First Beast Success/Failure

[jdeer96]

Yesterday afternoon I decided to go in blind and walk a transition line between a creek bottom swamp and hardwoods, looking for fresh sign as I heard Dan and Joe talk about. Upon arriving I was disappointed to find the edge of the swamp ridden with atv trails, and about 20 minutes into the walk was met by two fellas on their quads, who each gave me an equally dirty look (like I was the one riding illegally on public land). So I headed for the high ground and walked a ridge top that ran back towards my vehicle where I figured I'd be headed for the night any way. The ridge dropped off into private property which I was happy to see had been logged/ clear cut. As I was walking that transition line I came upon a series of scrapes that couldn't have looked any fresher, along with plenty of rubs. The wind wasn't great but I was starting to get short on daylight so climbed a tree about 15 yards off the scrape line. After being in the stand a few minutes I noticed a point running off the ridge and into the clear cut area and immediately thought it looked like a prime buck bedding location, only problem was my wind barely had enough north on it to keep from blowing straight to that point. Well 10 minutes later I felt the wind switch and looked out at that point. Right then I watched a wide 8 stand straight up out of his bed, take a dump, and walk straight away from me. I was disappointed of course but excited that the strategy I went in with almost worked. My question is, is this buck worth hunting again, because I do believe he smelled me.

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[Jackson Marsh]

Yeah I would hunt him again. He probably smells hunters all the time, his bed works. I bet he will be back.

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[Lockdown]

I don't think deer walk away if they're scared. Definitely go after him again.

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[jdeer96]

It was a brisk walk and he was walking through some extremely thick stuff so it really looked like he was just slipping out, thinking he would be undetected. And i really believe he would've come straight to the ridge I was on had I not been there because of the abundance of sign and food there

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