Share Your Experiences Using a Deer Decoy

[PotashRLS]

I have been toying with a decoy the past couple years. I have a secluded 13 acres alfalfa field that is hard to get bucks into bow range and began trying a decoy. This year I upgraded to the Primos Scar Buck bobble head decoy. It functions very well and looks good. The antlers are the size of a modest 2 1/2 year old 110" 8pt. (with a little drop tine for character). Nothing I would consider threatening but he has been used 4 times now in the last week and a half with no deer wanting anything to do with him. They keep their distance and even blow on occasion.

I wonder if the high bowhunting pressure in the are has the deer on edge and suspicious? Your thoughts and experience?

[msman825]

dont know about Wisconsin, but here in Maine the rut has not really got going, only had a couple cool days. is the rut in full swing there

[Straight Shooter]

I've tried the Renzo decoys when they hit the market, it seemed like a perfect decoy for the definition of the deer and lightness of carrying. I had several deer come out on them being very calm but curious about this intruder. The gig was up when they got beside it and all of a sudden this deer they have been watching disappears. They tended to jump out of their skin and start blowing.

I haven't tried another decoy after that, I think the three dimensional targets work better, maybe some day I will try these out.

[Ravin R10 man]

Have not done very much with a decoy...I went to bait one eve with my Carhart tan jacket..a buck seen me 200 yrds way and came running right within 10 yards..he got an imaginary arrow right in the boiler room

[PotashRLS]

TTT

Maybe few folks use decoys. Still want to hear your thoughts.

[Rhino]

Over the years I used them from time to time with mixed results. JMO but from my experience, the more pressured on the deer, the more likely they are to be spooky using a decoy. I have a Carrylight buck decoy and a doe decoy.

I tried using one for several years in MS with poor results at best. Same thing you're talking about with them either seeing it and leaving or blowing at it. This was a high pressure hunting club.

Last year on the same high pressure place in MS a friend of mine put out a doe decoy in a 3 ac. food plot. It was peak rut time for us during our Dec. gun season. About 20 minutes before dark the target buck entered the field ~200 yards away and came trotting toward the decoy that was set ~40 yards from him. The buck hung up at ~100 yards & must of realized it wasn't real. He turned & ran away but made the mistake of stopping to look back. My buddy killed him at ~175 yards.

Used one on an Illinois hunt putting it in front of my buddy hunting a cut corn field. I was hunting ~250 yards away on the same field. I passed a 3.5 year old 10 point & a few minutes later shot a big mature 9 point. The 10 point I'd passed eventually went over to him all around the decoy. Low pressure area.

Last year I put out my buck decoy once since the wind was wrong to hunt close to where I'd seen a big mature buck. Got a very nice 3.5 year old 10 point buck (~145") to come into it. He bristled up & I thought he was going to charge it but hung up at 25 yards checking it out, then eased on. Had does come in to it too feeding around it later that afternoon. Very low pressure area.

Last week trying to coax the mature buck my buddy ended up killing (another post here) I put out the buck decoy ~8 steps from the blind we were in during a light rain. Didn't spook any of the 11 bucks we saw or any of the 20 or so does & fawns either but neither one of the 2 mature bucks got within 120 yards. They had their minds made up where they wanted to be. We did have a 2.5 year old 8 point come in and pass between the decoy & the blind. Yep ~4 steps. After he got around it he faced it for several minutes at ~5 yards trying to figure out who the new guy was.

Just me but I'd rather hang another stand or adjust my stand to be where the deer want to be if they don't show much preference in getting close enough to where the stand is. Of course that's provided the new position won't put the wind blowing toward where they are coming from or where you want them to be within range. Yea...sometimes easy to figure out...other times tuff call and not possible at all other times.

[PotashRLS]

Good post, thanks.

The secluded field I refer to always has deer feeding in it in the afternoon/evening. Part of the problem is that the wind swirls badly, especially when winds are light. It is very difficult to stay undetected all the time because the wind ( I think the river to the south affects it ) can be unpredictable even when religiously monitoring the hourly forecasts prior to that evening's hunt.

The hope with the decoy is to draw deer but keep them just distant enough so as not to have them smell me when/if the wind swirls. It would be a crap shoot then when a buck finally challenges the decoy as to what the wind is doing at the time.

Once our firearm season hits on the 23rd, the ensuing blaze orange war zone will make this area's deer herd nocturnal until at least Christmas. By that time, the food source will not be drawing the deer because the freeze will kill it off. I am on a mission to say the least.

The area is awesome fun but terribly stressful and frustrates the crap out of me.

[ruttinbuc]

Here is a video of one I used last year around this time. This buck was a little confused as to what end to investigate. Usually a buck will want to look another buck in the eye and smell the doe from behind to check for estrous.

[Tominator]

Most of the reactions that I've had to decoys have been positive, and quite entertaining. I wouldn't use them in the woods though, they seem to work better when they're in the open or on a field edge. In the woods I think they get too spooky for the real deer.

[LETMGROW]

http://www.realtree.com/forums/deer-hunting/28372-code-blue-story-lol-ha-ha1.html Here is a little story I posted awhile back.

LYNN

Edited November 9, 2013 by LETMGROW

[Ravin R10 man]

Have not done very much with a decoy...I went to bait one eve with my Carhart tan jacket..a buck seen me 200 yrds way and came running right within 10 yards..he got an imaginary arrow right in the boiler room

reason I don't use decoy is I let the does pull them in, or small bucks in the area. .I'd like to try one someday, like the bobble head one, but I do not hunt much on fields, and don't like the idea of lugging a decoy in and out. Would use one if I had all day to sit too.

[PotashRLS]

Put the Primos Scar Buck out again for yesterday afternoon's hunt. The does stood off again, often at 100-150 yards and head bobbed and even blew at it. I had Curly, my target 4 year old 8pt., a 3 year old 8pt. and a few scrubs on the field sniffing and running does. They would not come closer than 100 yards and again a doe blew running off a bunch of the deer. At the end, Curly was leaving the field 300 yards away so I got on the True Talker and Rattled to try to turn him. No luck but a 2 year old 8pt came from my right along the field edge at a pretty good pace right to the decoy. He bagged me when the wind swirled but would have been dead would he been a taker.

What a fun and frustrating night!!!