Deer hunting question

[clfergus]

Went out again yesterday for my second official time deer hunting. My dad and I were in the stand at 7:00 - 1:30. Took a quick lunch break and went back up around 4:00.

Tried out another spot where we think the deer come down off a bedding location on the adjacent property. It has a low flat area with a clearing and pine trees. They seem to come down through the property we are hunting through 3 or 4 different trails. For fun we cracked open a Special Golden Deer and hung a few scent sticks on the trail to our shooting lane.

My dad has been great. Since he is retired and this is his girlfriend land, he has been scouting it out for us. His camera caught a few does in this spot as well as some droppings and tracks. So we gave it a go.

Around 7:00 pm yesterday we were about to give up for the day. Hadn't seen a thing aside from a some squirrels, a few we had mistaken for foxs from far off they were so fat. I decided it was almost to dark to shoot as our lanes were only 15-20 yards long and I doubted anything would show up. All of a sudden I spot a deer making its way up the side of the bank coming from the creek bed. It wasn't following the trail so it caught us by surprise. It came in slowly and moved about 50 yards off to our Northwest. It stood still for 5minutes or so and appeared to be coming back to the trail. I couldn't see what it was since it was behind some brush. It came closer to about 20 yards but was head on. It stopped again and stomped the ground. It was to dark to shoot but we could see that it was most likely a large 6 point or 8 point dark brown buck.

I have never even seen a buck so it was quite a treat to see one so close. He right away sensed something was wrong. He only stayed at that 20 yard range for a few seconds then hopped off back the way he came I would say 50 yards and stopped. he turned back our way and gave some really loud snorts and stomps. He then started making his way back toward us on the trail snorting. He got within 25 yards and again sprinted back up the trail 50 yards snorting. Dad and I agreed we had been winded but we didn't care as it was a treat to see him and have him raising hell.

He finally circled around the trail and headed off into cover about 100 yards off. We could hear him for a few minutes stop though and snort. I was tickled.

Ok so now to a few questions for the more seasoned hunter. Do you think he hung around the area so long due to the does scent we hung? I was curious why he kept snorting and made his way down a second time as well as hung up 100 yards snorting. Was it that he just wanted to continue on his normal trail? One almost walked up on my dad as he was hanging the stand so we know the area is a common path.

Second, when he got within 20 yards he was already so tense and on edge I fealt like I had to stay glued into my seat. My question here is, at what point do I stand up and grab my bow? On the doe a few weeks ago I felt as though I stood up too early as it took her 20 minutes to come in range. She also wasn't on edge like the buck.

 

[redneckmedic]

Very Cool experience, welcome to hunting, more questions than answers about deer behavior, its called buck fever BTW.

It's a little early for Rut, so its hard to say. The only 2 predictable things about rut are:
Bucks are completely Unpredictable
Buck Care more about sex then getting killed

From studies they have found that bucks will travel much further than their normal migration patterns during the rut. With no time frame to stay or go.

I am not familiar with your particular scent (insert joke here). However I do know that some of the best scents are doe and Giant Buck scents. The doe scent attracts everything big and small bucks. But the Giant Buck generally is so strong it scares the mid to small bucks and only brings in the competing larger trophies. And should only be used during peak rut, as most bucks could care less whats around any other time. But if there is a big buck in his area during the rut he will try to Alpha Male him off (insert joke here).

When to stand and draw. If your deer is not looking at you its not a bad idea to start preparing. If a deer is spotted coming in and not looking towards your stand I would prepare sooner vs later.

There is increasingly more hunting pressure on deer now till end of season with shotgun being the heaviest (rut also) so the deer will be more aware of what going on and more edgie.

Vette46??? is a good guy to PM and ask more spacific questions, he is the Jedi of whitetail (insert joke here)

Hope this helps RNM

 

[Jack Ryan]

Ok so now to a few questions for the more seasoned hunter. Do you think he hung around the area so long due to the does scent we hung? I was curious why he kept snorting and made his way down a second time as well as hung up 100 yards snorting. Was it that he just wanted to continue on his normal trail? One almost walked up on my dad as he was hanging the stand so we know the area is a common path.

Kind of bad to be guessing at this second hand through a computer so take this with a grain of salt.

I think it sounds like you are in a good spot number one. Number two is don't mess things up trying to make it in to more than that. They already like it there and want to come that way pretty bad. I think he smelled something different and didn't trust it. I don't think he has you figured out from this or that he associates what he smelled with humans yet.

Scope out the "spot" a little more during day light hours while you are in the stand and start picking out other spots you would like to be in if the wind is from a different direction so they don't get winded if they repeat the same behaviour. May be move 50 or 100 yards "up stream" to catch them before it get's so dark.

Second, when he got within 20 yards he was already so tense and on edge I fealt like I had to stay glued into my seat. My question here is, at what point do I stand up and grab my bow? On the doe a few weeks ago I felt as though I stood up too early as it took her 20 minutes to come in range. She also wasn't on edge like the buck.

It's not a matter of how long to wait, it's a matter of moving when they are not looking at you and not making any noise doing it. If they look up you will have to freeze in that position and out wait them. If your father is hunting the same area with in sight, you should both be picking up a pocket full of acorns to have in your pocket in the stand. If one of you sees the other getting busted and you are at least 20-30 yards apart then just drop one acorn to try to cut the other guy a break.

If you are in an area with a lot of oaks so they are used to that or do the same with walnuts, they learn to associate squirrels dropping nuts with food and you can sometimes use it to get one that "just a little bit closer" or to move from behind that bush or tree with out spooking them. If you hear nuts dropping while you are sitting there hunting, you are in a good spot for this trick.

 

[42769vette]

if it was a 1.5 yr old buck or mabye a 2.5 yr old the scent might have played a part in him not just leaving the area. i think its more likley that he didn't fully wind you and just cought a quick wif of somthing not right. its still to early for a mature buck to be fooled by scents. mabye in another week it would be possible.

as far as time to stand. i do as much as i can before i see teh deer (like make sure i can get my bow quietly and quickly. i also draw my bow in stand to make sure everything is ok on my sights and make sure my arm wont hit a limb of ? when i do draw). but i get my bow down, and get into position as soon as possible. i shoot sitting down if i can. i useally only stand on shots closer that 15 yds as i cant take them sitting. but its harder to draw sitting and you need to pratice shooting from a seated position first

 

[Shep79]

Agree with everything said...the fact that he snorted and stomped tells me he knew something wasn't quite right but not sure the problem. Since he came back he wasn't immediately spooked but not comfortable enough to continue on his preferred path. Really watch the wind, make sure you're as scent free as possible and don't over-pressure the spot. I'm betting you'll get that boy in the near future when he has doe tunnel vision!