Last evening, at around last shooting light, I had a descent sized buck quartering towards me at about ninety yards uphill from me. The wind was from the SW and he was traveling NW above me. He stopped and was standing in some pines. I was running out of shooting time so I rolled on the Primos Doe can twice hoping to entice him closer. He proceeded to turn ninety degrees down hill and walked off. I never saw or heard him again. I don"™t think he saw me and figured he was trying to get downwind of the call.
Was using the can call the right choice?
The can has worked for me many times , I had a buck walking away from me at 100 yards , and turned him and brought him straight in for a shot a few years ago , similar thing happened last year . I can recall 3 bucks that came running in to the can , and were harvested by myself , and many partners success stories
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Wear a full harness and tie yourself to your tree !
Take a kid hunting or fishing .
Nocks , the most overlooked component .
Are you sure there was no chance that the wind was swirling along that structure and maybe he caught a tiny bit of some kind of scent ?
I've always had good luck with the Primos can.....I generally try not to call to a deer unless he is not headed my way, far in a field or your situation....When you have minutes left of shooting light, you need to be patient. No reason to have that buck meander on in and get there after dark..
Anyway, back to your question. I've heard some say that their can spooked deer and otehrs claim it was the deciding factor in putting their bone daddy down.
- Keep in mind. calling in open hardwoods can be very UNproductive. Deer can see that there is no other movement(deer) from far away. Maybe he had already "scanned" the woods you were in, and when you called- he looked for an extra second and then figured it wasnt a deer that he heard.
Thickets, hills, valleys, streams, briars, dead falls- all make calling more effective because the deer have to come in to see whats on the other side
In the area of my stand there are plenty of dead falls and branches that hinder the deer's sight. I have had does call back to me in this area from a different stand. It ishighly possible he caught some sent, but he walked off kind of slow and didn't appear to be spooked. I also wondered if he caught my movement up in the tree. Next time I will leave the can in my pocket when they are heading for me. Saturday starts are muzzleloader season and I hope he comes in the same way so I can deploy the might Encore on him.
The can can work but obviously not every time. I've had more luck with simple grunt calls.
The can is a contact call, they will either come or they won't but they shouldn't spook unless someone is using it excessively. There is no magic in any call.
Primos Doe Cans
