Jollyarcher

After reading a few "would ya shoot a doe" posts, I recall a doe from a few years back that made me say WOW! Here's what happended...

I was hunting a oak ridge that involved a long hike to my tree. It was a morning hunt and I had to go early to get there in time. It was public land and I used no trail markers in hopes to keep others from finding my stand location.

I'm on the ridge and find my tree... climber on and up up and away. 30 minutes of darkness. I see 10 deer within the first hour of light. One very mature doe leads two young mothers and a pair of yearlings right under my tree. I have no intent in harvesting any of them, knowing a good buck is on that ridge.

The lead doe sensed something was odd. She circles an area of 25 yards around my tree. The remaining deer pick up acorns and act like nothing is wrong. The lead doe didn't. She was not on high alert, but kept looking around. She never blew, but she keeps looking. It takes her 5 minutes of goofing around, but she finds me. She looks up and there I was... a big camo squirrel 20 feet in the air. She looked away, she looked up, she walks a tight cirlce and then leads the rest of them down the ridge. The others never knew a thing and even she walked away as if nothing was wrong.

Here's the kicker. I hunt that same ridge 4 days later. I was running late and make it with little time to climb. There was no moon and it was plenty dark. I strap on the Summit, up up and *clunk*... I hit a limb at about 15 feet. What? Oh man, I'm in the wrong tree! No time to climb down. Sunrise comes and my tree is 15 feet off my right shoulder. I sit there mad at myself and wait.

About 20 minutes pass and a group of deer slowly feed my way. There is 5 in the group, headed by a mature doe. As they draw closer, the mature doe walks direclty to the tree I was in 4 days prior and looks up! I was like, huh? What the... hey, she remembers what tree I was in 4 days ago! I watch her take 30 seconds to look about, and then she goes to feeding like the others. All the deer were relaxed and she offers a 28 yard broadside shot. She is properly double lunged and goes home with me that day.

I sit there 15 feet up and ponder... was she doing that each day I was away? So, I called her Super Doe, not seeing anything quite like that before. Anyone else encountered a Super Doe?

Dave Solgat

Maybe you should have followed her that morning.
You wouldn't have went to the wrong tree.

HAZCON7

Great Story! Seems to me someone else has hunted the heck out of that particular tree probably for a couple of consecutive years and educated that doe real well. How did you come about it?

WVCritter

Several years ago I hunted an area where there was such a doe. I called her Grandma. She busted me every day for 3 days straight in 3 different stands. and it was like you said. All the deer with her were relaxed and care free but she was always on alert, head up and nose into the wind. She was old and gray in the face but her senses were keen. My guess is she probably died of old age.

JimboHunter1

Just goes to show you how different bucks and does are. An old, wise buck might have given you one chance, but after that you probably would never see him again.

BTW: That's an awesome story Jollyarcher.

mahoningbuck

No that never happend to me I just kill the stupidest deer. Here is my story. . . The buck that I shot last year did the same thing. He looked right at me for what seemed five years. He came in so fast stopped right at might stand looked right at me and justed looked dumbfounded. He watch me stand up go to full draw as my rattle bag hit the stand and fell to the ground hitting the stand first and shot. I could not believe he let me do that! I was in my stand maybe 20 minutes grunted three times and he came charging in and let me act like a bull in a china shop. Yes, the rut was in heavy but damn he never moved. So people say I have a hypnotic personality.

sneekky

from what i have read deer have a photographic memory of there home range so yes if you got picked off dont be surprised for that same deer to look for you again in the same spot.

SW Iowa Hunter

I came across Super doe once... now I ponder the old saying...

Did she taste great... or was she less filling...

TURKEY FAN

Had one that would bust me no matter what i did, she and her two yearling would be all over that property, it was like i couldnt evade her, like she was hunting me. She would blow,and lblow and blow.....so on one evening hunt i was with a friend who never hunted before and we sat in a creek bottom with my bow in hand, i told him i am looking for a particular doe, and that i know her when i see her. here she comes straight at us! I drew back and let her have it, she wasnt educating any more deer on my account!

Rob/PA Bowyer

Mostly likely she was the eldest doe(matriarch) of that particular family of does. Does in their home range will stay together for years in a matriarch family group consisting of an adult doe, her doe offspring and their offspring...kind of like a grandma doe like mentioned above. That is vary common and many times the lead doe will possibly be a barren doe but keeps her former offspring close. Of course a doe will push off her button buck offspring early in the fall to prevent inbreeding, the yearling bucks will leave the homerange which is called yearling dispersal.

Also like mentioned above, a deer can pattern you before you can pattern a deer....think of it like this....when you walk into your house, you know where everything is, if something is amiss, you notice it....this doe did the same thing......she new something wasn't right, found you and looked for you again. That's not uncommon.....she probably did find you not there on days you were not and it is also likely had you picked the right tree, you might not have got a shot at her. You actually brought a good lesson for all of us.