How far away do you park your ATV?

Curious -- for those of you who go to the stand by a 4-wheeler or ranger, how far away do you park it? I have tried various distances/parking places and haven't really noticed a difference in activity. It is nice to have a shirt walk on cold mornings like today, especially with the boys (5 & 9).

Also, explain the purpose of "Corning" the road on the way in?

Depends on the stand. If it's a spot I can see a lot of ground, where deer may move to and from bedding areas, ill corn those areas and then I don't worry about how far away I park since I already drove all over the area.

If the stand is the type of stand that the only movement your likely to see is at the feeder, and I don't drive thru the area to corn, I park as far as I can stand to walk and make as little disturbance as possible getting to the stand.

Short answer, some stands the benefit of Corning roads is worth disturbing the areas, others it's not and your better off being as inconspicuous as possible.

Some folks corn the road the roads to train the deer to come to the road feeders and not associated the vehicle with danger, but as a diner bell.

As far as distance parked, completely depends on the terrain and stand location. I have one that I park within 200 yards and one that I park 1/2 mile away.

I leave the ATV at camp and park my truck about 1/4 mile away. If the conditions are too wet for the truck, I take the ATV but park in the same spot.

I have watched deer that came trotting from the same direction as the sounds of a ATV, and saw a definite increase in deer sightings by riding less and walking more.

Besides, the exercise is good for me and I have no fear of the dark.

I have one location the spot I park is less than 50' from the blind and I have had only 1 deer see the UTV in 3 seasons. The other blinds I have to park about 200 yards away. It usually takes some time sitting in the blind to tell what areas most of the deer come in from. Once you have that down then you can find the best spot. I like to cut a hole into the thicker brush in an ell shape.
I use corn/protein feeders to feed and keep the deer around the stands. I corn the roads with a feeder to spread the deer out and put them where I want them. I can corn according to the wind also if I have a good buck at a feeder that the wind might be marginal to hunt that day. I corn blinds on the way to the area I am going to hunt also. That way the deer are used to me driving through. I have using a road feeder since 1989 and corning roads since the early 1980's with a bucket and coffee can.

Ya'll you are gonna laugh at this one. We have one blind mounted on a trailer we call the trophy wagon that we move around every year or so to what we think may be hot spots. We keep it mostly in open coastal fields that the deer like to travel. Tons of our deer leave the brush and spend the night in open fields. Not sure why but I assume to get where they can see predators coming. We sit up a feeder with it as well. I park my Ranger crew behind it during the week so the old snorty does get use to it. It sticks out a foot on both ends. Would you believe they don't pay any attention to it on weekends?

I park my golf cart about 30yds in front of my stand, right next to a path frequented by does, turkey, and hogs. They only see the tail end since I cut a "parking spot" years ago in a big cedar.

They are used to seeing it, and I've only had one young buck not like it there. and yea, I corn my roads in both pastures coming in

Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu might be a Redneck if your deer blind is on a trailer and...

Think you meant to quote this post STX....

The old Folgers or hill brothers trick. It works every time. To tell you the truth I think it all depends on how pressured the deer are where you are hunting. If they are accustomed to vehicles moving in and out of the area that they live in it's not going to bother them at all I'll park about 100 yards from my stand for bow hunting and when I got out last week there was a trail of tracks that look like the Deer had a parade rite down the door of my truck. There were at least six different deer that had walked within 2 feet of it I am almost certain I saw them at my feeder as they came through. So I am pretty sure this will vary greatly regionally.

I thought I did I got a phone call right as I was about to make the post and added the wrong dang quote.

I park my truck about 10 feet from my stand. The wife said she didn't want to make a long walk in the cold in the mornings, so she cleared out a spot in the brush right behind the stand. I was pretty skeptical about it, but I've had 3 different 8 points, a doe, and a pig walk right past the truck, look at it, and keep on walking right down to the feeder. Didn't seem to bother them at all.

