Ladder Stands and Pressure: Killing a Buck 100 Yards from the Parking Lot

Ladder Stands and Pressure: Killing a Buck 100 Yards from the Parking Lot

Most hunters walk deeper to get away from pressure. They assume the further you go, the better your odds. But last season, I killed a mature 8-point just 100 yards from a gravel parking lot—in full view of the access road—using nothing but a ladder stand and a plan to use hunting pressure against itself.

This is the story of how reading people was as important as reading deer—and how one overlooked corner turned into one of my most satisfying kills.

🚪 The Parking Lot Paradox

The tract was 1,800 acres of mixed timber and marsh, with four access points. The lot I used was always packed on weekends. Trucks, side-by-sides, even kids target shooting down the fire road. Most hunters raced deep into the timber before daylight, hoping to beat the crowd.

I did the opposite.

🎙️ “Sometimes the best plan is the one nobody else considers worth trying.”

🌾 The Setup: Ladder Stand with a Twist

About 100 yards in, just beyond a thin cedar windbreak, sat an abandoned fenceline and a gentle slope into a tall CRP strip. I’d scouted it in February. Found old rubs. Marked faint trails. Hung a basic 16-foot steel ladder stand where three trails converged between the field and a bedding thicket.

Most guys walked right past it—usually by flashlight at 5:30AM.

I’d parked the stand months before the season opened. Quiet install. No trimming. No bait. I let the pressure shape the behavior.

🎙️ “I wasn’t trying to out-walk anyone. I was trying to out-think them.”

🦌 The Kill: Patterned by People, Not Just Deer

On opening morning, I waited until after the early rush. No headlamp. No stomp through dry leaves. Just a slow, silent slip-in at 6:30AM.

At 7:11AM, I heard movement. A heavy-bodied 8-point was slipping down from the ridge—looping wide around the pressure. He paused at the CRP edge, looked back toward the deeper woods, then stepped into the opening.

22 yards. Broadside. Game over.

💡 Why It Worked: Pressure as a Tool

✔️ Bucks Anticipate Pressure – They shift before opening day based on human scent and preseason traffic
✔️ Use Hunter Movement Against Them – My setup intercepted a deer rerouting away from deeper noise
✔️ Ladder Stand = Underestimated – Many hunters assume climbers or saddles = smarter setups. The ladder was already there—no disturbance, no setup noise
✔️ Proximity Creates Opportunity – Bucks often circle back into low-pressure edges once the initial chaos passes

🎙️ “He wasn’t just avoiding hunters. He was using them to decide where not to go.”

🧰 Gear That Made It Happen

Not every buck lives 2 miles deep. In fact, some of the oldest deer learn to live close to pressure—not far from it. If you can learn to map human pressure as well as deer sign, you’ll find zones nobody else hunts—just yards from where everyone walks in.

“The best spots on public land aren’t always the farthest. Sometimes, they’re just the ones nobody bothers to check.”