MGH_PA

No guys, no buck on the ground yet, but I did have the best night of the season so far. Sat in my stand I prefer for our rare easterly/northern winds along a thing strip of woods seperating a hay field and my food plot. About 5:00, a lone doe came out to feed, followed by two others shortly after. Not long after that, a nice 6 (could have been an 8 point) came out nose to the ground and started to follow the trail of the does. I grunted a few times, and got him to raise his head, but he was intent on the does. Not long after he went out of sight, a small forkhorn shows up and begins chasing one of the does. I was watching another direction, when I turned back to the field to see the 6 and the forky locked up and battling it out! It was great! I've only seen two fighting one other time when hunting (I'm young though so hopefully I will see more). This time after the 6 pushed the 4 away, I grunted a few more times (he raised his head and looked in my direction, turned and began walking my way). I thought "this is it!", but alas, it wasn't meant to be. About halfway between us, he decided to cut back down into the woods, never saw him again.

I had does around me till dark so I tried barking (as per suggestions made on here earlier). Yeah...didn't work. Actually two of the doe cam running in closer to me to see what is was. Luckily it was black enough out that I eased down out of the stand undeteced, and made it all the way back up the food plot before I heard one of them snort and run off. Should I be worried about spooking them like that? There's no way they knew what I was (it was almost pitch black, I was wearing my asat, and was behind some very thick brush). I'm thinking they spooked more at the noise of the crunching leaves than anything. Should I leave this stand alone for tomorrow afternoons hunt? Or would it be safe to hunt it?

NJ/PAbwhunter

I would not hesitate to get right back in there. I watched little bucks and larger ones chasing does Monday, tuesday, Wednesday and killed a nice buck thursday... all from the same tree.
Good Luck
DW