Bumping other deer while getting to your buck bed?

[Stanley]

How about blowing on a grunt tube OR clucking on a turkey call when you alert a deer?

They are usually spooked because they have identified you. Whether it be sight, sound, or smell. I never educate them further by using vocal distractions.

[Lockdown]

As already stated this topic is talked about here and there, but I'm bumping it anyway! It's an important topic IMO.


Keep in mind if a deer runs off, that doesn't mean its game over for the night. Opening night this season I bumped a target buck and he took off toward where I HOPED he was bedding and started blowing. I got a little frustrated but talked myself out of it and snuck quietly the last 20 yards to my stand. I wasn't set up for 10-15 mins and I saw him 50 yards away still standing where I presume he was when he started blowing. He headed back my direction but skirted around me out of range.


Last year my lone encounter with a mature buck was after bumping a buck that went crashing through the cattails. He came in from the opposite direction...

[dan]

My boy James (Rat Slayer) got his 1st buck in a bedding area less than a 1/2 hour after missing a nice buck in that same bedding area.

One thing is certain, if a buck is bedding somewhere surrounded by other deer, your odds might go down slightly if your bumping other deer, but they go down enormously if you don't hunt him for fear of spooking other deer...

[JoeRE]

I bump deer most hunts I think. Its pretty rare to get in 100% clean....and as Dan said that is just the deer I know about probably more that I don't. When you have 60-80 DPSM its impossible not to if you are walking any distance.

I do whatever possible to spook deer in a safe direction. Then spooking them is low risk. This happens all the time...and I have had a pile of burned hunts where spooked deer ran down the ridge right through the target bedding but am getting better at it. This is one of the reasons I like to enter from below on many evening hunts. You still have to evaluate how safe that is.

If I can't get in w/out dominoing deer into the bedding I want to target in the evening, then that is just about an automatic morning setup. I don't care if I stomp right through the center of a bed when I come in for a morning hunt as long as I can set up to catch the buck beforehand. Sure its high impact but I don't plan on hunting a spot twice usually. I find most places I can access either morning or evening clean.

[mainebowhunter]

Come to Maine and hunt. Problem solved. Can promise you...even walking a mile to your stand, you won't bump ANY deer that you know about. So when I do hunt targeted bedding areas, I can usually get within 75yds without blowing the gig. Very rarely even blowing a deer. Problem is...when I do bump a known deer, thats pretty much the deer I was hunting.

[Jonny]

Come to Maine and hunt. Problem solved. Can promise you...even walking a mile to your stand, you won't bump ANY deer that you know about. So when I do hunt targeted bedding areas, I can usually get within 75yds without blowing the gig. Very rarely even blowing a deer. Problem is...when I do bump a known deer, thats pretty much the deer I was hunting.

Same thing in low density areas of wisconsin. Not enough deer up here to really make it a huge concern for me. The roaming does tick me off though. Jump those things anywhere and everywhere. Middle of the hardwoods, between the trucks, 5 feet from my climber on the base of the tree. All of these have happened to me in the last 2 years. The one between the trucks was hilarious. If I was right handed I could have shot the doe 25 yards from my uncle and another guy talking on the back of their trucks. Neither of them believed me when I told them what just happened. Said no more about it, and now have a spot to hunt next year in october once the pressure hits back in the oaks

[JoeRE]

Come to Maine and hunt. Problem solved. Can promise you...even walking a mile to your stand, you won't bump ANY deer that you know about. So when I do hunt targeted bedding areas, I can usually get within 75yds without blowing the gig. Very rarely even blowing a deer. Problem is...when I do bump a known deer, thats pretty much the deer I was hunting.

Excellent solution

[mag1]

this will be an issue for me next year. got a spot to figure out better next month, but depending on wind, its going to be a tough one to get into. Got to boat in from the wrong dirrection, but have to stay away from boating next to the bedding. Not sure how they will react if I come in right past them. Might be ok, but will try the longer route. then to loop around so the wind dosnt mess it up. argh......

[PK_]

I just give a couple grunts and continue to still hunt to my tree. I have had bucks come running out of the bedding to come check out the 'buck' that was intruding and stirring up his ladies.

[jbone23]

I've had success using the noise distraction. When I hunt in bama I'll walk normally and blow grunt tube attempting to sound like a hog and it seems to help. If its the rut and im not down south Ill try walking like a deer and grunting. If it dosn't calm the deer it definitely calms my nerves. It at least gives me more confidence for a sit when I know Im going to bump deer or hogs on way in.

[Swampbuck]

Come to Maine and hunt. Problem solved. Can promise you...even walking a mile to your stand, you won't bump ANY deer that you know about. So when I do hunt targeted bedding areas, I can usually get within 75yds without blowing the gig. Very rarely even blowing a deer. Problem is...when I do bump a known deer, thats pretty much the deer I was hunting.

That's my solution too, hunt areas with 2-3 deer/ Sq mile