A big, mature buck will immediately stop what he is doing and exit the location after he winds you. He can wind you at a half a mile in the right conditions. And after he winds you, he will flee between a (1) mile and (5) five miles depending on the terrain.

In 2009, I got winded--unanticiapted wind shift--by a mature 160" class buck with a very distinctive drop tine off his left side. I actually saw him leave his bed. Almost exactly one hour later, and exactly 5.25-miles away (calculated on Google Earth) that same buck was seen entering a 200-acre block of black oak.

Elk are even worse. One time I was winded by a 7x7 bull out in the high desert of Wyoming and I watched him go 9.6 miles (by the GPS) and was actually watching him in the spotting scope as he topped Powder Rim still at a fast trot.

Gunplummer wrote: "The only trick to killing a big deer is to be able to hunt where he beds." I wish it was that simple... Whitetails are not stupid in Kansas, no matter how much you want to believe that...

Gunplummer wrote, "There is no proof that a deer's sense of smell is their No.1 defense against hunters other than in magazines and on TV." Not true. I'm able to quote any number of scientific studies on this matter if you really need me to embarrass you.

The sense of smell is the whitetail deer's most important sensory input--and deer trust and rely on it more than any other.

Bronc