Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

I finally get to do some bowhunting this weekend and have been looking forward toit as all of yall have. new bow, new hunting lease with lots of deer and I know I have a killer spot where 3 good heavily usedtrails cometogether that I shot 3, 8 points off of last year with rifle. This time Iam perched atop of the trail with my newbow wanting one of those does I passed on last year. I have never killed a deer with a bow BTW. As I climbed up in my stand sat AM and it get light I am kinda worried because I see the hogs have found my feeder and tore the whole place up pretty good. Im not sure if its good or bad, I mean I like pigs too but oh well. I tuck it out ofmy mind and get ready. Finally here they come, 3 deer. First up a yearly fawn doe right to the edge of my shooting lane and stops, then a small spike and he stops, then a big mature doe is way back watching this and never even comes close. They all turned and walked off, sigh. Sat evening, same thing, one doe gets within eyesight but stops after looking at the torn up area around the feeder and walks off. Only ones that come to play are the spike and yearling fawns. The mature does only come halfway end stop get spooked and walk off. Now I am just about as anal as most of you with scent control. I have all my scent free clothes in sealed bags till the morning of then after I get off my 4 wheeler I spray down me and my bow good and ease in and hunt a climber 25 feet up. I dont think they are smelling me but the scent of the hogs and maybe making the momma doe cautious about letting her younguns around those mean ole hogs. What ever it was they didnt like it. Oh well it was definatly a rush and I am sooo hooked. It is alot more fun when you see deer everytime you hunt, lol. Oh and I caught a glimpse of my first bear too!!!
Bottom line is have any of you had problems with hogs ruining your hunting spot?
Clint

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

I don't have hogs, kinda wish I did for added game to take and I hear they eat good.

As for mature does, yes, mature does, maternal does especially can be a tough quarry, tougher then 1.5 year old bucks by far. Not only are they protecting themselves, they are the security for their offspring. One of the toughest deer to take in the woods is a barren old mature doe, she rules the roost, fawns rely on her, her matriarch family relies on her and many times cagey old bucks will rely on her.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

Very Very hard to shoot, i have been picked off by mature doe's more than bucks!!

We have a booner doe on our farm right now, and I bet i do not kill her, and yes I am going to try.

I am a trophy doe hunter[8D]

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

Yea I could tell they wanted to keep goingto get the corn but after they relized momma stopped about 50 yards back they turned and went back for her and she led them off. I could have had the spike and the yearling does but I am not that hard up for a kill. It will happen in due time, every day though I would have a shot at the younguns and the momma does would turn and walk the other way once they got even close to the set up. I have allready put in a vaction day to be off this friday and will be trying them again this weekend I have to get back in that stand!! I looked aroundto try andmove my stand to further back into the woods to intercept them in route but there are really no good trees to climb so I would have to be on the ground. It is so much better than rifle hunting. I am sure they guys at the camp are gonna rag on me good because it will be opening weekend of muzzleloader and I will be bow hunting. But I didnt spend $700 on setting up this bow and practice all summer just to use it for 2 weekends a year!!!

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

Alot of those mother does are tough. They know better than alot of bucks.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

them old mature does pick off more hunters than bucks do. They are very cautious and rarely make mistakes. On the other hand ive read and heard on hunting shows that hogs will kill fawns and small does if given the chance dont know how much truth there is to this but have heard on many different shows.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

No.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

To be honest, I have yet to havea hard time taking mature does. I usually take 1 during the first couple of weekends to fill the freezer, and then hunt antlers from there on out.

Couple things I noticed from your post-if you use a 4-wheeler, how far from you stand are you parking it. Do you use scent control clothing? When you say you are anal about scent control, really think about that statement. If at any point the outside of your cammo touches something other than the stand, your bow, or your body, you aren't. I don't say this to preach, but last year I had the most successful year I've ever had and I attribute a great deal of it to good scent control practices. I can count on one hand the number of sits in a stand that I didn't have an opportunity to take a doe or smaller buck with my bow.

Here's my prescription, but I'm sure others have similar methods. First, rubber boots, carbon lined jacket, pants, gloves, hood. Start by showering with scent free soap/shampoo and using a towel washed in scent away detergent, along with scent free deoderant. I then put on a sweatshirt and sweat pants and socksthat have been washed in scent away detergent, and a pair of flip flops. drive to my hunting location. Strip down and put on underwear, socks, t shirt, and usually my hunting pants, all washed in scent away detergent. Spray down with real earth scent cover spray. hike in. i don't know about everyone else, but I sweat so i generally don't put on jacket, gloves, hood until I am up in the tree. think about it like putting a lid on a jar when you lock up your carbon cammo. I touch as little as possible. once up in the tree, i spray the crap out of myself, first with white lightning and next earth scented spray. also, once I'm a few feet off of the ground, i like to spray some racoon urine around the base of the tree, deer don't mind it and it smells so bad, thatit covers about anything that you might miss.

Also,don't know if anyone else uses this method or has tried this, but whenI have deer stop, or stall before entering theunder 25 yard ring around my tree, I will close my eyes untilI hear them start moving again. 1. I believe deer know to a certain extent when the are being watched, and sense the eyes on them. Ever notice this happensin the 40 to 50 yard range, but not at 10 yards because they look in front of them and around them, but not up. 2. I also believe it helps with breathing because part of the buck fever trigger is the sight of the buck. Close your eyes for afew seconds and get your breathing under control. then open them when you hear him/her start to move toward you again.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

No, they aren't as tough for me simply because I see so many of them. I see 100 does to every buck in a season. If I see 2 or 3 bucks in one season I've had a good year.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

Truthfully, I get picked out by does very often but bucks rarely notice me. I had a ten point two years ago directly under me. Yes, he saw the blob of me in the tree, but after an eternity of a stare down, he decided I was nothing and just started eating. When a doe picks me out, forget it. They will not let down and always spook. I hate when a nice buck is accompanied by a doe. It makes it very hard to take the buck. I find it almost impossible to draw my bow with a doe around.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

Well i will say a mature doe is very hard to get. Deffently harder then a 2+ year old buck.

