Do you get busted from what bucks sense more?

[goldtip5575]

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 think they are getting busted if the buck doesn't offer a shot or if they pass a smaller buck and they get downwind of them.

[BassBoysLLP]

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.

[whitetail007]

i voted sight. its 90% sight and maybe 10% smell.

[justdirtyfun]

This answer is not exact but. With dry noisy conditions the buck wins before I get started. If I can't get in position than the sound busted me. And we all have busted deer out before reaching stand right?

[ Post made via Android ]

[whitetailassasin]

Honestly fooling them all is equally important. How many bucks have we blown out of there beds sneaking in on them? Or caught us climbing, or spotted us in the tree? Or have walked into a wind tunnel or draft or wind blew a gust in his direction? I voted smell because you have to absolutely fool his nose because if you have fooled his sight and his sound senses, you must remain undetected your entire sit until he comes out of his bed and after if he does not. Scent stays long after sight or sound.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Spysar]

A buck will see you three times, and hear you twice, but he's only gonna smell you once.

[goldtip5575]

A buck will see you three times, and hear you twice, but he's only gonna smell you once.

For sure X2.

[oldrank]

In my experience I get busted by sight by does a lot more then bucks. Bucks never really seems to pay attention to whats up above them they seem to be more concerned about smelling the ground. I also believe that because I use a portable climbing stand they can never pattern me to a certain tree so they don't know where I am until its to late. Mature does on the other hand always seem to be on edge and look up way more. Usually I don't get busted. Deer that I don't shoot pass by and never have a clue I was there. This year I got busted once all year and it was one of them foggy totally calm days n the deer came into my scent stream from a direction I wasn't expecting them to come from. There were 2 does and a buck chasing .... the does busted me.. the buck was to worried about getting some and was basically clueless.

[dan]

A buck will see you three times, and hear you twice, but he's only gonna smell you once.

I agree with this.... Bucks will see you, or hear you, and not believe what they see or hear, they will confirm it with there nose... But if they smell you, they got you.

[Stanley]

A buck will see you three times, and hear you twice, but he's only gonna smell you once.

Not often a mature will stick around if he sees or hears something irregular. Does & young bucks, yes mature bucks not so much.

[Spysar]

A buck will see you three times, and hear you twice, but he's only gonna smell you once.

Not often a mature will stick around if he sees or hears something irregular. Does & young bucks, yes mature bucks not so much.

I don't agree. I've had many times where a buck was starring at me. If you stay still long enough they go back to what they are doing. Now if they catch you moving, that might be a different story. And I have had it where I made a noise and then froze. Eventually the buck will go back to what it's doing. If it smells you it's gone everytime.

If a buck bolted everytime it saw or heard something they would be running all day.

[Stanley]

A buck will see you three times, and hear you twice, but he's only gonna smell you once.

Not often a mature will stick around if he sees or hears something irregular. Does & young bucks, yes mature bucks not so much.

I don't agree. I've had many times where a buck was starring at me. If you stay still long enough they go back to what they are doing. Now if they catch you moving, that might be a different story. And I have had it where I made a noise and then froze. Eventually the buck will go back to what it's doing. If it smells you it's gone everytime.

If a buck bolted everytime it saw or heard something they would be running all day.

If a buck is with doe I might tend to agree. A lone buck traveling from bed to food source is a different story. If you are spotted by a buck up in a tree I call that a sight bust. Making a shot is not in your favor for sure. This is a big reason we hear all the jumped string stories.

[Spysar]

I agree if they see movement, there isn't much chance of them staying, like when they catch you drawing. But if they look up and see a blob, or something they feel is un natural and your not moving, there is a good chance they will go back to what they were doing as long as you stay perfectly still .

Seeing movement is a lot different than seeing a blob for them.

Once alerted by sight or sound they will try and confirm with their nose, if they cant confirm danger with their nose, and you stay still there is a good chance they will go back to what they were doing.

[dan]

I have had lots of bucks see me and not react badly... And I have spooked bucks on several occasions with sound or sight that just looked puzzled even though they can see or hear me and circle down wind to confirm.

Thats one of my big determinations on whether or not to hunt a bumped bucks bed. If they hear or see me they are much more likely to come back... They smell me, probably not.

[JoeRE]

I would agree with Spysar...I have had bucks detect a little movement from me and decide its nothing, and I have had them hear a small sound and decide its nothing, but once they catch a wiff of human scent they are not coming a step closer. Mature bucks don't tolerate much but they don't tolerate human scent at all....the only time I have had them ignore scent is when they cross my entry trail (ground scent) and sometimes ignore it, not sure why that happens, maybe they actually don't smell it - but other times entry trails make them freak out.

Most of the time if any deer busts me, not just a buck, its because they catch my scent...they come by where I don't want them or the wind just is swirly. Hunting spots with relatively high deer numbers some deer will eventually get down wind of you, period. I would say second is spotting me, that happens occasionally, third is noise - that almost never happens. I spend a lot of time soundproofing all my stuff.