that’s about it.

Well, that’s a start anyway.

deertracker wrote:

Next you’re going to tell me to stop drinking whiskey…..

That would probably make me the winner of the weekly Irony Exacta bet, don’t you think?

Grouse

Mmmm!

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