Went in for a hunt on a small piece of private tonight where my family owns part and I have permission on the other part. I go in on the ground and setup for deer to come from the west where I thought they'd be bedding. I even walked around and cut a few small lanes (careful of leaving too much ground scent). Not 20 minutes later I see the flash of tines straight behind me in a thick area of brush and fallen logs. The wind was just off for the buck and he was about 70 yards away. I grunted once but he wouldn't move. Based on prior knowledge I expected his movement to give me a shot so I decided not to call or move locations. The dilemma was that I had limited cover between me and the buck because I had set up for the opposite direction.
I don't see the buck for an hour and a half and just am praying that hes still bedded there. About 30 minutes before last light I hear a noise and see the landowners dog run into the woods. I've seen him do this multiple times and have pictures of him on my property as well. The dog magically runs straight for the bedded buck and decides to chase them straight away from me. This is when I find out that the buck was bedded with a doe, and that's why he wouldn't come to my grunt or snort wheeze. The doe is in front and she ends up looping back around towards me and almost runs me over before she sees me and takes off the other way. Before she caught me she actually stopped 20 yards away before running again so I was hoping the dog hadn't messed with her too bad. The buck was completely focused on the doe and had no idea that she had seen me. He didn't follow her track near me though, instead opting to cut straight to where the doe was headed. I stopped him at 40 yards with a maaaaa but I didn't have a lane or a good range on him. I didn't get a shot.
The deer stop in a thick area where I no longer can see them, so I decided to loop around the peninsula of woods they were headed into. Before I could do it I saw the flick of a tail and I believe they ran into the standing corn to the East. I got situated in the north part of the peninsula and raked a tree while grunting. They never showed again.
My question is what do I do now? The buck was aware of the dog but he might not have been aware of me. The doe definitely knew I was there. The buck was infatuated with that doe and ran everywhere she was. There are resident does in this spot, and the dog seems to be in there semi-often. Should I go in and hunt there tomorrow morning, or evening? It was just an absolute show, and I have no idea what to do next. I've never hated a dog more. The buck symbol is where they were bedded together, the blue solid line is the does travel, dashed blue the bucks. red is my access and movements. And the bedding symbols are where I know does bed sometimes. Wind was from the SW (yellow).
All broke loose, What now?
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All broke loose, What now?
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Re: All broke loose, What now?
Keep in mind this is probably the biggest buck I've seen while hunting.
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Re: All broke loose, What now?
They've already forgot you. And probably deal with the dog all the time. Go kill that buck. My 2¢
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Re: All broke loose, What now?
About zero reasons not to go back and give it a shot, if they aren't there start poking around in other area nearby to see if you can find them.
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Re: All broke loose, What now?
Yeah get back In there in the am. good chance you'll see them again or maybe a different buck if she was hot or about to be.
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Re: All broke loose, What now?
Went in this morning about 100 yards downwind of where they bedded yesterday and didn't see anything. I still hunted to the edge of the other nearby bedding and raked some trees and grunted, but also didn't have any luck. Looks like they arent in there right now. Its a pretty small spot so not a lot of room for spooking them.
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Re: All broke loose, What now?
My guess is that he is gone and it has nothing to do with being spooked. Just the way it sometimes works in the rut. If shes was close to heat he may be done with her and onto the next one. They are very hard to pattern this time of year and in my experience encounters are usually a right place right time kinda deal and generally dont repeat themselves. Sounds like a great encounter tho. Easy to be mad at the dog but the dogs doing what dogs do. Sounds more like a crappy dog owner problem to me sucks either way
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Re: All broke loose, What now?
If you can and it’s appropriate I’d talk to the owner of the dog and let him know what the dog is doing...he might not care but it’s a conversation worth having.
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