Lesson learned...bust terribly
 

Hey guys,

Last night I got home early and decided to get in the woods. I have a stand close to a feeder that I can get to without much trouble and/or spooking the deer. Wind was right, no deer in sight, so I got in the stand. I had 5 does under me for 40 minutes, no problem. I waited and then I had the farmer next door mowing a field right next to the wooded lot, so I didn't have much hope of seeing any other deer. About 6 PM, I'm searching and in walk 7 other deer right from the corner of the lot where the farmer was mowing. Well, I rose to my feet because there were 5 bucks coming in with the group. All of a sudden, a big mature doe walks to within 40 yards of the stand, upwind and blows. Every deer stands at attention, half of them looking dead at me. Busted!!

Sorry to be long, here's the lesson(s). Not every tree that you set for early season works as the leaves begin to fall, also never mentally give up a location that you know deer frequent, be smart. I just educated 10 deer four weeks before the rut. I was sick. The positive note is that I had deer pouring into the same location this morning as I was leaving for work...go figure.

Kel

RE: Lesson learned...bust terribly
 

I'm reading a new book that Ghemry turned me onto that will change the way I hunt deer from now on. You just learned a valuable lesson on stand placement. I would have done the same thing you did. I think, next year, I'm going to hunt more places......but hunt less days at them. I'll still try to find a little "honey hole" to spend a lot of afternoons......whether I see any bucks....or any big bucks, or not. I just love being out there.....and this will be a place to take my son.....who doesn't practice the scent control measures that I do.

If there's one thing I've found out, this year......it's that I don't have enough places to hunt. I'm convinced my deer know I'm there.....and I've NEVER had a deer blow at me while I was on stand. I'm convinced.....more and more......that the first time you hunt a stand.....is your best chance. I think there' sexceptions to this.......and I think I may have one. I hunt almost EXCLUSIVLEY in suburban areas. I can hear people, cars, lawnmowers, dogs, leaf blowers, etc...at all times. I think my deer herd MUST be accustomed to "some" human scent AND sight of them. I think the more they see/smell me in there, though......the less chance I have at one of the ones Im after.

I'm just going to hunt SMARTER, next year......starting about Feb. with my prep.

Jeff

RE: Lesson learned...bust terribly
 

I guess even the best hunters can make mistakes. Hopefully this one incident won't cause too much concern with them but one never can know for sure.
Good Luck Kelly!

RE: Lesson learned...bust terribly
 

I have 10 bow stands and 4 gun stands on 180 acres. I will try to hunt them all during the season. I have my favorites, but like you say it's not a good idea to hunt the same stand over and over. Just remember, you are still going to get busted from time to time. Most of the time we don't even know we were busted. That's just deer hunting. Practice scent control to the detail. It will make a big difference. I go all out on scent control.

RE: Lesson learned...bust terribly
 

Kelly, one of these days I'll e-mail you about how I blew a perfect chance at a mid 140's bruiser the first day of the season... I guess we both got brought back to earth a little this year already, huh?

RE: Lesson learned...bust terribly
 

Kelly, man good to see you about!!

Sorry to hear of your bad afternoon. Somedays, that sounds about normal for me.[&:]

RE: Lesson learned...bust terribly
 

It just sucked...felt like such a rookie mistake and the deer kept coming back, blowing again. Geesh...yes I'm up here. Needless to say the stand came down with me.

I'm going to place a stand close to the same area, but about 10 feet higher and definitely limit my hunting in it. The funny thing was that I hadn't set foot in the area in 10 days.

Anyhow, IBM...what the heck have you been? I haven't seen a post from you in forever. Glad to hear from you.

Kel

RE: Lesson learned...bust terribly
 

I post...just not quite as much as I used to. I check the forums daily, just don't post a whole lot.

RE: Lesson learned...bust terribly
 

True, but it happens to the best of us at one point or another. At least now you can focus on placing the stands for different parts of the season

RE: Lesson learned...bust terribly
 

I'm convinced.....more and more......that the first time you hunt a stand.....is your best chance.

Amen this has been true 100% of the time for me.