Root
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2016
- Messages
- 620
To start this out, this deer although not my biggest is by far my favorite. This is going back a few years long before I even knew what a saddle was.
Roughly 300 yards behind my house I have a 12' tall roofless box stand. I put it up to have a place to sit with others (new hunters mostly) while hunting, and to have someplace I could pop into on a short hunt after work.
Moving on... I bought a decoy and I had tried it with several different tactics to get a feel for what I could and couldn't do. Talking to a good friend of mine I told him about it and he wanted to come over and do a sit with me to see what crazy things I was coming up with. (He's an avid hunter too but didn't come to hunt himself.) We get the decoy set up around noon and climb up into the stand. (I'll post a picture of what it looks like in front of the stand.) Once in the stand he starts asking me why I have sticks all over the floor and I tell him he'll have to wait and see. I've done some odd tactics before just to give them a try. Using a grunt call typically results in fleeing deer around me.
A few does come out in the distance and cut through the bottom corner. The rut was getting into full swing so I was hoping we'd get lucky. Around 4pm 300 yards out I can see a deer's back walking slowly towards the pine trees on the left and I wisper to him "that's a buck break a stick" he thinks I'm crazy and breaks a stick. The deer picks is head up and it was in fact a buck. When it looks over it is staring at the decoy and takes off into the pines. I gave it few minutes and handed him my grunt call so he could do a few soft tending grunts. Soon as he hits the call the buck pokes his head out of the brush line by the pines to my left. He stands there now 70 yards away hair bristled up and turns back into the trees and starts working over a sapling. A few minutes later I flip my doe in heat can over and he bursts back into full site and starts walking in a circle towards the decoy. Once he clears the brush/goldenrod line in front of the stand he starts the head down sideways walk. Knowing I only have a second to make a move before he charges I quickly stand up and send an arrow. He spins and runs to the bottom corner and into the pine trees. I knew it was a good hit but I didn't get full pass through with my old golden eagle compound. With the arrow still in him tracking him took over 6 hours to go 300 yards. We found him off a single spot of blood on a single pine needle.
How it all unfolded, and to have my friend with me through it all is what makes it my favorite hunt.
What I was testing before was using natural sounds to get a deers attention on the decoy without spooking them. I ended up getting another buck during rifle season off the decoy that year maybe some day I'll post that one up. Over all I rarely if ever use a decoy anymore. I've found through all the scenarios a decoy is an all it tactic. 95% of the time deer with come in and hold up 100-200 yards out and eventually leave when it doesn't move or respond to them. Does with fawns sometimes come in around 50 yards to a doe decoy and usually stomp a few times blow the something isn't right horn and run away.
Not the greatest pictures. The wife wasn't happy about getting woken up!
Roughly 300 yards behind my house I have a 12' tall roofless box stand. I put it up to have a place to sit with others (new hunters mostly) while hunting, and to have someplace I could pop into on a short hunt after work.
Moving on... I bought a decoy and I had tried it with several different tactics to get a feel for what I could and couldn't do. Talking to a good friend of mine I told him about it and he wanted to come over and do a sit with me to see what crazy things I was coming up with. (He's an avid hunter too but didn't come to hunt himself.) We get the decoy set up around noon and climb up into the stand. (I'll post a picture of what it looks like in front of the stand.) Once in the stand he starts asking me why I have sticks all over the floor and I tell him he'll have to wait and see. I've done some odd tactics before just to give them a try. Using a grunt call typically results in fleeing deer around me.
A few does come out in the distance and cut through the bottom corner. The rut was getting into full swing so I was hoping we'd get lucky. Around 4pm 300 yards out I can see a deer's back walking slowly towards the pine trees on the left and I wisper to him "that's a buck break a stick" he thinks I'm crazy and breaks a stick. The deer picks is head up and it was in fact a buck. When it looks over it is staring at the decoy and takes off into the pines. I gave it few minutes and handed him my grunt call so he could do a few soft tending grunts. Soon as he hits the call the buck pokes his head out of the brush line by the pines to my left. He stands there now 70 yards away hair bristled up and turns back into the trees and starts working over a sapling. A few minutes later I flip my doe in heat can over and he bursts back into full site and starts walking in a circle towards the decoy. Once he clears the brush/goldenrod line in front of the stand he starts the head down sideways walk. Knowing I only have a second to make a move before he charges I quickly stand up and send an arrow. He spins and runs to the bottom corner and into the pine trees. I knew it was a good hit but I didn't get full pass through with my old golden eagle compound. With the arrow still in him tracking him took over 6 hours to go 300 yards. We found him off a single spot of blood on a single pine needle.
How it all unfolded, and to have my friend with me through it all is what makes it my favorite hunt.
What I was testing before was using natural sounds to get a deers attention on the decoy without spooking them. I ended up getting another buck during rifle season off the decoy that year maybe some day I'll post that one up. Over all I rarely if ever use a decoy anymore. I've found through all the scenarios a decoy is an all it tactic. 95% of the time deer with come in and hold up 100-200 yards out and eventually leave when it doesn't move or respond to them. Does with fawns sometimes come in around 50 yards to a doe decoy and usually stomp a few times blow the something isn't right horn and run away.
Not the greatest pictures. The wife wasn't happy about getting woken up!