J_CarbonXpress390_Alex

So I've got this buck. Seen him not even an hour after getting in the stand on my first morning out. He stayed about 79 yards out. Which is too far a shot for my crossbow in my opinion. Well I've had a few locations set up since before start of season. And he always seems to go to whichever one I'm not at, or stays just out of reach. Almost seems like he's taunting me and knows it. I've always considered deer to be somewhat intelligent animals. How do I reel in this stubborn Buck.

mrbb

I would start by asking yourself, WHY was he in the other locations when he was
is it wind< was a certain wind direction going on when he was in "X" place?
is it food
was it a week day or weekend?
food, what food/crops are there, WHERE There, still standing were cut?
and so on
be a lot of guesses still, but could be more educated guesses if you can come up with answers that seem to match why he was where he was!
also, think about HOW you went into the stands, and did that possibly have any reason why he wa where he was, as jumping doe on way in or scent getting into a bedding area, could cause them to be in different places too!

J_CarbonXpress390_Alex

The spots arent anything special really. Just a 30 yard wide path between two good sized patches of woods. All I did was make a few mock scrapes and put some Estrus in a few others. Rn I've got a good spot where wind generally stays to my face and found one of his scrapes near it. So I'm gonna wait a couple days and check my cam and see where tracks are each day. Thank you.

blsjds

I am no expert whatsoever, but totally agree with mrbb re:trying to understand why he's moving like he is. If you can figure that out, maybe a grunt call or a bleating doe call will bring him in closer to you? Might be worth a try.

J_CarbonXpress390_Alex

So far he's helped me alot. A lot of knowledge from this guy. Finally found me a good group of uncritical ppl

blsjds

I've found this forum to be super helpful as well. A LOT of knowledge here

Timbrhuntr

Good luck ! I have been after the same buck since archery started in October. I hate trail cams lol ! Had him once at 70 yards. I can only hunt 40 acres surrounded by 300 that he hangs in so just gotta be lucky I guess. The other seven guys surrounding me are also after him so he must be one smart dude.

Erno86

A buck might first scent-check his scrapes by staying downwind of them.

Did you make a doe footprint or at least antler scratches in your mock scrapes?

If permissable...cut off the licking branch from an active scrape, and tie it to your licking branch over the mock scrape

May I suggest putting a stand between his water source and his core bedding area --- At least halfway or two thirds from the water source. Hopefully...you might get lucky and have a chance at him, when he could approach his core bedding area at first light.

Good luck...

rockport

One of two things are probably happening.

1. He is circling these locations wind checking before he comes in. In that case move down wind and catch him wind checking the scrapes/location not at the scrape/location.

2. You are overthinking it,its just chance, and you need to stick with the stand with the best wind.

Just to simplify what am i gonna do if i have a buck visiting 3 different scrapes every 3 days? I'm going to pick the easiest one to hunt,hunt it for 3 days straight, and kill him when he shows up.

Bocajnala

Figure out how to hunt where the buck is. Instead of getting the buck to be where you hunt.

-Jake