spde911

I've seen a couple of there posts on here related to this topic, but didn't want to search to see what was said. I went out Saturday before sunrise and planned to hunt until mid afternoon. I've been reading about mid day hunting and wanted to see if it would pan out. Anyway, after sunrise I caught a glimpse of a deer walking behind me. I thought it was a buck, didn't see the head gear, but judging by the size of the body, was pretty sure it was a buck. The wind was blowing like crazy 15-30mph and he was walking rather fast and I dind't get a chance to get a shot at him. I hit the antler bag a couple times and didn't see where he went. About an hour later I saw a doe taking the same path. With the way the wind was blowing, I thought I'd go ahead and take her. As I get ready to draw, she starts walking off too. She gets behind some thick stuff so I grabbed my doe bleat and hit it a couple times. I figured that with the wind blowing so hard she didn't even hear it. Over the next couple of hours I didn't see a thing. I would rattle about every 30 minutes or so and grunt and use the bleat (alternating about every 20-30 minutes) and could get anything to come in. I started thinking that the wind had everything bedded down or they were in a lower area or something. I decided I would climb down and do some scouting/stalking see if I couldn't find a less windy area and sit on the ground or something. As I'm getting down from my stand I was being a little too loud. I looked around and didn't see anything and continued to climb down. I start picking up some of my scents and when I get about 5-10 yards from my stand I hear them blowing like crazy!![:@] All I see is the hind end of two deer going the other direction. Now I'm a little ticked. I'm wondering, will they come back, did they see me, wind me or just hear me. I just don't know for sure. I really think they were the same two that walked in earlier in the morning and might have bedded down not 20 yards from my stand in a thicket. What do you do? I don't hunt this stand very often, only a couple times a week and don't really go to this property all that much. Do you think they saw me climbing down or heard me in my stand? Do you think I just they are now educated?

Virginiashadowhunter

They saw you. Yes they are educated and will look up at that stand for awhile, scent checking like crazy when they come into the area. If one of them is a dominant or spooky doe, she will come out, scent check, and then if the coast is clear, the others will filter out. I would say let the stand sit for at least a week unless you believe the stand is a good rut stand and other deer will move through. Maybe you need to turn your stand around so you can hide behind the tree, blocking any visual in the future in case they come back through and peek up at the tree.

Vashadowhunter