got busted???????????????

[eshoremd]

first while i was driving to the parking area yesterday i saw a really, really good buck about three hundred yards from my spot. it was 7:25am and he was about 25 yard from the road. he was easy three inches outside the ears and had good tine length. not great on mass but a definite shooter even by freedoms standards . id guess a 130 class. couldnt tell exactly how many points. anyway i had four does come over the hill at 8:30 about 60 yrds out. the little wind there was was perfect. i was completely camo'd exept my eyes and had good leafy cover all around me that i had placed there a week ago. i was on the ground, level with them. there is a small revean between us. they came staight at me towards the two white oaks with the large doe in the lead. when she got to 45 yrds she 180'd and ran back to the top of the ridge looking right at me and stomping. she didnt blow. the others just stopped and looked around. they eventually walked off. i wasnt smoking, hadnt smoked yet that morning. wasnt moving AT ALL! what little wind there was was good. didnt make any noise. i thought i was doing everything right. my clothes were just washed saturday. i only wash in all hunter soaps and even had my scent blocker suit on(not that that really means anything) im soo puzzled how she got me. didnt see anything this morning. what do you guys think?

[ncboman]

I like hunting from trees. Deer don't generally smell where I've walked (rubber boots), they don't come by later and smell where I've spent my time, and are generally unaware I'm there at all. Trophy hunting often requires letting game pass unaware and the best way to do that is from a tree.

It is extremely difficult to ground hunt at bowranges without being detected. Chances are you moved or blinked your eyes at the wrong time. Deer can easily see you blink your eyes at 60+yards, esp if they are already on the look. She made you no doubt and will look there and elsewhere from now on. You have to move or she will educate the entire herd about you and your method and they will all be lookin for Todd every time they move.

Once the deer get educated, they are difficult by any means of real bowhunting.

[eshoremd]

think it would be ok to still hunt there from a tree?

[ncboman]

oh yes, and kill that lead doe asap.

she's trouble.

[indianadan]

I'm sure you've read this before Todd, but I had a similar experience two years ago, but she picked me off in a tree. She caught me trying to range a tree she was going to pass. She blew and stomped and educated the 3 other deer that were with her. The next day I hung a stand 60 yards from my previous stand and killed her while she was skirting my previous stand, all the while looking to see if I was there.

I think you could do the same here by hunting from a tree taking advantage of her trying to spy you out on the ground.

[Buckfever]

Yeah what the othe's said. Get up in a tree and kill her. For these public land deer I prefer getting up a little higher, closer to 20, whatever 4 sticks give me. A lot of guys are hunting up around 12-15 feet and the deer are looking there. Also get into some good cover up there. Come into the area in the direction they came from and pick a tree with good cover from that vantage point.

[ARO]

todd, early season winds have a tendency to swirl. you might check the wind before you get in and its fine, then it might swirl sometimes. i check the wind several times while on stand, and if its a swirling wind, theres nothing much you can do except get out of the location. this can be caused by different terrain also.

you can have on 13 scent lock suits, use 2 gallons of no scent soap, and have 43 scent wafers hanging from you tree, if even the slightest breeze hits the nose of a mature deer (doe or buck) they are gonna smell you, period!!

like the other guys said i like to be in a tree stand, a good climber is a must on public land, on private land i use gorilla lock ons, hung 25 feet. that is the perfect height for me, because it masks you movement, and the thermals may carry you scent skyward.

i would go back there and hunt from a tree, it sounds like they were going to the oak trees to eat acorns, even if those deer dont come back chances are others will. every deer on that property probably knows exactly where those oaks are.

good luck

[1YLAB]

e,md go kill her we need the points....................

[freedomrules3]

I would set up right over where she spotted you and did her thing. she will most likely stop very near that same spot to check out the spot again. she probably scented you , winds can carry your scent easier on the ground. my guess is she smelled your breath , the biggest culprit for getting busted imo. all the scentlok, scent masker in the world wont get rid of the breath smell. I take in breath mints ice breakers is what i use. they serve a double purpose, gets the human odor off the breath and if your thirsty they will cleanse the pallet . the ice breakers are some powerful little buggers . I agree that if you don't take her out and she busts you again she will be trouble for the rest of the year.

[Rock Chuck]

You want busted? These are some that I took 3 years ago? The 2d shot is the last I saw of mama as she headed over the ridge 300 yds away.

Dick