Haralson 10-2: Busted!!!

[CharlesH]

Well this morning was a very nice morning to be in the woods, except for a few mistakes by me. It all started after i got settled in the stand, i had two deer start blowing at me about 50 yards to my left so i waited them out. Then at about 7:40 i start hearing what sounds like squirells playing and then i begin to think deer, well by that time i slowing turn my head to see antlers go behind a tree and a deer stop. I sit cautiously for a few minutes as the deer stands there. The deer then begins to move from my right to left so that it can come out into the food plot i'm over looking, but instead of not moving at all i barely move my right arm to try to get my release on the bow and the next sounds i hear are of the buck bounding into the woods :whip: :banginghe :banginghe . I was busted, and how stupid could i be, i just needed to sit still until he went by but i moved....oh well he didn't go far till he stopped and i believe he will be back; no snorts or stomps, i just think he got startled......i hope at least. I made out three good points just on his right side in a couple of seconds and the rack was very dark.

[robertyb]

He will be extremely cautious next time he approches your stand site even if he did not know what you were. I rarely see the same buck twice in a season at the same location if I have spooked him in the least. If you are in a climber I would move off the food plot and hunt a trail 50 to 100 yards off the plot to catch him unaware. If you are in a fixed site stand hunt the evenings and you will see him sooner or later at last light.

[CharlesH]

Thanks for the advice, i am planning on hunting him during the week this week probably thursday and i'm going to stay all day; I have a stand in another location, do you think i should hunt it in the morning and then go to this one in the afternoon if the conditions are right?

[HuntinTom]

Stick with him bro - You didn't get that avatar buck without having some "stick-to-it-ness" in ya' :)

[Jim Thompson]

Oh well, sounds exciting anyway. Probably move trees too.

Jim

[robertyb]

I would definitely hunt a different stand location in the morning, at least a different tree 50 or so yards from where you got busted. My experience is that once seen in a tree you are unlikely to ever get a shot at that buck again at that location. Now this is not set in stone as I have seen the same buck later in the evening on food plots. But they always enter at a different location from where they were spooked. I try to not hunt the same stand over two times in a row and not over three or four times a month. For a really big buck your best bet is shooting him the very 1st time on stand in a new location. They pick up on your presence very fast and will avoid that area until after dark. As careful as you might think you are you WILL leave human scent in an area. Move, keep them guessing, do not let the deer pattern you.

[CharlesH]

Thanks for the information, i will give it a try, i've got a tree that i can put my climber on that is a litter farther from the food plot and is located toward where the deer seem to be coming from. I will not give up on this one, cause i know that there's a really big deer in the area.