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

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.

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]

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!!!

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

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.

No.

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.

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.

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.