First time calling in a deer, new hunter

[caddis75]

Hey all,

I had a few hours yesterday and wanted to scout some public land in SE PA. I walked in around 1 pm, scouted for a while, and found some deer trails/ sign near a pond. I decided to hunt for a few hours and set up on the top of a ridge overlooking a draw. I got into the tree around 2:30 pm. I started using a grunt call, with short grunts (1, then fifteen seconds, then another one, then rest for a few minutes). At 3:30 a fork buck came over the ridge at about 60 yards and was scraping on some small trees. I called like above and he ignored me, continuing to scrape. I then called once and he snapped his head up straight at me. He then moved from about 60 yards to 40 yards, very casually. This is my first year hunting and the first deer I have seen, I only have one tag, and wanted to keep learning, so I didn't call anymore. That's the closest he got. He then moseyed away back down the draw. I didn't see anything else.

1. I am pretty comfortable out to 30 yards. If I wanted to try and bring him in closer than he was, how do I do that?
2. Knowing where he came from, would it be a good idea to set up a little further down the draw?

https://imgur.com/a/o9TD6oj

By the way, my saddle set up is working out really well. Thanks for all your help.

 

[woodsdog2]

You did great! If you can get closer without spooking the bedded deer then I say go for it. Sometimes a lot of the literature almost scares or stifles you into doing anything at all but I say, done right... somewhat aggressive moves can be your best tactic!!! As long as the wind is right either in your face, or a cross wind, and you can access your setup without spooking anything try getting a little closer. With calling, it can get a little tricky if you "blind call." You have to make sure the deer cannot get downwind of you. Now that the rut is pretty much underway though you can be a little more aggressive with that to an extent too but remember, especially if you're hunting public, everyone probably has grunted and rattled the bucks in that area to death so they may be wary and weary of that. I like to grunt if I see a deer and it acts like it will not be coming my way. And then I will just give a few short grunts... blurp, blurp and see if that gets his attention. Don't be too loud and too much, Deer communicate mostly via scent and visual cues so calling should be part of that but not the end all. Rely on your setups close to good sign and terrain contours that funnel overall deer movement and calling is just an add on if you see one at a distance. Right now is great for rattling antlers too but don't go nuts at first. Tinkle the antlers or rattle bag together, throw in a few grunts and see what happens. I used to blind call more and had success but you do really have to make sure you have a setup where the deer can't circle downwind as the big boys and older Alpha Does will do that to be sure. If you can set up near a ridge or one of those ponds or another "blocker" of some kind where the deer can't circle downwind of you, you can try to blind call a little bit more but if its public, unless you're in a little light pressure hidey hole or something, go with caution and call sparingly. On my walks in on noisy dry days, I carry a mouth diaphragm turkey call and occasionally cluck and soft yelp to make the deer think I'm just a turkey. That's only if its noisy and if you're hunting public, you probably do not want to use that technique or at least have blaze orange on.

 

[caddis75]

You did great! If you can get closer without spooking the bedded deer then I say go for it. Sometimes a lot of the literature almost scares or stifles you into doing anything at all but I say, done right... somewhat aggressive moves can be your best tactic!!! As long as the wind is right either in your face, or a cross wind, and you can access your setup without spooking anything try getting a little closer. With calling, it can get a little tricky if you "blind call." You have to make sure the deer cannot get downwind of you. Now that the rut is pretty much underway though you can be a little more aggressive with that to an extent too but remember, especially if you're hunting public, everyone probably has grunted and rattled the bucks in that area to death so they may be wary and weary of that. I like to grunt if I see a deer and it acts like it will not be coming my way. And then I will just give a few short grunts... blurp, blurp and see if that gets his attention. Don't be too loud and too much, Deer communicate mostly via scent and visual cues so calling should be part of that but not the end all. Rely on your setups close to good sign and terrain contours that funnel overall deer movement and calling is just an add on if you see one at a distance. Right now is great for rattling antlers too but don't go nuts at first. Tinkle the antlers or rattle bag together, throw in a few grunts and see what happens. I used to blind call more and had success but you do really have to make sure you have a setup where the deer can't circle downwind as the big boys and older Alpha Does will do that to be sure. If you can set up near a ridge or one of those ponds or another "blocker" of some kind where the deer can't circle downwind of you, you can try to blind call a little bit more but if its public, unless you're in a little light pressure hidey hole or something, go with caution and call sparingly. On my walks in on noisy dry days, I carry a mouth diaphragm turkey call and occasionally cluck and soft yelp to make the deer think I'm just a turkey. That's only if its noisy and if you're hunting public, you probably do not want to use that technique or at least have blaze orange on.

