Starting to be sold on just plain socks. Granted, I came home and had to pull my second splinter in as many trips, but the deer are flushing right next to me by the time they know I'm there. I need to work on my visual scanning a bit to be effective.

Tonight I had one of the coolest things happen that I can remember. I was within six feet of a yearling doe that jumped up and scared the hell outta me. I whistled and she stopped about 25 yards away. I had no intention of shooting with a recurve at that range and my skill level in low light, so I pulled out the bleat call and bleated a few times after crouching behind some weeds - I figured maybe she'd walk in to me but no way.

Instead she walked parallel to me and began browsing. She wasn't spooked too bad so I walked parallel to her. She held her ground and browsed a bit, so I bent over, grabbed some leaves, held them to my face and crushed them with my hand to imitate feeding. I stopped looking directly at her and she seemed to calm down. I zigzagged towards her about 10 yards, pretending to feed along the way and she just kept a close eye on me and browsed occasionally herself. every once in a while I'd call with a soft bleat to keep her confused.

At this point it was almost black so I browsed my way out of the field and headed back to meet my buddy at the car. One of the coolest things I had happen to me, but I'm afraid I made it easier for some other hunter to put an arrow in her. I doubt she'll last the season acting like that around humans.

Fred