Face to Face with Target Buck - Next move?

[TheYak]

Hi All,

My name is Blair and I'm a long time recurve archer/relatively new hunter from Canada ( this is my 2nd season hunting, 1st season in a treestand ).  I've been tuning into the Beast podcast/videos/forums for over a year, and I must say that the knowledge and wisdom shared throughout this community is rock-solid!  So much great info!  Last week, I was able to use what I had learned to predict the bedding location of my target buck and I came face to face with him.  The encountered ended in his favor due to a novice mistake(s) on my part, and I'm now heading out to hunt him again tomorrow.  The question is - what should I do, now that he's aware of my presence?

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The Setup

My parents own 22 acres of land, mostly forest, bordered by open fields and a cornfield across the road.  Last year, on the last day of bow-season, I scouted the property and found a remote forested area near a fence looking out on a neighbor's field, not far from the cornfield (see diagram). The area had a good number of rubs and a few baseball-sized poos in one of the beds, and it was not far from a frequented doe-highway that runs through the yard. I reasoned that this would be a good spot to keep an eye on this year.  

Last week, I headed out on a cold afternoon, and followed the fence-line, which ran parallel to a well used deer path used for accessing the cornfield. I passed some pools that I later found were used by does for drinking, and got within visual sight of the bedding area...maybe 35-50 yards away and chose a tree about 10 yards from the corn trail. Just beside the fence.  The wind was NW, in theory heading from the beds and past me into the field.  I found a tree (my 2nd real tree sit), sawed some branches ( I didn't have a lot of cover ), and set up, about 12' above the ground and waited. When I tested the wind from my stand, my milkweed flew to the NW directly to the deer trail ( likely due to the open field behind me and no windbreak ).  Sigh...I'd just have to see what happened.

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The Encounter

30 minutes before darkness, (4:30pm-ish), I've seen nothing, and figure I might as well try to stir the pot a bit with a buck grunt.  I put my arrow in my quiver, and, sitting in my stand with my bow across my lap, I reach for my bag to grab my call (I'm normally wearing it, figured it'd make climbing easier to have it in the bag).  I pull it out and grunt -  one long, two short.  In the chill air, the sound carries.  I stop to listen, hungry for the sound of a stick cracking, looking for any movement.  I kid you not, about 4 seconds later, out of the ethers, my target buck, King of the Forest, materializes from around a tree just to my left, about 15 yards away, plodding forward silently with his head down, summoned as if I was blowing the Flute of the Forest.  I have never seen a wild mature buck before and was awed by his size...and then my stomach turned as I realized that my bow was across my lap with all my arrows quivered against my legs. Gah - rookie mistake! I sat still as a statue as he sniffed the air and looked directly at me, then sniffed the ground and looked up at me again, sniffed the ground and looked at me again.  Finally, he turned his head and looked in the other direction.  I slowly pulled an arrow and was just putting it to string when he looked back at me, gave a snort, turned around lazily, and bounded off towards the beds.  He didn't blow out in panic, more of an air of "Nice try, junior.  Not today."  I stood up, nocked my arrow and tried another buck grunt to see if he'd come back but he didn't.  Tried a doe call 10 minutes later and nothing. 

As I was getting out of the tree, two doe came along the Doe Highway and started eating browse and drinking water from the pools.  I waited for 10 minutes.  They were on high alert as they smelled my trail from my entry along the fence.  Finally, a sound from my descent triggered them and they took off.

Next Steps?

I'm going out tomorrow on a Sunny/Cloudy day where the temperature is dropping a few degrees Celcius, with a N wind.  I want to get back somewhere near the beds again, perhaps along the same trail, but further out from the beds, maybe camping the water pools.  Or, I can try to get around and set up near the beds on the other side.  Too aggressive?  Too much pressure so soon?   The buck noticed me and smelled me but I didn't make any threatening moves towards it, so I'm not sure how much he'll avoid the area.  The does knew something was up, too.

My other options:

The Forest Entry - a winding trail that both doe and my buck takes to access my parent's back yard and an apple tree nearby.  About 100 yards from the beds (see first pic).


The Poop Tree - this is a tree along an old, overgrown road in the middle of the forest.  My brother and I had hung a chickenfeed sack filled with dirt via a rope in the branches to use for target practise when we were kids.  The sack has fallen down and deteriorated, but the rope still hangs with a stick attached to it, at head height.  During last winter's scout, I saw  lots of tracks and the tree was ringed by deer poop in all directions.  I'm wondering if this is their social gathering spots?  I could set up near this tree as well - it's about 80 yards from the beds.

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Thoughts?  In the end, I learned some big lessons last week - always be ready as the deer are more silent than I expected and they can appear quickly - they just show up out of thin air.  Looking forward to a Round 2 with the King of the Forest. Many thanks in advance for any wisdom you guys can share!

Thanks,
Blair