I have a little cut out in the cedars about 10-12 foot from the stand, I have does that will eat Alphalfa and Corn out of the ranger if I leave it in.. Chum like there's no tomorrow, Ye who feeds the most wins

Deer don't care on a working Ranch

I park as close as I can too. Most deer are accustomed to vehicle traffic, whether it be from ranch trucks or oil well pumpers. After you corn the area around your stand, the deer will usually trot off a few hundred yards and then return as soon as you shut down the truck. So, the quicker you can get into your stand, the better. IME, a hunter on foot sneaking into his stand will alarm deer so thoroughly that they'll clear out and won't return. After a vehicle passes through, however, they'll come right back.

20 feet from my tower blind. Watched 3 does walk within 5 feet of my truck as they cut across the pasture. 1 coyote walked right beside it just before he met Mr. Bullet. 15 turkey's went right behind it. Doesn't seem to bother anything at my place.

You want your Deer to be used to a certain degree of Activity especially your Does, you are gonna have Bucks that hit 4 1/2- 5 1/2 and they are gonna go Nocturnal plain and simple hence why the Rut is so critical, Those Bucks get nervous when they get a drink of water and see there reflection nothing you can do...but I like the Girls to be calm, I have several that are on Obama care and come up and eat out of your hand for a free lunch..

And then you run back to your stand and shoot them at 383 yards...in the head

That Bad

Its good to thin the gene pool of all the Window Lickers right

This is very true on a working cattle or gas ranch. the deer become very accustomed to vehicle traffic. i also try to park as close as possible on my lease.

I park about 400 yards away and use the walk to get warm!!!

depends on the night before

If i had to walk 400 yards Care Flight would be called


I actually enjoy covering some ground on some good Senderos...When its dark I know me, I would fall 9 times if its more than 10 feet

Hunting public lands i generally park 1/2 mile away. Two reasons..1 the deer and hogs accociate the sound directly to trouble. 2 it gives me the oppurtunity to still hunt my way out. Be surprised how many times i have filled feezer still hunting to and from the stand.
In the hill country on the other hand just simply had to have it out of sight.

I walk. It's 700 purposeful paces from camp to the blind.

Great, now im going to be counting steps

I don't drive or ride an ATV, I like to walk. If it's a long walk 1+ miles, then I'll catch a ride. I had deer eating the corn in the bed of my truck when I hunted in Childress,safe to say they were OK with vehicles.

When I'm guiding hunts I park a ways away. I've had hunters piss out the windows, doors, get out and take a manly restroom break right behind the blind and the deer don't care. If they do bug out due to a banged door or something they come right back. When me and my buddies are hunting we park right behind the blind or extremely close. Deer don't give it a second thought. Last year we were tossing empty "wheat Soda" cans out of the tower blind down to the ground, got down and loaded the truck, decided to check the air in the tires and had several deer 20 yards away and a lot more in the big field we were in.

That's a new one for me.

If I drive I park at the blind.

Depends on the blind, wind, archery or gun, time of day, and weather. And of course temperature and duration of hunt in relation to said wheat sodas.

Honestly, usually within a 100 yards of the stand during gun season. Two stands of ours have garages under them, literally.

About 30' behind my stand and have it brushed in and a cover .

With the challenge of the hunt being of great value, I want the deer that I take to be as wary and difficult to find as possible. If I wanted to shoot animals that are not afraid of people and their vehicles, I might just as well shoot cows or domestic pigs.

Yeah. I think Sam Elliott called a beer that in the big labowsky

I have one spot that I park since I am the last spot on my lease/ranch road. It is about 200 yards to what I call my North feeder and about 400 yards or so from my blind which is situate on the end of the ranch road and I have another feeder I call my South feeder about 125 yards past that and can see about 230 yards before the road turns.

I have another setup for bow hunting that is about 200 yards from where I park and one more rifle setup that I haven't measured yet but it is quite a ways. I need to figure it out so I know how far that walk is but it is far.

After I am done hunting for a buck I will occasionally park under my stands. The deer barely even notice unless they walk right past the blind.