Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

[Singing Bridge]

Just about all of us have hunted or scouted doe bedding areas at one time or another. We read in print and online all the time about bucks during the rut cruising downwind of doe bedding areas, or of younger bucks rousting the does out of their beds, etc. But what about the exact opposite? Some hunters have heard about does looking for bucks during the rut and others have even witnessed it. Yet it doesn't get anywhere near the attention it should, particularly in high hunting pressure areas. There just isn't a lot out there for hunters to digest when it comes to does seeking out bucks during the rut, at least not in great detail.

For the sake of what I am writing about today I need to point out that I have killed two (2) bucks in the last couple of deer seasons that this very process was what took place. You can imagine my increased interest in the topic. It is important for me to add that these are high pressure areas on the high ground, above water landscape. While the swamps where these bucks hide are treacherous and contain low hunting pressure on the interior.

Why the low pressure, you may ask? They are thick, nasty environments that make you bleed and there is extremely limited visibility... where seeing forty (40) yards is like viewing a clearing, so to speak. It literally drives most hunters crazy and they want nothing to do with it, understandably so. When the bucks have hunters surrounding them and they have a few birthdays under their belt, bedding and security override the rut in the big woods areas I hunt. The bucks will barely move from their security zones / buck bedding areas until after dark and you had better be very close.

Enter the doe in heat, where this scenario creates great difficulty for her to be around the buck she was with previously or where she is seeking one of the best bucks in the area. The buck won't come out, so what is she to do? She spent the entire day waiting and he is a no show and stood her up on their "date." His security cover and safety have become the most important element in his life... the doe is going to have to wait until after dark when the hunters clear the woods ( I should add if this doesn't happen in your area you likely do not have the level of hunting pressure I am reviewing here).

Now let's take a look at where I'm hunting... very close to known buck bedding during the peak of the rut. The last two (2) deer seasons I have had a doe that appeared to be in heat waltz right by me on her way to buck bedding. I shot both bucks a very short time later as the does pulled the bucks to the edge of their security zone. This past season's buck was shot literally minutes before dark. If the doe hadn't intervened I likely would not have seen him in time and darkness would have set in. Last season, the doe pulled the buck out of his bedding area at midday, during a day long rain with almost no hunting pressure.

Something to consider.

[VilasCo]

Thanks for sharing your observations. I will keep this in mind during future encounters.

[freezeAR]

Reminds me of a hunt a few years ago on Thanksgiving. I was posted up in a stand an hour before first light. About 20 min. On stand I heard two four legged animals come very close to my stand. I assumed they were deer. My suspision was confirmed shortly after first light when the buck was slipping back to bedding. He didnt make it.

[headgear]

In the bigwoods I hunt I see this from time to time, one time I recall seeing 3 mature does together moving at a good speed with their noses to the ground, mistook them for bucks at first. I had cut a large track in that exact area on the way into my stand and I couldn't help but wonder if they were tracking the mature buck. Sure enough they hit my entrance trail and locked up but eventually moved on likely on that same track as the buck who was heading in that same direction. No snow so I didn't attempt to follow but that was one of a few encounters with groups of does like that. Sometimes I think they could be tracking a buck but I also wonder if they travel to leave a good scent rail behind to help draw in a mature buck. I have also had good luck with running into some early hot does while hunting buck bedding areas, maybe the buck pulled her in but maybe she knew where he liked to hang out and found him when she was ready. No doubt in my mind and least in this neck of the woods that it is not just the traditional bucks seeking does but it can work both ways on a limited basis. This isn't as likely with places who have higher numbers of deer because there isn't a need to seek out a partner when you might have several bucks on your tail.

[Bigrivermarine]

Just my observation on the subject, but it would seem to me that a high doe to buck ratio might have the does competing for bucks if lots of does came in estrous at the same time and there wasn’t enough bucks to cover them. I see unusually low rut sign and seeking/chasing in those type of areas with a really unbalanced deer herd.