Thanks. I may drive back out today and scout a spot a little north of that pond. Accessing it is pretty hard, all dry leaves and sticker bushes. Fall turkey is closed in this WMU. So funny, on my walk-in yesterday, I came upon TEN turkeys, all in one group, with not a care in the world.

One remaining issue is on my walk back out at night I noticed, right next to the road, a lot of those fluorescent pins and one stand right off the road, so I need to be respectful of others and maybe move a bit. I have off Wednesday, so I hopefully can go back out then and take advantage of the rut.

Thanks.

 

[caddis75]

You did great! If you can get closer without spooking the bedded deer then I say go for it. Sometimes a lot of the literature almost scares or stifles you into doing anything at all but I say, done right... somewhat aggressive moves can be your best tactic!!! As long as the wind is right either in your face, or a cross wind, and you can access your setup without spooking anything try getting a little closer. With calling, it can get a little tricky if you "blind call." You have to make sure the deer cannot get downwind of you. Now that the rut is pretty much underway though you can be a little more aggressive with that to an extent too but remember, especially if you're hunting public, everyone probably has grunted and rattled the bucks in that area to death so they may be wary and weary of that. I like to grunt if I see a deer and it acts like it will not be coming my way. And then I will just give a few short grunts... blurp, blurp and see if that gets his attention. Don't be too loud and too much, Deer communicate mostly via scent and visual cues so calling should be part of that but not the end all. Rely on your setups close to good sign and terrain contours that funnel overall deer movement and calling is just an add on if you see one at a distance. Right now is great for rattling antlers too but don't go nuts at first. Tinkle the antlers or rattle bag together, throw in a few grunts and see what happens. I used to blind call more and had success but you do really have to make sure you have a setup where the deer can't circle downwind as the big boys and older Alpha Does will do that to be sure. If you can set up near a ridge or one of those ponds or another "blocker" of some kind where the deer can't circle downwind of you, you can try to blind call a little bit more but if its public, unless you're in a little light pressure hidey hole or something, go with caution and call sparingly. On my walks in on noisy dry days, I carry a mouth diaphragm turkey call and occasionally cluck and soft yelp to make the deer think I'm just a turkey. That's only if its noisy and if you're hunting public, you probably do not want to use that technique or at least have blaze orange on.

Thanks for your help. I lost my ring of steps last night, I didn't realize until today. I went back and did some scouting and looked for my ROS. I had much more success scouting. Where that buck came out of is PRIME bedding. Its got some knocked down trees and sticker bushes, I saw a number of beds. I backed out as quietly as I could and decided on the predominant winds to choose a tree on the NW side of the pond, so deer have a hard time circling downwind of me. There are a ton of tracks along the west side of the pond. I threw up a game cam (locked it as it is PL) and will be back Wednesday.

 

[woodsdog2]

Thanks. I may drive back out today and scout a spot a little north of that pond. Accessing it is pretty hard, all dry leaves and sticker bushes. Fall turkey is closed in this WMU. So funny, on my walk-in yesterday, I came upon TEN turkeys, all in one group, with not a care in the world.

One remaining issue is on my walk back out at night I noticed, right next to the road, a lot of those fluorescent pins and one stand right off the road, so I need to be respectful of others and maybe move a bit. I have off Wednesday, so I hopefully can go back out then and take advantage of the rut.

Thanks.

And so likely, the deer may have some pressure in there but if the other stand is closer to the road as depicted in your map, you should be fine. It looks like you're back in much farther which should be good. Sometimes the deer will have patterned that other stand and already know how to skirt around them. It appears like you will have a sound strategy for your hunt this Veterans Day so good luck!!!

