cardeer

Thats huntin

bearshooter

I'd say give go back at it, especially if he didn't get a good look at you to know you were there.
Had a similar situation last year. Had the dominate buck in the area (we were hunting him) come in just after dusk. All I could see was a sillouet(sp?) of him, and he was in my shooting lane at 13yds. Decided not to shoot, but ended up staying in my treestand 2 hours past dark until he grazed his way through the area not to spook him. Talk about a long day in stand!!

Finch

I bet that was a long day in stand. I think Ill go give it another shot but in a different spot and Ill be quiet this time. I might touch some antlers together or something but no grunting.

shootnmiss

Why no grunting.....I grunted up 2 bucks this weekend.

JeramyK

Same here. I had a couple small bucks come in. But I do not grunt loud or often. Maybe once an hour at most. And I make sure they are soft grunts. Loud grunts are more of an alert.

Finch

well I went back the next day and didnt see any sign of the bad boy. I rattled a couple times and grunted but not as much as before. I wont be around that area for the rest of this week, I have fall break so I will be home in my territory.

Illinois Bowhuntin

I had the exact thing happen to me 2 evenings ago.They will be back.but that tree would be off limits for a few days atleast.If you have a chain on or a ladder stand then I would trim a few branches and set up in the pines.It hides you so much better and it lasts all season.Good luck next time.Also that reason right there is why i dont leave my stand until it is dark.Better safe then sorry.

GaBowtechHunter05

Defiently hunt that place again. He'll be back.

smokyghost

heres my 2 cents, I understand what type of hunting your doing and beleive me its tough. pine thickets, thick, no stand locations. his bedding area isnt far because of all the scrapes you said were there. he came out on the edge of dark, and probally was gonna check the scrapes before he headed out for the night, I had the same thing happen to me and hunted the same spot for a week after and never ever seen that buck again. If it were me id take a walk into the area he came from maybe mid day or so, and try to figure out what he is doing. see if you can find some more sign, set a ground blind the day u hunt, play the wind, and cross your fingers. Good luck

davidmil

Well... I'd say if you found a scrape line... you found a trail. Where does it come from and go to, which direction is the deer headed when he works the scrapes, where's the food. There is no such thing as NO active trails unless there are NO deer. You just haven't found them. By pines I guess you mean small pines.Somewhere in the place they come from and go to I guarantee there's a nice set up. You just go to look more. Look fro browsed undergrowth, droppings, old trails and rubs ....SOMETHING to tell you they like a particular area.
But where's the kill picture. Maybe a runt or they look but don't come in. A lot of deer(I'll say MOST deer) thatpeople say they grunt in would have been there anyway. We scout, find the trails and food and hang our stands. I hope to heck a deer comes there or we've done something wrong. Just because we grunt every hour and see a deer once in a while does NOT mean the two are connected. I have grunted in and killed a couple deer, usually not before this time of year. THey were all deer I had seen or heard and just got them curious enough to offer shots. I don't just go grunting to grunt. In my opinion there's way too much grunting going on. I've sat in the woods from NY to Georgia to Texas, Indiana, PA, Ohio, WVa and Alabama,hunting for almost 50 years. I've heard exactly ONE deer grunt in the woods. I've killed around 80 with the bow and who knows how many with a gun. The majority of my bow kills have been bucks. NOPE... I don't see all this mad grunting in the woods I've hunted.

I'll carry a grunt tube and have it handy to use as a last resort, but you won't find my blindly trying to make a piece of plastic sound like a deer. I tried the grunt tube one time this year. I had 6 deer about 60 yards away, 2 very nice bucks. They were real edgy and not coming my way. I gave 3 soft grunts on my grunt tube. The biggest buck bolted out of there like I'd shot at him with an AK47. Of course the rest followed. Somewhere along the way that deer has gotten very skiddish of ye ole grunt tube.

I firmly believe that stinky free, quiet as can be, low impact sneak and peak hunting will get you more venison than all the gimmicks in the book. Some places and times of year are known for things, like Texas and rattling...but they're rare really. You can rattle till your horns fall apart in our woods and you'll more than likely see LESS deer.My buddyshot a deer with a hoof blown off once. REally,the deer was shot with a slug below the dew claw on his front leg. A guy came through on the trail as we were gutting the deer. He said he had grunted in in from 500 yards away. It came running out of the far wood line and straight to his grunt tube. He shot at the thing at a distance of 150 yards. Duhhh... this was shotgun country, Southern Tier of New York. 150 yards, no wonder he got a foot to mount. Anyway, it's opening day at 8 AM and about 10,000 shots have been fired in the woods behind this deer and the guy is positive he grunted him in. Believe me, that 10 point wasn't looking for security or a doe or companionship. He was looking for a rock to hide under, but that guy is probably still talking about the one he wounded that some yahoo from Watertown killed after he had grunted him in. Yeh, whatever.[&:]