Stand access decoy

[EllieTheChubb]

This year I set my neighbor up for her first deer hunt. I picked a spot 15yds off a walking trail that people use once or twice a week. She was skeptical but the sign didnt lie. After two sits she hadnt seen anything which got me to thinking. My theory was the trail was being monitored by some adjacent bedding. The next hunt I walked in with her and she slipped off to the stand as I continued on the trail with my dog. 40 minutes later the deer showed up. she didnt harvest anything but it leaned towards my theory.

I was talking to some folks about this after and was told a similar story about an apple tree that was getting cleaned up everyday but never any deer sightings during a hunt. it was very close to the truck so they had their buddy leave a little early one evening and make a point to close the doors loudly before he drove off. Sure enough they harvested a doe that night.

Has anyone else experienced this? Two little stories isnt enough to prove anything so let me have it. Fact or fiction

[Rich M]

This is more common than folks imagine. Deer hears, smells, or sees hunter go to stand - no sightings. Father drops son off at stand, kid kills deer 15 minutes later. Not uncommon.

[Drenalin]

We used to use this as a tactic for squirrels with pretty good success. Dad would always tell me 'they can't count, so you just be still and I'll keep walking up the trail'. Admittedly, squirrels aren't the same as deer, but I would definitely buy this as a tactic you could use.

[Tufrthnails]

This is one of the things my cousin liked to do on the farm in Ky. He spent so much time just joy riding his 4 wheeler on all the farms and would check cams and check for tracks 6 or 7 times a week. And he would drive the hunter to the stand on the back of the 4 wheeler drop them off and keep on riding the perimeter seemed to work more then I thought it should. Where it backfired and bad was now he doesn't live on the farm, but my other cousin hates to walk to his stand so he had one of us drop him off at the stand every morning and evening. It was his 7th sit before he saw his first deer. Of course all of the rest of us are seeing deer. He's getting highly irritated about not seeing deer I finally told him the 4 wheeler was blowing the deer out because tony doesn't live here anymore so the only time they have seen a 4 wheeler is hunting season the last two years. He walked in the next morning and had three does under his stand before shooting light. He bagged 2 of the 3.

[oldrank]

You would laugh at me if I showed you where I have killed some of my bucks. Deer watch people. I am convinced.

[Scratchman]

Funny story from this year. On opening day of NH bow season, it was about 85 degrees. I had planned to paddle from VT across the river. Due to the heat there were a few people on the river doing summer things. As I tied my canoe off I saw 4 canoes approaching at about 300 yards. I didn't think much and climbed the 4O foot bank. I had never been to this piece before and as I looked forward I said to myself, that looks like bedding. No sooner did I say that than I heard a doe blow and bounce a few steps. I was still at the edge of the bank. I stayed quiet to see what she did. She stood there and looked toward me. That's when the first canoe crew could be heard talking from the river. She immediately recognized it as normal river traffic. What did she do? She walked right over the edge to make sure they stayed down below. The wind was good and I got a 6 yard shot from behind a tree. I thought I was toast from the misstep but was saved by the presence of "safe intrusion" as well as the fact that she wanted to insure that the paddlers kept on going oblivious to her presence. This trait was her undoing and I think it could be used for others as well.

[greenhorndave]

You would laugh at me if I showed you where I have killed some of my bucks. Deer watch people. I am convinced.

No sir, we would not laugh. Would you mind describing a few of them? We might learn a thing or two in the process.

Thanks!

[greenhorndave]

Those are awesome and very instructive stories. Keep ‘em coming!

[oldrank]

You would laugh at me if I showed you where I have killed some of my bucks. Deer watch people. I am convinced.

No sir, we would not laugh. Would you mind describing a few of them? We might learn a thing or two in the process.

Thanks!

I have found more than a few areas where the bedding is set up to monitor access. I have also been killing those bucks at that same point by exploiting that. My 7 point this year I killed as he crossed the human trail.

My 5 point I killed just off the human trail on the inner transition of a small pot hole. He was a young buck but he was still watching access.

My 12 point I killed last year I shot on a human trail. He was with a doe. They were bedding in a small pot hole in the woods. The human trail and a deer trail connecting 2 bedding areas intersect. I used the human trail to my advantage cause I can get in silent and it also always has human scent on it so the deer don't pay alot of attention to my ground scent. Air scent still spooks them.

My 8 point last yr was also killed in a spot where I am on a transition just off the human trail.

Knowing that the deer are there and knowing how to access is key.

For a couple of the sets I can walk directly in to them. If I go beyond a certain point I'm busted and won't see anything.

The two sets where I am hunting a transition just off the human trail I have to have the perfect wind or loop around really wide and basically detour the area I know the deer are. I then cut back to the trail and sneak in behind them. Same way. If I tried to access without the detour I will not see deer.

[oldrank]

Double posted...

[greenhorndave]

That was good stuff oldrank.

I encountered a similar circumstance scouting on Saturday. Lengthy double track leading from one edge of the property to another. Lots of beds on a knob near mature trees and trails crossing from thick hillside to ag fields. Bumped two does on the way out after legal light that must have just crossed the double track, but my scent on the trail didn’t cause them to redirect. I may try setting up off those crossing trails in a few days.

That wax helpful indeed, so thanks!