Stanley wrote:I am confused as to how everyone is getting picked off by a buck smelling you.
If I set up on a buck I have a pretty good idea of where to set up so I wont get winded by the buck I am trying to kill. If I get picked off by a buck I'm after its normally not his nose that gets me.
If you set up close to a bed the chance of that buck seeing you or hearing you is much greater than him smelling you downwind. I'm almost certain most guys are setting up downwind of where the buck is bedded. If you are not, then I can see how you would get busted by the buck smelling you.
I can see your point; however, my answer is still smell. There is so much unpredictability with scent and thermals. Here are several examples:
1.) The most obvious, wind changes mid-hunt
2.) Wind is shifty enough to cause some unexpected terrain based swirling
3.) Unplanned thermal sink (e.g. water source, subsurface spring head) that causes your scent to move that direction when the wind dies. This happens in all country.
4.) My personal favorite. Wind dies to nothing at the end of the hunt, thermals are dropping across the landscape, and scent pools at the base of the tree. Happens in all country but the impact is most profound when sitting in dark cover (hill top cedar thickets, small balsam fir transitions, etc.)
5.) Similar to #4, thermal switch in hill country during morning hunts, sometimes evening hunts. Some guys don't hunt mornings for this reason. I prefer to take down and move after the switch in the morning.
6.) Unexpected buck travel and ground scent. I think most have been busted by this one during the rut.
I can probably think of more, but I think you get the point.