Spooked big buck twice?


hyperflow

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I first found out about this buck when i went in a field to put feed in one of my feeders. I was comming in the feild with my atv when i spoted 2 deers at the other end of the field. Then in the corner of my eye i spoted a nice 140-150 class buck running away at about 80 yards, he had a small 8 point with him. That was the first time i spooked him out of the field. This was at 6pm.

The next morning i hung a stand where i saw him, theres a big big bedding area behind my stand. I thought forsure he would come out of there to come eat in the field, So i came in from the other end of the feild and did a L to my treestand so by the time he would walk to where i passed it was 2 late. Well guess what he came from the other way. Him and the smaller buck got to where i walked (60yards) and as soon as they got there they seamed very uneaze and they turned around and just trotted away. Even stoped and gave the lookback to add insualt. This was at 9am.

I think what happen is the first night i left my boots in the porche and there was a dog that slept in the porche. This was 2 days before it happend, not sure if my boots would still smell.

He uses the same trail all the time, my question is is he gonna stop using that trail now? or maybe just use it at night?

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Guess the main question would be....how remote are you hunting...how big is the area / how close to humans does this deer get usually? In a lot of the Eastern states, "backyard bucks" don't always change their patterns much when spooked... certainly don't always leave an area...otherwise, they'd have no place to live. Nocturnal, maybe. but that would be until his urge to breed outweighs his desire to play it 100% safe. If it were me... I'd give the field a rest for a week or so...ensure your scent was as reduced as much as possible, and give it another try. There might just be a 170 back there that you haven't seen, nor has seen you yet.

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I would hunt the stand, but be sure to spray your boots down everytime you go into the woods. They carry alot of scent from around your house or car that people don't think about. I spray my whole boots down everytime i go into the woods and when i get close to my hunting area i actually use Doe-in-heat gell on the sides of my boots right where it meets the bottom tread of your boot. This causes the scent to last for longer distances and i use the gell so that it don't get all wiped off during a heavy due or frost when walking. Hope it helps and if you use the scent on your boots i am sure it won't matter what trail he comes out of.

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colescott is right, depending on the amount of hunting pressure your area recieves will depend whether or not you have initiated his nocturnal phase.

If you have spooked him, then most of his movements will take place between right after dark and right before first light. This is ESPECIALLY true when hunting a field or extremely open area. You will have to wait until the pre-rut and rut phase, when, like colescott said, his urge to breed overcomes his natural caution.

I would definately wait a week to a week and a half to hunt this spot again, just to be sure. Yes, its hard when you know there is a nice buck in your area, but if you keep hunting it and leaving behind more human scent, he will totally avoid the area himself and thats not even including the does that get spooked, which in the rut will drag your buck around on a string.

Does are like buck magnets at this time of year, so watch them also. Remember, everytime you enter the woods, you leave behind a trace of yourself. Hunt this spot right, and sparingly if you want to connect with this mature deer.

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Its on privite land so the only human contact that deer will have is me. He dosn;t seam to mind the ATV because we had passed there a bunch of times with the ATV. Im normaly very carful with scent but for some reason this year im slacking. Mostly because theres some guys i know that smoke in there stands and dont care what so ever about scent and there killing monster deers. I believe in scent proofing tho.

Its going to be exactly 6 days before i go back up there to hunt, This buck seams to be very loving of this field, he is there morning and night. Also what im scared is if he goes on the next property over, because his very close to the line.

I think this is the buck i shot and missed last years rifle hunt. I hope this is not the start of my 14pointer all over agen, took me 3 years before i got him.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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