I tried using a decoy this evening for the first time. It is a young buck decoy set up facing my stand about 15 yds away. At dusk a nice 8 pt wandered in to feed at 35yds. As it moved closer to my stand it noticed my decoy and stopped short. After staring for a few seconds, it stomped its hoof a few times and when it got no response it ran off blowing and snorting. It never really got close enough for a decent shot.
What went wrong?

Never face your decoy at you or your stand! They should always look away. I' m still experimenting with mine. Half of the time I' ve prematurley scared the deer away, the other half I would have had shots.

Good Luck!

For a second there I thought that you were gonna say you had a problem with birds landing on it... [&:]

Get a " true talker" and make him think it' s real.Some times they work sometimes they don' t.

I' ve heard that you face a buck decoy towards you because a buck will come around to face another buck, and face a doe decoy away from you because a buck will come around to the rear of a doe to check her out.

Make sure you spray some scent eliminator on the decoy too. It may have picked up some scent by being handled.

I don' t know if this is true or not, but my brother bought a decoy years ago and tried it out... he said that it scared the deer off because it was a ' feeding' decoy. He thought that this was because it looked unnatural with its head down without moving and that it resembled a wounded deer. You often see deer stand motionless with their heads up, but never motionless with their heads down.

Anyone experience this with a feeding-style decoy?

The deer around here all seem to have the same reaction to decoys. They get about 50 yards away and inspect it. If it does not move within a minute or two, or does not respond to their snort/stomp, they are gone!

The only exception may be a doe decoy during the peak of the rut, when the bucks are so horned up they can' t see straight.

I have heard of many putting a real deer tail on their decoy with a piece of fishing line tied to it to make it move. Haven' t tried that yet, but I have heard it works better than nothing.

decoys don' t work 100% of the time. in fact mine has scared more deer away then drawn in. try to put it in some thick stuff, not out in the open. cover the legs too, the legs on a decoy are dead give aways.

I' ve never used a decoy so i can' t give you alot of imput, but it seem' s to me the decoy may have taken an excellent shot opportunity at a nice buck away from you. Just a thought........