It ain't over till it's over...

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Lockdown
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It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby Lockdown » Tue Sep 20, 2016 1:11 am

I've been thinking a lot about my hunt opening night. I busted that buck out right under my kill tree, he ran over to the primary bedding and started blowing. Then within minutes of being on stand a deer got downwind and started blowing. At that point I figured my chances of killing a good buck were next to nothing, but I tried to stay positive and alert.

Same thing happened last year. Busted a deer right by my stand location and it went crashing thru the cattails near the beds I was hunting. Despite this, at the end of the night I almost ended up killing a big buck but ran out of light.

When I busted that deer this year, I thought about last year's situation. I thought to myself "Don't give up yet. Just get set up as quiet as possible"

I came to find the buck stopped and stayed put the whole time. I got my stick and stand on the tree with an alert deer 50 yards away in the thick cover. He stuck around the general area all night too. Even with that other deer blowing.

YOUR HUNT ISNT OVER UNTIL ITS TOO DARK TO SHOOT.

Anyone else have stories where you thought your hunt was completely ruined, then you ended up having a great hunt?

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headgear
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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby headgear » Tue Sep 20, 2016 1:40 am

I jumped my 2013 buck out of his bed at 30 yards (I was expecting him to be 70 yards away). I setup anyway and about 2 hours later he was working scrapes and then came right too me for a shot inside 10 yards. The wind was in my favor and he never got a good look at me, I suspect he thought I was another deer and came to investigate. A week before that kill Dan had jumped a buck that came back and he told everyone that they do that sometimes so I hung tight and got the buck. I kind of had a running joke with my buddies about jumping up bucks and waiting for them to come back. When you are in stealth mode anything can happen.

Something else I noticed about your post is the bucks bedding different in early season than they might later in the year. I see this all the time and it can drive a guy crazy, they are in the same areas but the bedding isn't as predictable as later in the year when the leaves are down and pressure is up. I sometimes wonder if getting too aggressive early season and bumping and alerting deer isn't hurting my odds. Just have to keep working to fine tune those setups.
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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby Kraftd » Tue Sep 20, 2016 1:46 am

Good post. Last night I had some confidence issues similar to that, and boy is it really hard to commit to a hunt when you don't feel right, or feel like you bolloxed things up. For those who followed the live from the field, a tree I picked out in spring just didn't end up being right with late summer growth so I pushed a little too far and ended up on the exit trails I wanted to hunt. At that point I started to think my hunt was wasted and got pretty bummed. Sat back for five minutes, regrouped and looped back around and snuck closer and was able to split two exit routes on the ground and had shooting both ways.

Now I didn't end up seeing any deer, but had a sit I felt good about for the remainder of the evening. One of my goals for this year is to slow down and end up with a good sit. In the past I'd have just said oh well and scouted through the bedding to get more intel and had a wasted hunt.

Fine line between feeling confident and giving a hunt up that is ruined. This year I'm trying to stick to my plans more, even if they change a little and see what it does for me.
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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby E72 » Tue Sep 20, 2016 2:08 am

Yes , I had my eye on a big 10 that was hanging around 3 properties near the house , I could only hunt the one farm . It was all treelines with corn and hay fields so I used to set a blind there along the field edge. One evening in November it was raining pretty steady so I thought it would be a good night to set the buck with doe decoys out and just hide out in the blind. Around 4 a big doe jumped out of the thicket opposite side from me then ran across the field blowing and snorting at my decoys . After she made as much noise as possible , she ran back toward the thicket blowing like crazy right where the big 10 point was now standing! One of the largest bodied deer I'd ever seen in the woods . A true tank . He stared at my decoys for a couple minutes , then turned and followed the doe back to where they came from . I was pretty bummed because I knew I didn't have access to the other farms to try different setups for him . Right at gray light a nice 8 walked right in front of my blind with his ears pinned back , heading right for my buck decoy . Never saw him coming from that side of the blind . I decided to shoot and it made that night a whole lot better .... First buck using a blind or decoys . Image

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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby cbay » Tue Sep 20, 2016 2:25 am

Great reminder not to think yourself out of a hunt because of getting busted. Just because we think something is done for may not have anything to do with the cause n effects that are going on.
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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby mauser06 » Tue Sep 20, 2016 2:30 am

Just Saturday I heard something in the creek... couldn't see it..too thick...a few minutes to by and a deer blows..a few minutes and I hear something in the creek again...2 deer were in the creek calm as could be... almost certain it was the same deer that blew...

