Originally Posted by Nocturnal

Hello all.. I have been lurking for a long time but this is my first post here. I am new to bowhunting this being my first year. I had a question about attempting to take a doe when they are in tight groups traveling together. Any feedback is appreciated. This has been a great experience (the bow season ends tomorrow in NY) but I certainly need to learn more going into next year.

A scenario I ran into several times this year including this evening is as follows. I hunt from a stand overlooking a high traffic deer trail surrounded by very thick brush and a young forest. About a half hour before sun set 3 or more doe come out of the thickets into a small clearing my stand overlooks (directly ahead). This clearing is 70 yards from my stand and it takes some time for the deer to reach my range. I have shooting lanes picked out at 40, 35, and 33 yards. At the 33 yard point they turn up the trail and away from me.

My problem is I have a hard time drawing on them without being spotted and sending them off running. The first time this happened I waited until the doe I wanted was in range, all appeared to have there heads down feeding, and simply drew the bow back. They busted me and ran off. Today four came out. I decided this time to wait for the first three to go past and target the 4th. She was the largest and I assumed 2 eyes vs. me was better then 8. The three smaller does passed. The bigger and final doe hit my 33 yard mark and put her head down to graze so I smoothly drew my bow. Halfway through the draw they all ran. Not a panicked run either. Just ran off and turned into a wide open field that I don't have a shot into from the stand.

What am I doing wrong here? I am not hearing any stand creaking or any other type of noise. They are just instantly busting me. Or at the very least know something is out of place and running off. The stand is in a very thick tree and I am in full camo head to toe. My scent control seems to be decent as they have no problem walking right towards me.

Thanks again for any feedback..