There are few things we can bank on when it comes to hunting whitetails, however feeding patterns, preferred travel routes and a deer's innate ability to seek the path of least resistance are truly givens.

The author reaped the benefits of a great corner stand a number of years ago when he arrowed this monster-bodied 350-pound, 10-point buck from a corner point.

When hunting new ground, the very first terrain features I try to locate are the various types of corners. Why corners? It's a known fact that whitetails are much easier to hunt in the their preferred travel routes than trying to snuggle in close to their security cover. They bed in specific areas for a reason and in most cases they have a wind advantage on one side and a panoramic view on the other. Corners often become favored crossover points and loitering areas where bucks queue up before entering fields to feed.

Not all corners are created equal and they don't have to make a right angle to be considered. Going back to the days of the early settlers, land was typically sectioned off in squares, and from an aerial view it's easy to see geometric blocks of land of various sizes in most whitetail country.

The look of the land on the ground has changed considerably since those years with the clearing of forests for lumber to build homes and planting crops. In the process, man created boundaries by putting up fences, planting crops, and harvesting timber. Inevitably, some corners were eliminated and others created.

Outside Corners
Corners take shape in different forms, but one of the most popular, among the hunters I know, have been outside corners. One example of an outside corner is that of a tree line or fence line that comes to a 90-degree corner, typically surrounded by pastures, crop fields, and in this day and age, CRP fields.

More often than not, deer follow a fence line or tree line to take full advantage of available cover. As trails converge toward a corner, they either follow the fence or cut across diagonally some 20 to 30 yards inside the tree line. A typical setup in such an area might put you 15 yards or so from the timber edge, allowing shots to both the inner trails and field edge too.

In some cases, the outside corner itself might be less effective than the connecting funnels that feed deer into it! Jared Rebling of Lockridge, Iowa experienced this during the past season. Being in the limelight isn't new for Rebling, who arrowed his first Boone & Crockett two seasons ago. What is more astounding is the fact that he arrowed the second "Booner" from the same tree stand this past season.

To make a long story short, Jared arrived at his hunting area at the break of first light. He applied scent-eliminating spray to his clothing and boots; then, he squirted a few drops of doe-in-heat scent on a drag rag and began slipping along a narrow tree line toward his stand. Arriving, he hung the rag downwind near a scrape some 20 yards away and made a mock scrape where he added a few drops of buck urine.

Jared Rebling of Lockridge, Iowa, arrowed this 20-point nontypical buck on October 21st from a natural funnel linked to an outside corner. The huge deer officially scores 2217Ú8 inches and more than qualifies for the Boone & Crockett record books, making it his second in just three years.

Shortly after climbing into the stand, he began rattling and got an alarming snort from down the fence line near the corner. Pulling out his call, he snorted back. Shortly thereafter, Rebling caught a flash of white exiting the tree line and running across the open field. Thinking his morning hunt was over he hung up the bow and began gathering gear to leave. For whatever reason, he happened to look up and spotted a wide and massive buck staring his way from 40 yards. "Caught totally off guard and startled by his appearance, my heart started pounding so hard I thought I was going to die!" Jared said. As the buck began to close the gap, Rebling slowly reached for his bow, moving only when the buck's head was turned or obscured. At about 30 yards the buck picked up the scent and followed it right to the stand, standing directly beneath, The shot was too risky. The buck then turned and started walking away, giving Rebling a chance to draw his bow and settled the pin and punched the release, sending his arrow into the chest cavity to the fletching. It took a bit of searching but with the help of his father and two friends, they eventually found the trophy lying in a dry creek bed near the river.

Inside Corners
Inside corners sometimes offer a slight edge over other corners. Imagine an opening in the shape of the letter "C" laid into the edge of your woodlot and causing a narrowing of the cover on its back side. Such inside corners can be found along timber edges, creeks, fence lines, and brushy draws, identifying where the narrowest point exists. These narrow points are natural funnels where deer trails converge toward one another. Stands placed in these choke points will increase your chances for getting close shots. There are exceptions to the rule, but as rutting activity begins to ramp up and bucks enter the seek phase, I'll hunt inside corners almost exclusively.

Ridges And Corners
I've written a considerable amount over the years regarding east/west ridges and the significance they should play in every whitetail hunter's strategy. At each end of an east/west running ridge there's a point or corner. Bucks like entering these ridges from either one end or the other, therefore, it might be wise to have a stand on each end.

Although I've taken many deer from inside and outside corners, one of my most memorable was that of a buck shot many years ago from a corner point on an east/west ridge. My stand was positioned in such a way that I could cover any direction, including the entire swath of a narrow tree line.

The weather had taken a turn for the worst and I contemplated leaving, but decided to stick it out for a few more minutes. Three does had just browsed through the narrow corridor and fed nearby. Minutes later a grunt drew my attention down the draw where I spotted a wide rack buck approaching. As he entered the pinch point, a 125-grain broadhead pierced both lungs, sending the buck racing from the scene.