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Treecoy - Creating a beacon for big bucks.

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
I first learned of this idea while watching an episode of Midwest Whitetail a couple seasons ago. After establishing what I call the Big Plot in the creek bottom at the farm, I cut down a sugar maple and "planted" it on the edge of the food plot near my stand. I hung a scrape dripper for the first time ever and set a camera up to keep an eye on the experiment. It was a partial success, but I wasn’t blown away with the results. While watching a recent episode of MW, I was again prompted to try my hand at creating a beacon for buck activity in the creek bottom. Since we acquired the farm in 2005, I’ve always been drawn to this bottom and the deer have been as well. However it can be tough to bring deer in to range of my stand, so I was willing to work outside the box to make things happen.

The treecoy is positioned where the red star is on the map. My stand is situated 30 yards from the treecoy on the edge of the creek. I have a ½ acre food plot of clover and chicory down here, as well as a consistent supply of corn roughly 100 yards from the stand on the south side of the bottom.



Rather than choose a hardwood, I took the advice given on MW and selected a cedar tree. We’ve all seen cedars that have been shredded by bucks and the thoughts is the stickier trees hold more scent, thereby making them more appealing to bucks looking to leave their mark. I knew of one such tree on the southern end of our farm and during a rain, we cut it down and transplanted it in the middle of the food plot.

If you look closely, you can see my stand to the right of the treecoy near the sycamore with the dead branches…



Not much activity occurred during the first week, but after week two, I found it like this…



And after week three?



Now that’s what I call shredded!

After checking my camera, I was a bit disappointed that the long delay cost me the best video to show how well it is working. I caught a small buck working it when one of my shooters strolled in to frame at the last second. With a 5 minute delay, I missed all the action and only caught his back half as he was leaving. You could tell by the color of the tree that he had hammered it, so I reduced the delay in hopes of capturing a mature buck hitting the treecoy. I have videos of both young bucks, and does working the scrape under this as well. This young buck couldn’t help himself to a nice rub…

[video=youtube;edj4taiol60]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edj4taiol60&feature=youtu.be[/video]

If you have a solid stand hung in an area where having something to catch a buck’s attention would be beneficial, I think this is a great way to bring them in. A few years ago, I read a story about a guy who killed deer using a white 5-gallon bucket. He hunted a lot of flat, open hardwoods. He would take that bucket and sit it 20 yards in front of his stand and deer, curious by nature, could not resist walking over to check it out. Our creek bottom is 75’ wide and close to 300 yards long. This tree is visible from every nook and cranny down there. Any buck walking that bottom will see this and I’m banking on his curiosity, and desire to mark his territory, to bring him in for a shot. It never hurts to think outside the box and I was happy to borrow this idea!

As a footnote, there is room for improvement here. I'm going to make this a more permanent structure with a bag of sacrete after the season is over. I plan to use the same cedar until it rots, then I'll simply replace it. I was also hesitant to hang a camera too close to it, but will fix that next year with a more permanent set up in that regard as well.
 
This is something I talked myself out of doing this year and now I'm kicking myself. I watched the same episode you mentioned and thought of my sanctuary plot and how it might work. When I was down there I had it all planned this summer to cut an oak but the more I kept (over) thinking I decided to spare a local tree and just put a couple oak branches on existing trees around the edge. Of course those branches have been destroyed and now I am looking at this post shaking my head. Good stuff Jesse!
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
I missed that show and I wired a oak sapling to a T-post. I have 1000's of cedar trees. One will be planted soon.
 

buckstar25

Junior Member
691
81
T-county
Our plot has plenty of "beacons" left purposely. Never had pictures or video of a buck making a rub on them. I cover mapped our creek bottoms and specifically left the Chinquapin and Pin Oaks, I wanted them to serve multiple purposes within the plot. The deer love to make scrapes under the Pins and Chinquapins produce as young trees.

Cedar seems to be a natural wood that bucks like to beat up for the reasons you stated. Cool to see your plan take shape man, that's what it's all about. Good read.
 

brancher147

Junior Member
Interesting idea. Only problem I can see is that if you didn't transplant the roots, the tree will soon be dead. I have never seen a buck rub on a dead tree. A dead tree will not hold the preorbital or forehead gland scent as long as a live one, which is what a buck leaves behind on a tree when he rubs it.
 
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bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
It wasn't meant to be permanent. Technically, the tree is already dead and it's working just fine. When it loses its tack, then it'll lose effectiveness. At that point, I'll just replace it.