rbaker7

i was close to 25 feet bc my bow rope was almost off the ground when i pulled it up...the tree i was in was super skinny tho and there was pretty much no cover. but i didnt have anywhere else to set up near the path.

so i went back out this thursday and set up where i thought they would be traveling close to where i got stuck last thursday....i found an amazing path and set up along side of it... i had a few doe 15 yards behind my tree comin up the path...i was turned facing my tree lookin out behind me at them...all of the sudden they stopped and were staring at me( or so i thought) ...then i heard a loud crunching in the snow comin from behind me...it was really close i slowly turned and saw the same monster at about 20 yards coming up the same path...when i turned i must been busted the does bc they took off. the buck stopped for a second and i raised my bow and he took a step forward only shot i had was in the ass so i just waited.. he stood there with one leg in the air frozen and then after about 30 seconds trotted off. man i was shakin i was so pissed..i would have seen him comin from about 200 yards away if i wouldnt have been watchin those does...i have hunted about twice a week all season bow only no gun..i have had so many close encounters with big bucks and the littlest things have gone wrong..i feel like since this is my first season god is makin sure everything goes wrong, literally everytime i get out of the woods im like damn i guess i know what to do next time...its frustrating but i think by next season i will have everything down pat...still got 2 weeks left of bow so we will see what happens. ps i got a sweet video on my phone of those bucks fightin last week idk how to upload it tho

thanks...im def going to move up a little higher and try to catch them moving before they bed down...ive hunted there probably 5 times this year and ive always seen them traveling through but NEVER bed down where they did. they were only 40 yards from the field edge...im pretty sure its because the corn was cut in the last week and before they just laid down in the corn. that would also explain why there was so many new deer esp bucks i havent seen this year right? assuming they had no clue of my presence do you think they will bed there again?

Hello. I wanted to get some feedback as I am new to bowhunting. This is my first season and yesterday was quite an experience. It was awesome, uncomfortable, dissapointing and still sweet day. I hunt in MD on private land and use a climber. My gameplan was to sit untill like 1030 or 11in my morining spot, warm up my toes,eat and head back out for the rest of the day to my afternoon spot on the other side of the property. I got settled in about 6 am, daylight came and I saw a few does running the top of this hillside to my left. Few little guys under my tree nothing really goin on untill I saw the outline of about 15 deer on the hillside to my left. it was about 930am.They moved past me and about 2 mins later I heard what sounded like a stampede comin through the woods. I stood up grabbed my bow and peaked behind my tree. No exaggeration probably 25 deer comin straight at me about 75 yards and gettin closer. I turned around wtih my back to the tree and stood with my bow waiting for them to get to me...after about 30 secs i got curious and peaked back around and they had stopped and were feeding at about 60 yards directly behind me to the right. All i could see was racks..probably 15 of em were bucks and I could see 3 absolute monsters..2 big 8 points and one that was at least 11 pt....the rest all little scrubs.. So im watchin them for about 20 mins feed shaking like a leaf prayin that none of the scrub bucks or does wonder my way and bust me...and then all of the sudden they all lay down and bed. so my plan is next thurs n fri my buddy and I are going to be hunting this same spot to finish out the season, so i really dont want to get busted. Im pissed that they bedded down bc I know it could be awhile and im freezing my ass off. so I get my nerves together after awhile and jsut sit tight n watch...the bucks stay down and get up every hour or so for about 5 mins shake off and lay back down...occasionally a doe would wander my way and then lay down. around 1 some of the does wander down below my stand, and all of the sudden all of the bucks get up. this 8 point starts following behind the does about 25 yardst.. i see the big one get up like hes going to follow too..im standing with my back to the tree watchin the does in front and peeking behind, the does move in front of me and the 8 follows about 15 yards in front of my stand...so now i have the 8 in front of me and the big one at about 50 yards behind me looking like hes about to follow ( i figure hes goin last) so i wait...i was freakin out cuz i was tryin to keep and eye on him and the deer in front at the same time...then the 8 point circles the does back up to where they were bedded and then pushes all the does into the field which seemed weird, then he walked rigth back in and laid down with the rest of the bucks...everytime it seemed like they were gonna make a move either into the field of the swamp below me they would lay back down...it was mentally exhausting bc there was so many deer around me I was worreid about gettin busted, ive never been so cold in my life, and the exctiement. one thing that was sweet was that a couple times during the day this smaller buck would stand up and go over to the big ones and nudge em to get up and then they would lock horns which ive never seen in person before....it was pretty amazing....i ended up stayin in the stand untill dark and snuck down and got out, i coudlnt see them bc it was dark and i kept my light off...im hopin that they didnt catch on to me..but i was literally watchin them from 930 untill 6 pm and they didnt seem on to me. so if i would have shot the 8 pt it woudl have been my best deer so far, however i was thinkin im hunting here with my buddy next thursday only way im shooting with this many bucks aroudn is if its the big one...what would you have done? now i dont know if i should have done anything different to get them to come my way or not..the only thing i could think of was if i would have brought my rattle bag but again i didnt wanna risk gettin spotted bc i was so close and there was so many deer. what do you think? the reason i think they were all herded up was not only cuz of the cold but because they just cut the corn in the last week due to how wet the fields have been.all year long i was seein deer enter the corn after daylight and now they cant. where i hunt is surrounded by corn fields, a swamp, and soy beans with decent woods seperating the fields. do you think thats accurate on why i would see so many deer together? thanks..i cant wait to go next thursday