HI guys and gals
I hunt some public land in northern missourithat has been hit hard by the week long firearms season last week. We did go on saturday rifle hunting and my uncle had a shot a two different bucks. he said one of them was HUGE. Well muzzleloader season starts next weekend. I already filled my buck tag and one doe tag so I won't be participating in muzzleloader season. I do however have two anydeer tags for my bow. And am gonna try to stick one of those bucks we saw saturday. My question to you is what should i use to get these big boys in range? They are searchin hard for does and seem to only be one the move right after daylight for about an hour. This area is probably going to quiet down for a while because not a whole lot of muzzle loader hunters hunt here.

also if I get one you guys will be the first to see the pics.

For one if the buck's are trailing the doe's ,I'd be using a decoy ,the guy's I know in my area swear by them at this time of year.But since I don't have a decoy ,I'd be using doe in heat scent or Mega Tarsal scent which is a Territorial intrusion scent ,I'd also use my doe bleat a couple time's and follow it up with a couple soft buck grunt's ,this I know work's ,because I've been using it since the buck's started pre rutting here in my area and have been having great success with it .I took a small 6 point buck this season this way on the rifle hunt and have had 4 buck's come to the call's in 1 day ,not to mention a few came to this on other occassion's as well .So good luck and give it a try ,you might also want to try a bit of rettling as well.
I've got a buck decoy on my Xmas list ,but it'll be too late for this season ,but from what I'm hearing it'll bring the big boy's in at the snap of your finger's .

nubo

what about someone mistaking your decoy for game? does this really happen or do most people just think that it might happen? Ya they are chasin them pretty hard, well they were at the begining of the week. Thats how i shot my buck, couldn't get on his girlfriend fast enough but i sure got on him. Also we havent been seeing alot of does here actually out of the three of us we have seen 6 to 10 bucks and only 2 or 3 does. But why would those bucks be here if there isn't any does here?

Don't worry there are doe's around ,that for sure ,they're just not exposing themselve's to the buck's ,you must be catching them in the pre rut right now .As for the decoy ,I see what you mean ,but if as you say that there's not many guy's hunting it shouldn't be a problem ,but then again you never know where another hunter might be .What I'd do is if your hunting in close cover I'd use the decoy ,but if your hunting in the open I'd just use scent and call's .Good luck and I hope this help's .

nubo

it does help alot. i like hunting in the ravines and creek bottoms but the deer are so off of there usual traveling routes that its hard to set up on them to get them within bow range. the buck i shot last weekend was on no particular trail him and his doe was just troting through the timber. If the buck was trailing the doe at a distance of 20 to 25 yards behind her do you think the rut is just begining? that doe was playing real hard to get she was bookin pretty good through the woods. the wind changed on me but she seemed not to mind but that buck he knew something wasn't right. he just so happened to stop in a good shooting lane.