 

[Hunter260]

It’s basically luck of the draw if they come to bow range most of the time. I’ve called several deer in with both a grunt and rattling antlers. I almost never call to a deer that is within 50-75 yards of me. Think about it, if you’re upstairs and someone knocks on the door, you’ll go check. BUT if you’re laying in bed and someone knocks on the bedroom door when you thought you were home alone, you’ll likely jump out the window and run down the road.

I don’t have any experience with decoys, but there’s a reason guys use them in conjunction with calling to get deer close. The deer has to think there’s a deer to come close. And if they can’t see a deer, they ain’t comin.

 

[caddis75]

Went out this morning. I approached with the plan that the wind was coming from the south and was fine, then it switched to SE and I think I got busted. I was in my saddle from about 5:45-10, nary a sighting. I checked my game cam and only saw two other hunters walk by since Sunday. I figure at some point my scent blew over the bedding area. Without my ROS or platform, it gets uncomfortable pretty quickly.

 

[woodsdog2]

Went out this morning. I approached with the plan that the wind was coming from the south and was fine, then it switched to SE and I think I got busted. I was in my saddle from about 5:45-10, nary a sighting. I checked my game cam and only saw two other hunters walk by since Sunday. I figure at some point my scent blew over the bedding area. Without my ROS or platform, it gets uncomfortable pretty quickly.

Keep at it. Did you not find your ROS? When the wind switches like that climb down and reset your setup so the wind is right again. Easier said then done sometimes I know.

 

[caddis75]

Keep at it. Did you not find your ROS? When the wind switches like that climb down and reset your setup so the wind is right again. Easier said than done sometimes I know.

Thanks. Not yet. I did. but probably too late. I took off tomorrow. In PA we have one Sunday hunt, which is this weekend, so I assume a lot of hunters will be in the woods on Sat and Sun. Didn't see a lot of scrapes yet. I was looking at some maps this morning and found that there is an oak forest that starts just below the ridge where my stand was and goes off to the east. I may explore down there a bit.

Walking the mile in with gear makes me think a solid pack is in my future sometime as well.

 

[caddis75]

Took the day off and hunted again yesterday, trying to put in some reps.

https://imgur.com/a/O8GDYTw

No dice. Felt like my approach was good, I was pretty quiet, had the wind in my favor, and didn't call too much. I didn't see a damn thing. After about four hours in my am spot, I took a break and hiked into a new spot at the bottom of a field and tried that. Also, I didn't see anything there. Overall, nice day in the woods, but no animals.

 

[woodsdog2]

What did you end up doing for a platform to replace your ROS? If you're not seeing anything you may want to try to find a couple of other spots. I like to give a 3 day cool down period from my spots so if you have a couple of other places to go when the wind is good this gives your primary hunting location a rest from human intrusion and scent. Right now during the rut that can change and you may get away with sitting in the same general location over a few days but I find whenever I do that my hunting spots seem to get "stale." Take advantage of the mobility of your system and change up a few locations. Many people on this forum like to scout, scout, hunt and I believe that is an excellent strategy. Right now I'm looking for doe concentrations and funnels between doe bedding areas to set up in for cruiser bucks. I liked that you moved to take advantage of morning and pm deer movement patterns but don't give up.

 

[caddis75]

What did you end up doing for a platform to replace your ROS? If you're not seeing anything you may want to try to find a couple of other spots. I like to give a 3 day cool down period from my spots so if you have a couple of other places to go when the wind is good this gives your primary hunting location a rest from human intrusion and scent. Right now during the rut that can change and you may get away with sitting in the same general location over a few days but I find whenever I do that my hunting spots seem to get "stale." Take advantage of the mobility of your system and change up a few locations. Many people on this forum like to scout, scout, hunt and I believe that is an excellent strategy. Right now I'm looking for doe concentrations and funnels between doe bedding areas to set up in for cruiser bucks. I liked that you moved to take advantage of morning and pm deer movement patterns but don't give up.

I found some steps in the classifieds, they are in the mail. Tomorrow is the one Sunday during PA archery when you can hunt, and the closest game land, which is this plot, is an hour away. I may go and scout tomorrow without disturbing too much as there will be a lot of hunters in the woods, and if I find something I may hunt a little. I was in the northern half the last few days, denoted by the red x. I may scout the southern half. Still new, unsure what to look for past what I have seen on youtube!

https://imgur.com/a/jCa0nvL

Thanks!