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RE: Deer Sleeping

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ORIGINAL: MNpurple

Junior was asleep and I was all proud of my stalking ability until I saw mom was watching me the whole time.

You should be, that's tough to do! How close did you get?

RE: Deer Sleeping

Yeah, thats always a cool experience. Heres a pic of a little doe I had bedded down near my stand earlier this year.

RE: Deer Sleeping

Wow guys those are some neat pics. My dad went out this afternoon and said the same buck bedded down in the same area again, but he never slept this time. It obviously puts the argument that ladder stands scare deer away to rest, cause he's real close to one!

I don't think I can shoot him if I see him though, something about him just makes me not wanna shoot him! I dont know why! lol. Do you guys think thats weird?

Have you guys ever had a deer that you just couldn't bring yourself to shoot???

RE: Deer Sleeping

I killed my biggest buck to date while he was bedded. I was hunting acut over that was bout five yearsold, so thetrees were about ten feet tall.It was thefirst cold day in2004, I think it gotdown in the 30's that night.The landI washuntingwas very hilly. I was hunting a club stand that hadn't been hunted in over a year. The stand was on top of a hill, looking down into a bottom on both sides. Out in front of the stand, the pine trees were a lot thinner and there was a lot of tall grass.

Igrunted and bleated every now and then,watching for movement. About thirty minutes after I got into the stand, I noticed adeer's rack right in front of me.I looked for it, but couldn't find it. Then it appeared again.At first I thought that the buck wasstanding behind one of the smaller pine trees, but Ifound the buckthrough my scope, I noticed that he was actually bedded.I watched him lick his self for a while. Then he would just nod off. I watched him for a good while, waiting on him to stand up soI could shoot him.

It was starting to get later and the thermals started to swirl. He lifted his head up and began to lick the air. I figured he might have caught my wind, so I placed my crosshairs on him and with one well placed shot, he never got up. I figure he was worn out fromchasing does all nightand bedded down in the soft grass on top of the hill to warm up in the evening sun.

heres a pic of him.

RE: Deer Sleeping

Wow..I had a simular experience..I watched a very nice buck bed down less than 20 yds away but no shooting lane at him...He stayed for over an hour..It was about 15 out and I was frozen...Wouldn't you know that the buck would get up and come within 5 yds of my stand but I could not draw my bow...I tried and tried but being so cold all I could do was shake...It really was not all buck fever but sitting motionless for over an hour with it that cold does not help...He would have been a wall-hanger..It was a pretty cool experience..

RE: Deer Sleeping

Now that makes it all worth while.

RE: Deer Sleeping

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ORIGINAL: englum_06

Well Ive been hunting all day,and I had a pretty unique experience. I was looking around, wasn't seeing much, and then all of a sudden as I turned to my right, I could see a cape/chest of a deer but the rest of the body was behind a tree. So I watched it for a second and when he walked I realized he was a little basket racked 8 pointer. He was only about35 yards away from me. Well he was walking real slow and digging in the dirt with his nose, I couldn't figure out what he was doing and then he started walking right at me! He walked all the way til he was about 25 yards from me and then he just kneeled down and bedded there! I couldn't believe it...I literally said "Oh my god come on" Because I knew I was gonna be froze and not be able to move since he was looking straight at me while he was bedded. So anyways he laid there for about an hour and 45 minutes and I finally got to see a deer sleep. It was really neat because I had always wondered how they slept. He would close his eyes for about 10 minutes and you could see his head fall down and then he would wake up and look around for about 10 minutes, then would get sleepy again, close his eyes, and sleep for about 10 more minutes. He did that for the whole time he was there. I had to move and look around when he was sleeping, lol. When he wasn't I just stared at him and used him for my eyes. I got ahold of my dad on the radio when the buck was sleeping and told him I was pinned down and couldn't leave, so my dad gradually started walking to me and when he did the buck saw him, and I kid you not he ran so hard and so fast out of there and NEVER MADE A SINGLE NOISE- I was only about 25 yards from him and I never heard a leaf crunch. He was jumping over logs and running down hills, and he never even made a noise loud enough for me to hear from 25 yards away. Made me wonder how many deer have WALKED past me if he was running that hard and I couldn't even hear him when all my attention wason him. And he blended in absolutely amazing. Its really neat when you get to observe them for a while and learn their behavior. Today was a day when I definitely would have just preferred to watch him, it was just a different experience.

Sounds to me that it was a successfull hunt then. I love having the opportunity to watch and learn. And as far as the noise...thats why they are called the "Ghosts of the Woods".

RE: Deer Sleeping

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ORIGINAL: shawnfogelman

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Sounds to me that it was a successfull hunt then. I love having the opportunity to watch and learn. And as far as the noise...thats why they are called the "Ghosts of the Woods".

DEFINITELY a successful hunt. I had more fun watching that buck, actually laughing at him when his head would fall, then I have some of my harvests. Like I said it was just completely different, having the opportunity to see an animal like that in that state.

RE: Deer Sleeping

I actually watched a doe sleep about 5 feet from my front door one evening under my lone apple tree, it was kind of cool to watch. not to mention being able to sit on the couch and watch it. She got up and left about 45 minutes later when 2 bucks came to the front again 5-10 feet from the door and started fighting.

I had to cut the tree down since it fell over in a storm and haven't seen any deer in the front since. They are in the back all of the time though.

RE: Deer Sleeping

My dad was hunting in a stand (#1) one day and around 4 pmabout a 14 inch 7 point came to the northern edge of the food plot and bedded down for about 45 minutes. I was in a stand (#2) about 300 yards north of him and my brother was in a stand (#3) about 400 yards west. The next day we decided torotate and my brother went to stand #1. The same thing happened to him at the same timeexcept the deer went to the northeastern corner of the plot and stayed again for about 45 minutes. The third afternoon in a row we decided to go again and I went to #1 and saw the same buck at the same for the same amount of time and he was in the eastern part of the food plot. That afternoon my dad shot a really nice 8 pt out of stand #2. It was by far one of the coolest things I have ever seen in the wild without taking a shot at an animal. It was also amazing how it was3 afternoons in a row all at the same time, but in different parts of the food plot.