Editor’s Note: What magic ingredients do the best deer hunters in the nation use to find their perfect tree stand sites? What can we learn from hundreds of years of deer-hunting experience that will help each of us pinpoint places in the woods where we can take big deer? To learn the answers to these questions, John in the Wild has interviewed seven of the nation’s top deer-hunting experts. We’ll ask each of them to describe the best tree-stand site he ever has hunted from and to name what ingredients have made that particular site so productive that he’s bagged a big buck from that spot in the woods.

Ronnie Groom, a longtime avid deer hunter and teacher of outdoor skills in Panama City, Florida, has hunted deer for over 50 years. I’ll put Groom, who has taken more than 150 deer with his bow, up against any of the nation’s best white-tailed deer hunters.

“One stand I really liked was near a bottleneck created by a ti-ti swamp,” Groom recalls. “About 300 yards of hardwoods were on one end of the bottleneck, and maybe 1000 yards on the other end. I had chosen a large oak tree that created plenty of shade, so that I would be hidden in my tree stand. On the lower end of the bottleneck (the 300 acres), I’d planted a 1/8-acre food plot that I knew does were using to feed. Southwest and north of the bottleneck the terrain was bad, wet and rough. With no access to the bottleneck from any direction, these 300 acres were a sanctuary for deer. On the north side was a young clear-cut with a wet-weather creek running down the edge of it – the path the deer had to take. To hunt this area, I had to have a west wind. I knew a big buck stayed here because I’d seen large tracks and big rubs.

“Just at dark I spotted a huge 10 point about 70-yards from my stand. He saw a spike, ran the spike off and continued to come toward the green field. When the buck was 20 yards from me, I drew my bow and aimed right behind the buck’s shoulder. I released the arrow, and the shaft flew true. After taking the arrow, the buck only ran about 30 yards before he piled-up. The buck scored 125 points on Pope & Young (https://pope-young.org/), which was a monster buck for a Florida deer taken with a bow.

“Besides having a perfect tree-stand site and knowing a big buck was in the region, I really believed that the major key to my success was that I waited for 2 weeks to hunt from this site. I wanted to make sure I had a west wind and that the rut was in before I hunted. Another important element that made this stand one of the best I ever hunted from was that I was hunting about 30-yards from the bottleneck in a tree that would allow me to shoot in all directions, regardless of which way the deer came to me.

“Bottlenecks are always productive places to take nice-sized deer. But just having a good tree site doesn’t ensure success. If you hunt a tree stand site without a favorable wind, that perfect tree stand site can be the worst one you ever have hunted from because you’ve destroyed your chances for taking a big buck there. The perfect tree stand site will give me the option of shooting in several different directions because deer don’t always do what they’re supposed to do. The final element of a great tree stand site is that it consistently produces deer. I’ve bagged 10 or 12 nice bucks from this stand over several years.”

John E. Phillips’ latest deer book “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro: Volume II,” just was published on Amazon in print at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BGSP3QPB/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tpbk_p4_i4 The Audible version should be available by December. Since deer hunting and deer hunters are drastically changing each year, John interviewed some top deer hunters like Mark Drury, Dr. Larry Marchinton, Dr. Bob Sheppard, Pat Reeve, Gene Wensel, Cody Robbins, Ernie Calandrelli, Brian Murphy and Luke Brewster, who took the world’s largest whitetail, to learn their up-to-date techniques for successfully hunting deer and having more places to hunt. Also, John’s first book in that series “How to Hunt Deer Like a Pro” in Kindle, print and Audible at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007D3H08M includes other outstanding deer hunters. Too, check-out John’s book, “Bowhunting Deer: the Secrets of the PSE Pros,” https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0091T1NKM/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i1, available now in Kindle, print and Audible versions. You may have to copy and paste these links into your browser. When you click on these books, notice on the left where Amazon says you can read and hear 10% of the Audible books for free. On the right side of the pages and below the offer for a free Audible trial, you can click on Buy the Audible book.

Tomorrow: Choose Your Deer Stand Sites Carefully