So i squeeze in an hour of sitting before work today. As soon as I can see, a nice little six point comes sniffing down the field edge 25 yards in front of me. I have no intention of shooting but I grunt at him just to see what he does. It stops him dead in his tracks, he looks my way a second and bolts across the plowed field. I didnt move, there was no wind at all and I am pretty anal about scent control. I know there are at least two bucks in the area way bigger than this guy from trail photos, and there's a rub that is way to big for this guy to have made it, near my stand. Is it possible that this guy could have bolted because he knew there was a more dominate buck in the area and he didnt want to get his a#$ kicked?
Anyone else ever seen this happen.
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'06 Hoyt PowerTec #62 28in.
Trophy Taker Shakey Hunter Rest
HHA DS-5019 Ultra Sight
FUSE Axiom Stabilizer
PSE Carbon Force 300
G5 Tekan
I've grunted at 100's of 1.5 year olds, most of the time, they come running in like a puppy dog, sometimes, they'll just look but I've never had one take off running, I'd say he caught your scent at the verysame time that you grunted. On days when there is no wind, your scent can linger in pockets.
Its a really pressured area. It is private land but its only 80 acres and that gets POUNDED by six guys bowhunting. The neighboring lots are all 20-80 acres as well and they take equal hunting pressure. About five mintues before I saw him I heard one of the neighbors drive down their lane and slam a few truck doors, that might have put him on edge.
I also just remembered that I had left my Scent-a-way body wash at a friends house over the weekend and used regular soap since I was going right to work afterwards, maybe that was the problem.
He probably wasnt scared now that I think about it because I was rattling to beat hell about ten minutes before I saw him, if he was scared you think he would stayed away. No more safeguard soap before hunting I guess!
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'06 Hoyt PowerTec #62 28in.
Trophy Taker Shakey Hunter Rest
HHA DS-5019 Ultra Sight
FUSE Axiom Stabilizer
PSE Carbon Force 300
G5 Tekan
I've seen small bucks bolt at the sound of a grunt. I've also seen them come in as if they were on a string. I think it depends on each bucks prior experiences and how far into the "rut" mood they are.
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Just a regular guy who likes to hunt
I had an interesting experience with some young bucks this past Saturday morning. I was in my stand on a piece of public hunting ground that only my buddy and I hunt (seriously in 6 years we've never seen any sign of anyone else). At about 730 I hit the horns together for a moderate fight and gave a couple deep grunts with my buck roar call. About 5 minutes later I hear some crunching behind me and here comes a nice little 2.5 year old basket rack 8 pointer. He comes right in and is looking for the fight. Well he sticks around for about 10 minutes then heads off to the north and just for kicks I grunted at him again. He turned 180 in his tracks, pulled his tail over is back and let out a decent snort wheeze. I was geeked. I had never heard that before. He came right back under my stand and stood there for about 5 minutes. He then started looking back over his shoulder and we all know what that usually means. Sure enough another 2.5 year old 8 pointer was coming right in but he was a little bigger. The smaller buck walked right at him and they both began to posture and circle each other and then they went at it. It only lasted for about 5 seconds at the most and the bigger 8 won and chased the smaller one off. The bigger 8 then made a small scrape right below me. I was super geeked by now. They hung around for about 10 minutes and then they left. I waited about 30 minutes and got the horns together again and here comes another deer from the south (behind me. there was the faintest north breeze blowing). He came in a little more cautious and he was a tall racked 8 but was young also. He hung around for about 20 minutes then left the same way he came.
On Sunday evening my buddy and I were sitting in a ground blind on a different spot when a nice shooter 8 pointer walked out to our south and started milling around. He turned to walk away and I grunted at him and he stopped in his tracks and turned to look at us. He then turned to walk away and I snorted at him like the little bucks had done the previous day. Man he took off like a rocket. Weird how deer act differently in different scenarios. The little bucks wanted to fight and this bigger buck wanted no part of it. I turned to me buddy and we both said at the same time he was not be the boss.
With all this talk about snort wheezes ill add my two scents. About 2 years ago First week of November Saturday after hunting I was spotting a county park. I saw what to this day is by far the biggest deer I've ever seen live...150+ 10pt in PA. Driving down the same road Sunday morning (In PA you can't hunt on sunday) I saw the same buck cruising. Parked the car, climbed to the top of a knoll and low and behold there we was 40 yards away from me. He walked towards me for about 10 yards and I managed to snap about 10 pictures and some videos. I was so focused on the big guy that I never noticed that there was a six point ten yards below me (this hay field was about 5 feet tall). The giant let out a commanding snort wheeze and the youngster took off like he was shot out of a cannon in the other direction. It was probably the coolest experience I've ever had...I went out and bought a snort wheeze call the next day hah.
PS: After showing the pictures to some experts at Lancaster Archery they informed me that this deer was probably closer to 160 than 150. I will post pictures when I get home for the weekend.
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Gary Lewis Jr.
PA Forestry and Wildlife Consultants, LLC.
QDMA Life Member
Vice President Central PA QDMA
Associate Director PA QDMA State Chapter
sub dominate buck scared of grunt?