[ghoasthunter]

i see this often in the big woods areas i hunt. i setup for a buck bed and a doe gets up from the bed alot of the deer i see are lone does possibly with a fawn or two. she beds in same places as the bucks. with the amount of pressure on does where i hunt they have no choice but too bed like a buck or risk being shot. another thing i get alot in my areas is does hitting scrapes as much as the bucks they paw the ground and hit the licking branch pee on there hocks they do the whole thing. another thing i find alot is mature bucks bedding and watching these scrapes. they will sit there all day and wait for the does like they are hunting. i cant even count how many times ive found a scrape and decided too watch it and found a buck bed with tracks leading away right where i wanted too sit and watch it wind blowing from scrape right too the bed only 30 or 40 yards away. I killed my buck last year like this i setup so i could intercept the buck going from scrape too bed early morning. i ended up killing the smart mountain buck at 7 yards from the base of my tree. i literally found the scrape walking out in the dark the night before placed some cat eyes on the tree and setup the next morning on it. the scrape was hot and fresh when i found it. you have only hours too get on this kind of sign or end up having the buck miles away doing the same thing in a day or two. ive killed alot of bucks with this pattern you describe over the years. and will say most big bucks killed fell the same way even if the hunter did not know it at the time. im going too say anybody thats killed a mature buck go back too where they killed that deer and scout it you will find a buck bed not far away from most of the time.

[Scratchman]

Great observation. I will think on this one!

[magicman54494]

if a doe seeks out a mature buck, why would a doe allow a spike buck to mount her while two mature bucks fight it out?

[cspot]

I will say that I have never observed this, but I guess that it could be possible. From the GPS collar studies that I have seen doe usually move considerably less during the rut.

https://ecosystems.psu.edu/research/pro ... n-distress

Some interesting stuff in the link.

[magicman54494]

every buck I ever saw will check out every doe he sees during the rut. Im assuming that you are set up wind in your favor so if a doe comes along and the buck sees or hears her he cant scent check so it easy to believe he would check her out.
With all respect, I believe there is a lot of speculation.

[Singing Bridge]

if a doe seeks out a mature buck, why would a doe allow a spike buck to mount her while two mature bucks fight it out?

Why would Gisele marry Tom Brady instead of a Midwest snow tracker?

Why would a spike buck run like a scared rabbit, away from the doe with 2 mature bucks fighting it out? Why would a doe repeatedly run away from the spike and not allow breeding in the exact same scenario? Why does the scenario you describe have anything at all to do with what I am describing?

With all due respect, it doesn't.

[Singing Bridge]

every buck I ever saw will check out every doe he sees during the rut. Im assuming that you are set up wind in your favor so if a doe comes along and the buck sees or hears her he cant scent check so it easy to believe he would check her out.
With all respect, I believe there is a lot of speculation.

I'm speaking of buck bedding areas where I know exactly, almost to the foot, where the buck is lying. I'm watching does go by on a bee line course to roust them out. These does are coming from doe bedding areas on dry ground and moving directly to buck bedding areas in the swamp. Sometimes they come from doe bedding areas in the swamp and do the same thing. But especially when they are coming from high ground on a beeline to the buck bedding area, it is not a random act. I've watched does do the same thing in past years and I'm sure I will again. The intent of the doe is very clear, whatever the reason.

[magicman54494]

if a doe seeks out a mature buck, why would a doe allow a spike buck to mount her while two mature bucks fight it out?

Why would Gisele marry Tom Brady instead of a Midwest snow tracker?

Why would a spike buck run like a scared rabbit, away from the doe with 2 mature bucks fighting it out? Why would a doe repeatedly run away from the spike and not allow breeding in the exact same scenario? Why does the scenario you describe have anything at all to do with what I am describing?

With all due respect, it doesn't.

sure it does. you are saying that a doe goes to find a mature buck. if she goes to " the exact bed" then U can assume she has that specific buck picked out.
If they choose their mate, why would they allow a spike to breed them when 2 mature bucks are tending?

[magicman54494]

I respect you and think you are a very good hunter. Im just questioning what you are seeing and how you are interpreting it. Dont take this as an attack because it is not neant that way.

[magicman54494]

If a doe selects her mate then why have studies shown that 25% of fawn twins have different fathers?