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Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

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Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

Old 04-09-2005, 09:10 PM
  #1  
Nontypical Buck
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Default Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

Well that's what happened to me last season. Had a nice 8 point come in about 50 yards away in some thick brush. Just when i thought he was coming right to me, he beds down. So i wait, and wait and wait for over FOUR hours! In the meantime a big doe comes in and hangs with him and a spike walks right by me about 10 yards away, i let em pass. The bigger buck never even looked to see what was walking by. I was tempted to climb down and trying to get a bit closer, but stuck it out. Finally he jumps up, don't know if he got a whiff of me, but he was nervous. And he walks out the other way! With a rifle he would have been grilled backstraps, but i was with shotgun and handgun. I was pissed but what else could i have done?
Btw, this 10 point non typical made the mistake of not bedding down the next morning.

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Old 04-09-2005, 09:28 PM
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Default RE: Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

Did you try a grunt ? At 50 yds I would have shot if the brush wasn't to thick. Me with my bow I would have SCREAMED!!! At least you got the 10 pnter to maintain some sanity.
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Old 04-09-2005, 09:44 PM
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Default RE: Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

I would have done the same thing you did. I have had it happen to me and i ussualy wait it out. I would try a few grunts but if he is bedding he might not be in the mood to get up. Even though you didnt get him you know that he beds there and maybe you can get inbetween him next time.

nice rack on the one you got

good luck!
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Old 04-10-2005, 02:33 AM
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Default RE: Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

Just wait ,heck you have all day and season to sit there
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Old 04-10-2005, 09:34 AM
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Default RE: Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

Conratulations on the buck that you killed! On the bedded buck,I would have also waited him out.Beyond that in order to know what to do would have been influenced by the time in the hunting season it was.Prerut,Rut,Postrut.The point of that being how aggressive you would be to try to coax him in.Like the one gentleman has already said basically you know where he bedded and if you don't spook him out of there you will be able to continue to hunt him.
I would have tried some soft grunting,some light rattling,doe bleating,and I would have spray misted some buck urine or doe in estrus urine in the air,again depending upon what part of the season you were in.a lot also would depend upon how much cover you had between yourself and the bedded buck.If there was very little cover I may not do any of those things,with the possible exception of misting.
For clarification with the grunting,rattling,and bleating.I would use those softly and to the degree that the buck response dictated.If the grunting got his attention and he got on his feet and started to head my way,I wouldn't grunt again unless he began to head away from me and even that would depend on how close he was to me.Each of the types of calling I would try would also be spaced out by at least a half hour.Bucks don't get big by being stupid!
The best part about all of this is that you shot a great deer and that hopefully the bedded buck is alive for you to go after this year!
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Old 04-10-2005, 10:48 AM
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Default RE: Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

I'm sorry,when the box comes up to respond in, it blocks what was originally written.You mentioned that you were in thick stuff.I also for some reason missed the part about the weapon you were using.
If the woods were quiet,either wet or quiet snow or in pines.If the buck was facing away from you,I may have decided to come down the tree.If I could work the wind right and it was quiet under foot with adequate cover.
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Old 04-10-2005, 01:51 PM
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Default RE: Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

I have had the pleasure of experiancing this multiple times in one particular stand. Usually a small buck or doe beds and I just sit and wait. A time or two i have had to leave once the deer didnt even spook. the othr times they have trotted away. This year however i had i nice 8pt bed down 45 yds away. It was bow season. I used the can and grunt sort of agressively and had his attention most of the time. When he got up he came my way and i got him with a 8 yd shot. The interesting thing is that when he bedded down he had been walking parralelle to my stand i mean he would have passed out of range but when he got up he came to me. It wasnt one specific call he got up on, as a matter of fact when he got up it had been 15 minutes since i last called. Cant say for sure it was the calling, but it makes me wonder.

WV
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Old 04-10-2005, 06:36 PM
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Default RE: Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

I think every situation is different, and no set rule really applies. One time I had this happen and I will tell you what I did. I was shotgun hunting on a mixed growth pine and oak ridge. Several deer came in at about 7:30 am, including a 130" 10 point. They all bedded down about 75 yards out. I waited for about a half an hour but they didn't move and it was COLD. I climbed down and started walking pretty quickly in their direction. My plan was to jump the buck, and after he started running, chase him until he stopped to take a look, at which point I would let him have it. Well, when I got to about 40 yards, the buck got up and took off. I started chasing him. After he ran about 100 yards, he stopped and turned around to see what was going on. It was the last thing he ever did. I dropped him in his tracks with a slug at 50 yards.
I'm not saying this would work all the time or anything. It's the only time I have tried it, and it worked out for me. I guess all I'm saying is that sometimes we need to think outside the box to get it done. I'm sure if anyone saw me chasing that deer they would have thought that I had flipped my lid. But then again, they could have helped with the drag too
MHH
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Old 04-10-2005, 11:19 PM
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Default RE: Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

I had a button buck bed down about 60 yds from me this past season. He was bedded there for about 2 hours and I wanted to get down because i wasn't seeing anything. So I decided to climb down, made it down all the way without him seeing me and even packed up my stand without him knowing! Probably made it down b/c it was so windy and he couldn't hear much. So, I didn't want to spook him (b/c he's a young buck) by just walking out. So I crawled to within about 20 yards of him and threw a candy bar! LOL It scared the crap out of him and he jumped up and took off.

I don't know if I should have gone that far in not spooking him, but if he decides to hang around that area for the next couple of years, then it might have been worth it!!
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Old 04-11-2005, 08:33 AM
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Default RE: Buck lays down by you, what do you do?

Nice!
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