If you think about it that buck is taught by her mother so she already nows what she talkin about hwne she is teachin the youngin. And a 2 or 3 year old buck manly 2 year old bucks dont all the way no everything yet.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

Harder.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

I believe a mature doe is at least as wary as a buck. I say this because a buck primarily looks out for himself during his life but a mature doe has looked out for herself as well as numerious offspring over the years. She has those maternal instincts!
A old and wise buck will be mainly a nocternal animal [:@] except during the rutting stage which makes him a tough advisary though.;)IMHO

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

Good replys folks!

To answer your question, no I am not that anal, I should have said I take moderate precautions, lol. As far as the 4 wheeler thing I park it right off the main camp road and walk back into my spot. Its about a 15 min walk back there but I never had problems with seeing deer last year rifle hunting so I didnt worry about that too much. Deer hear 4 wheelers every day and dont pay them much mind. While I was watching the spike the other day I could hear somebody talking a long ways away and then start using a chain saw, guess they were logging a patch of woods somewhere, anyway the spike never even flinched, kinda surprised me, then a few mins later him and the 2 other deer even started heading there direction. I dont wear scent control(carbon) clothes b/c I had read a few post on here about how some people thought it was mostly a gimmick and as long as you use good camo, and are still you will be fine with out it. Personally I like to stack up the odds in my favor if I can, but havnt had the oportunity to purchase any,,, maybe santa will bring me some. For boots I need to get some good rubber hunting boots bad, right nowI am using snake proof boots. I cant shower, this camp is tucked away back in the woods about 30 minute drive away from any kind of town.It was built backin the 50's and is a very rustic camp, the doors dont even have locks!No electricity, we do have running water and a makeshift shower but somebody has to bring in a water pump/generator and we have a few 500 gallon tanks that fill up with rain water that we use for a water source. But I was the only one there this weekend so no shower/power for me(kinda spooky) I will admit I slept with the latern burning to help keep the rats at bay. No wonder they smelled me huh! I wish I could take a shower right before with all scent free stuff and then throw on fresh clothes everytime 5 minutes before and top off with scent blocker clothes but I dont have that luxury when I am camping for a few days at a time. I did however have2 sets of clothes washed in hunters soap and dryed with a earth scent softener, then packed in scent lock bags that I opened up and put on as I walkedout the door and used hunting deoderant then sprayed myself and hat, gloves, maskbow, boots with scent blocker. I just never had trouble with doestill the other day, thats why I wondered maybe the hogs had them spooked. The spike and the fawns would walk all around me, just those darn old momma does woldnt come close enough for a shot. I am going to get some cover scent and place them in some scent bombs and hang some from my stand just in case next time. I will definatly try the closing the eyes thing,I never thought I would have to do all this for a doe!

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

I don't know that everything I wrote is "necessary", but I started bowhunting about half a dozen years ago and the more I researched about scent control, the more anal I became, the more deer I saw in bow range. As for your fourwheeler, I was asking about it's presence from a scent perspective. Remember, deer these days have become in alot of cases, used to four wheelers or chainsaws and feel comfortable at certain distances so won't spook. You want to be closer.Some people are happy with a 20 yard shot, butI get a rush out of having deer close enough to spit on. Don't get me wrong, if a shooter buck tromps through at 2 dozen yards and stops, I'm smokin' him.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

nothing i my opinion is harder then getting a buck
i hunt public land mostly and the old boys pretty much go nocturnal once the season hits and they know they are hunted
the does are causious but not like the bucks are i'd say

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

Well I went to bass pro tonite and got some scent killing wipes since I cant shower, I will wipe my self down with that and some odor absorbing powder, more deoderant, and some pine scented H.S.waffers and some coon pee and cotton wicks. Oh and a doe bleat can. I am killing something this weekend! Bad news is boss tried to get me off work friday but his boss said we were to busy for all of that, oh well I will have to just hunt sat and sunday.
Thanks guys
Clint

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

Does pick me off much more than bucks.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

Clint,

Make sure if you're going to use those pine scents that you're hunting in a pine forest. Deer realize those kinds of things. That's why I'm such a big believer in "earth" scents. There's dirt everywhere.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

Yes thats why I got it, I allmost grabbed the cedar scent but then thought wait theres not a ceder treearound here for hundreds of yards but I am in theedge of an oldpine thicket andwoodbottomsso pine makes better sence, more natural. Then I got some coon pee to squirt around the base of the tree and I will clip some of the pinewafers directly to my stand just in case the wind changes like it allways does for me. BTW I just checked the weather for the camp and it is going to be low of 34 thurs nite there. The boss said I couldnt be off but I am predicting I will be sick come fri morning, hehe.

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

If anything I think they're as hard or harder to get a bead on , they're rarely alone since they usually head up a small herd of eyes and ears just waiting to bust you .

RE: Are Mature does as hard as bucks for yall?
 

No, not in this terrain, the old does live in more accessible places to watch them and pattern them...the bucks here take better advantage of the elevation and big country to hide out...imo..does here aretad more tolerant to human scent as well..