LI archer

I have been hunting in my friends back yard that overflows into a "community" woods that alot of guys used to sneak into (yeah welcome to LI,ny) they posted it and kicked them out. i am the only one besides a resident in the Community that hunts but he hunts accros the road. there is a HUGE 8pnt in there i got close last year 10yrds away but had no shootin lanes open.. i scoped it out this past winter and his rub lines and where i last saw him come from that day.. I hung a stand in a big oak tree..prob is the rest of the woods i small understory cedars with no places to hang a stand in the spot needed. sat in the new stand on wed.. first cold day in a week.. does passed all around me could not see them as it is hard to see past 10-15yrds.. i have cleared one lane out to 28yrds that leads to a small low/swampy spot.. sunset at 4:33 or so.. by 4:50pm was very QT heard nothing saw nothing..waited till 5:06 dark enough to sneak out not seen.. new rest is a drop away..works great..but if you dont shoot an arrow out of it you have to "snap" it to unrelease it.. i put my gloved finger under it as i released it,,but still it made a small clk sound.. well son of a m...f... 25yrds away in the all cedar trees where the trails are earth and no leaves to give him away he snorts..snorts..runs snorts,, and runs.. away.. i just cant get a break with this one!! i snuck away in total opp direction i would normally leave to get to truck. but he is smart and once learned 10 times smarter..as i learned from last year.. so if you have a drop away rest and need to snap it to take your arrow out.. try this i tried the next day.. pull arrow and twist it ( i have twister vanes) and it came out with out any noise..and re set it at truck.. now******************you know the back ground.. how on earth am i to get ahead of this guy?? in a residental area with no obvious food source (last year only saw him cause friends deer fence was broken and he was in yard in daylight 10yrds away with no shot..heart breaker not a huge buck by you midwesterners but to me a nice 8pnt about 140+) how on earth can i get an edge on him?? please anyone.... thank you...

sdhunter11

That is kinda a tough one. I think that maybe he is used to human encounters being he resides in a residential area, and besides, if the rut is on where you are at, a hot doe might weaken his senses enough to give you a shot. Just try to stay around his area and stick with the does. he'll show sooner or later.

monoped

Any other noise may have got attention on your way out.
One thought would be to find where he enters property,or if he stays on it where to intercept him before dark. Only when site is in your favor regarding wind. Sounds like a ground hunt may be in order. Take care to have a background to avoid your profile being seen. if its been awhile practice shooting ground level too. Good luck on closing the deal. Glad they don,t hunt us hard!

bronko22000

Did you actually see him or just hear a deer snort? Doe will snort too. I've been busted many times getting out of my stand at dark. And normally a smart old doe will not come past my stand if she caught me in it. She will give it a wide berth. You may want to cut some of those cedar boughs and make youself a ground blind downwind from your stand. Also change your pattern. If you arent doing it now, try hunting in the middle of the day. I set a camera out last year after not seeing any deer for a few days. They had me patterned! I'd get in my stand before light and sit until about 9:30 or 10:00 and go home then come back about 3 or so. The camera showed the deer had been coming by my stand between noon and 2! Two days later at 1:15 I arrowed a nice 8 pt.

LI archer

thanks guys! he is a old smart lad.. gotta be about 6years old or more.. been on this prop since Nov 11th 2007, and back then he was "you gotta get the big 8pnt" took me till last year to actually see him.. he aint no fool. the snort i heard it was deff him heard it last year 3/4times and as soon as i heard it knew it was him. thought of ground blind.. but would have to trim like thousands of dead branches to get a shooting area and he would notice that for sure. sat in a cedar tree saturday afternoon. just 60-80yrds away from oak tree the prev time. heard him snort. at dark.. not sure if he is nervous or testing that spot. he did that last year. was 10-15yrds away from me and had the small 4pnt he was traveling with in late dec walk right under me..but he would not..no sounds nothing.. he spooked 6th sense?? but i sat in diff stand the next time and when he got to the same area he snorted like he was testing/bluffing.. I guess my only course of action is no action and wait for him to make a error while trying not to make any error myself..