Wolfpack

Thurs. Oct.16 what should have been a slam dunk turned into a belly shave for the buck in front of me. I won't bore you will all thedetails but the jist is inside 20 yrds., full draw, buck looks directly at me ( plenty of cover behind me...a large holly tree with limbs wrapping around me and the tree I'm in). I don't know if he could tell what I was or just caught movement, doesn't matter either way, he still saw something and then got stung. It was getting pretty dark. He bolted for about 30 yrds. (my visibility in that direction is about 10-15 yrds.) He then stopped and walked off. I started another grunt sequence because at that specific time I thought I must have missed altogether. Waited the remaining 20 min. of legal hunting time and got down. My arrow was sticking in the ground but when I pulled it out I found a few white hairs[:@], a faint trace of blood on 1 of my feathers and no blood at the point of impact. After 4 hours of making sure that my suspicion of a belly shave or surface wound was correct I went home. My question ( FINALLY) is will he come back through here or will he skirt this area? My gut is telling me to move up trail at least 50 yrds or more but this spothas always been a hot spot for activity ( alot of intersecting trails and plenty of acorns). I just saw a show the other night where Andre (Lone Wolf) missed a buck and then a few weeks later killed that buck after he watched him make a wide loop around the tree he was in the last time. He watched that buck circle the tree and get down wind of it before continuing on the trail. The stand had been moved downtrail. What 'cha think stay or move???

tlutterba

I say you stay for two reasons. 1) If one buck is using it, chances are other bucks are and you might get a shot at a better one. 2) He will be back. Wether its pre rut or during the rut, that buck will be back. He feels comfortable there and likes it with plenty of food.

HoytSpeed

If you were in post rut and that happened, i would say move. But l ike tlutterba said, other deer will be using it, and during the rut, i'm sure he'll be back

Wolfpack

Thanks guys. Judging from the size of it (about the size of a Toyota Corolla hood)there is definately a community scrape just downtrail from me about 10 yrds. My plans are to go back in there tomorrow afternoon.