BACKSTRAPBOOGIE

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This Sat. marked 1 year to the day that I killed my best buck ever, A nice 8pt. I havent hunted the stand I took him out of since that day and decided awhile back that I was going to hunt there this Sat morning and see if I could make it 2 in 2 years. Well things got off to a bad start as I was in the woods well before daylight and could not find my loc-on. I came in on an old logging road and the stand was at the end of the road then about 30 yards into the woods on the right. After searching for it for several minutes I began to get frustrated and started to sweat. I decided to back out and wait until daybreak to come back. Well I waited for about 30 minutes and as the sun started to rise I rentered the woods and finally found my stand. I was about 20 yards off from it when I was looking earlier. Well, I get settled and all was calm until about 8:00. I had a hen roosted behind me and she flew down and startled me pretty good. It was in the mid-thirties Sat morning and even though I had dressed for it, I was still pretty chilly. At around 9:30 I was sitting there with my hands in my pocket thinking about thet buck that I had killed last year and how cold I was. I came out of my daydream and looked to my right and there not even 15 yards away stood a deer. As he turned I saw that it was a buck, a very nice buck! I never heard anything and it was like he just appeared. Needless to say he caught me off gaurd and all I could think about was standing up and getting my bow. I got stood up with no problem and if I would have just waited for him to make his next move I probably would have been ok. Instead I immediatley went for my bow and as I looked around the tree he was starring right at me. He didnt wait around to see what was going on. He turned tail and was gone right back where he came from. I was heart broken. I know I made some rookie mistakes but hind site is 20\20. My question is how and when should I hunt this buck now? I have never hunted 1 particuler buck before but I have set my mind on taking him. The area he is in is about 50 acres with about 10 of that being a thick cutover that is his bedding area. I am the only 1 that hunts this 50 acres but the ajoining land is hunted pretty hard by rifle hunters. What would your next move be to try to harvest this buck? After this coming weekend I will be in Ohio for the next 2 weekends and wont be able to hunt this area again until the weekend of Nov 11th.
I apologize for the lengthy post but I am really excited to have seen a buck of this caliber and to have the opportunity to hunt him, even though I blew it and have educated him a little.[/align]__________________
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c_str

If that is his core area I think he may be back. He might also adjust his pattern to avoid that tree, but still be close by. Since you are giving it a rest for a few weekends, my odds are that he will be back.

but you just never know i guess until you hunt it.

mobow

I'll answer this by telling a story. I had a trail camera in the woods on a creek crossing. Every day, for 10 days straight, I got pictures of deer. Religiously, every single day. Then, all of a sudden....no pictures. None. Zero, zip, nadda. So I did a little investigating. Well, all they did was alter their pattern to go BEHIND the tree w/ the camera in it. So, I moved the camera back against the creek bank, and bingo. Pictures again.

The moral of the story? Simple. They don't leave, they just adjust. He's still there, though he may be more nocturnal, but he's still there. You can get him.

MO_Bowhnter

That's too bad backstrap, get out there and get yourself a second chance at him.

davidmil

Man, you blew it. You got to stay alert and the bow should be in your hand or right beside it at all times.... especially when you're day dreaming. Your chances of seeing that bad boy from that stand again have definitely diminished, at lest in the short term... say more than a week. He saw you, he knew what your were while you fumbled for your bow. Keep it at hand. Get a bow hanger for your stands.

snake123

He'll be back. It's happened to the best of us at one point in time. I wouldn't sweat it.

isatarak

I wouldn't give up on the stand. You might see a bigger one.

mexhuntr

He will be back with tose two weekends but you must be alert!
good luck

davidmil

You can believe what you want. If he's a nice buck like you say, he's not stupid. He very well may come back, but I'll bet he'll be eyeballing that stand to see if you're there. I had an incident a few years ago with a very nice buck. I went to the Adirondacks for a quick bow hunt. My brother told me of a stand he'd put in but never hunted. I got in it with his directions in the dark. About 10 I'd had enough and was half way down the stand when I looked to my right and there he was watching me. About the time our eyes met he turned and left. I carried in my climber that afternoon and climbed a tree about 50 or 60 yards from the stand. Later I was sitting there and out pops the same buck from the swamp, about 50 yards from the stand and to my left. I was facing the old stand. He stood there for 10 minutes without moving a muscle staring at the stand. Then he started head bobbing the stand and me with no shot of course. He started circling the stand to his left my left. He'd move a few yars and stare at the stand. I lost sight of him in the undergrowth a couple times when he was behind the stand, but soon I'd see his legs walking. He made a 270 degree circle around that stand, stopping along the way to stare at it. It totally consumed him. He finally got back to me and I shot him at 14 yards while he stared at the stand he'd seen me in that morning. It was the most educationalexperience I everhad about smart bucks.... and I got to see it first hand. He stalked that stand like a predator.

NavyDeerHunter

From a man who does not give advice.........[8D]