An hour later a small buck, a different deer came down the trail...


Deer blowing isn't GOOD...but doesn't mean it's over...

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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby Wlog » Tue Sep 20, 2016 3:54 am

headgear wrote:I jumped my 2013 buck out of his bed at 30 yards (I was expecting him to be 70 yards away). I setup anyway and about 2 hours later he was working scrapes and then came right too me for a shot inside 10 yards. The wind was in my favor and he never got a good look at me, I suspect he thought I was another deer and came to investigate. A week before that kill Dan had jumped a buck that came back and he told everyone that they do that sometimes so I hung tight and got the buck. I kind of had a running joke with my buddies about jumping up bucks and waiting for them to come back. When you are in stealth mode anything can happen.

Something else I noticed about your post is the bucks bedding different in early season than they might later in the year. I see this all the time and it can drive a guy crazy, they are in the same areas but the bedding isn't as predictable as later in the year when the leaves are down and pressure is up. I sometimes wonder if getting too aggressive early season and bumping and alerting deer isn't hurting my odds. Just have to keep working to fine tune those setups.


I'm seeing this a lot. With all the foliage on the trees and all the crops still in the fields the bedding is much more scattered then it is later on. Much more predictable once the foliage is gone, the corn and beans are out of the field and hunting pressure ramps up.

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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby Stanley » Tue Sep 20, 2016 4:10 am

Great great topic. You hear it all the time "man that guy is so lucky killing a good buck on the last day". The guys that are saying this are the guys that burn their tag just to kill a buck. :think: You can't kill a good buck if you kill a dink buck. :think:
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby Lockdown » Tue Sep 20, 2016 4:45 am

Wlog wrote:
headgear wrote:I jumped my 2013 buck out of his bed at 30 yards (I was expecting him to be 70 yards away). I setup anyway and about 2 hours later he was working scrapes and then came right too me for a shot inside 10 yards. The wind was in my favor and he never got a good look at me, I suspect he thought I was another deer and came to investigate. A week before that kill Dan had jumped a buck that came back and he told everyone that they do that sometimes so I hung tight and got the buck. I kind of had a running joke with my buddies about jumping up bucks and waiting for them to come back. When you are in stealth mode anything can happen.

Something else I noticed about your post is the bucks bedding different in early season than they might later in the year. I see this all the time and it can drive a guy crazy, they are in the same areas but the bedding isn't as predictable as later in the year when the leaves are down and pressure is up. I sometimes wonder if getting too aggressive early season and bumping and alerting deer isn't hurting my odds. Just have to keep working to fine tune those setups.


I'm seeing this a lot. With all the foliage on the trees and all the crops still in the fields the bedding is much more scattered then it is later on. Much more predictable once the foliage is gone, the corn and beans are out of the field and hunting pressure ramps up.

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I agree and see the same thing. In this particular situation I was worried about bumping deer (and will be every time I hunt that stand) because I'm knowingly creeping through satellite bedding. It's my only option if I want to hunt it with a NW wind.

Going along with what you guys said, my dad saw a lot of movement on the field edge. Later in the year the bedding I am hunting should get better when the pheasant hunters start walking it.
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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Tue Sep 20, 2016 8:57 am

Situational for me. I know some of my areas if I bump them they are gone for the day - on those locations I will move to a secondary spot. In other areas you cannot force or drive the deer from the cover. In those cases I may sit tight or I might move to another tree downwind of where I spooked the deer and anticipate they would come back to scent check. But I never think it is over - especially last week of Oct - 15th of Nov
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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby 9pt » Tue Sep 20, 2016 1:21 pm

My buck last year came after bumping two bucks, missing at a doe, getting down to retrieve the arrow only to scare off another deer in the process. Full story: viewtopic.php?f=287&t=32513

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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby rbuckleyjr1 » Tue Sep 20, 2016 1:47 pm

Great topic!

It's tough not to beat yourself up after busting deer, especially as a young or inexperienced hunter. The mental side of hunting can be challenging for sure. When I started thinking about this it reminded me of something I see quite often when scouting and I'm not really worried about busting deer. A lot of times if I kick them up they will only go a few hundred yards and then I will bump them again. Depending on the area the deer won't travel real far or will move in circles. I'd suggest if you bump a deer simply by sound alone don't get worked up over it. Unless they winded you the deer probably doesn't have a clue what was making the sound and bailed as a precaution. Stay calm and focused. It might return or another deer in the area might still be there.
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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby BunB231 » Tue Sep 20, 2016 2:14 pm

Yes sir. Late October 2010, cruising time. Shot a buck the morning before. Thought it was lethal shot. Tracked him all evening, and the next morning. No luck. In Michigan we get 2 buck tags. After 10 hours of looking and a vanished blood trail, I decided I better get in a tree that afternoon instead of using up another hunt tracking. I could always try getting back on the blood trail the next day. Anyways, I headed to a new spot with a sick feeling from not finding the buck I had shot the morning before. The evening was pretty slow, but 20 minutes before last light I had a tall 8 pt. cruise through with a doe. Would have been my biggest buck. Stopped him at 5 yards, but had a decent sized tree blocking the vitals. He looked around, I swayed side to side trying to find the vitals. He ended up jogging off with the doe, no shot. So, I had just missed an opportunity at what would have been my biggest buck, and didn't recover a buck from the day before.... I was below rock bottom... For all of 5 minutes :) when an even bigger buck came cruising down the same trail. I stopped and smoked him at 10 yards. He took two steps and collapsed!!! 135 inch 4 1/2 year old northern Michigan ten point. Biggest buck at the time, not over till it's over!! Spent the next day back on the trail of the deer shot from the day before. Never recovered him. Learned a lot in 2 short days that season.

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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby tgreeno » Tue Sep 20, 2016 2:15 pm

This happened back in 2000...It was October 9th. I decided sit on the back edge of a pine grove which had been a real good doe spot for us in the past. I was planning on shooting a doe that night. So about 2 hours into the sit I have this nice doe following the script walking towards me right down the edge of the field. As she gets broadside I'm just ready to draw and she stops and snaps her head looking right at me. Two seconds later she spins around and bounds out of there. DAMN...Mature doe's! Jump to 15 minutes before the end of season. I hear deer coming from inside the pines coming right towards me heading for the field. It was so dark in the pines I could just make out it was a buck. As it stepped out in the field at ten yards it was angling away from me. I counted 5 on one side, and knew I was shooting. With my bow in my hand, I'm waiting for this deer to turn, so I can get a shot. So, I grunt at him. He stops and turned and I smoked him at 20 yards. He ended up going 60-70 yards before he went down. He was my biggest buck to that point a 17" wide 10 pointer.
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Re: It ain't over till it's over...

Unread postby Hawthorne » Tue Sep 20, 2016 3:17 pm

Jumped a single huge deer out of a bedding area couldn't see it but sounded like a bull running thru the thicket. 1.5 hours later I had a 135" 225lbs dressed buck on the ground. Bump and dump deer? Still not sure never saw the rack.This was 10 years ago. Happened to me last year with a doe I shot also. I can think of more instances. One year I shot a buck during rut 2 hours after I watched a trapper pull a beaver out of the creek 75yds from me . I remember my uncle saying he would of left

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