A Pretty Good 3 yo Putting On A Show For The Decoy

Here is some footage that Cindy shot in November of '13 while I was hunting, we were on a plot where we have had really good luck calling and using a decoy, I actually killed my best buck ever from this stand in 2012 with the same setup.

I had rattled and grunted this day and about 15 minutes later there was a buck working up the creek bottom toward us and Cindy was trying to get some footage of him, I looked down the plot and saw this buck in the video pop out of the pines about 150 yards away and he was already puffed up so I bumped Cindy and told her to get the camera on him because this may get good. We had never seen this buck or had any pictures of him, I guess he was out cruising for does. He spent over 8 minutes around the decoy and it was a great show, he never acted like he smelled anything which was odd because I forgot my gloves and no scent spray so I carried the decoy in with my bare hands and didn't spray anything on it after set it up.

Those special days in November when the bucks act just absolutely clueless and only have one thing on there mind are few and far between but it sure is fun when you are in the woods to witness it and even better if it gets captured on camera! Watch it in 1080 and the footage looks better.

Great footage.

Foaming at the mouth and all! Have you seen him since this?

Awesome footage!

Well done...

That was a hoot. I've never seen anything like that live in person, but that Southern whitetail seemed well mannered with good sportsmanship in fighting only if the opponent will turn & face him for the showdown instead of a blind siding charge. I'm still surprised & shocked he didn't knock the decoy over. Good job filming by Cindy, too.

Thx for posting.

that was a really cool video. Thanks for sharing. Yall pass on bucks most hunters would love to shoot lol That joker had a huge body.

That was pretty cool. Little fellas just couldn't make heads or tails of that plastic statue. LOL

SOlid 3.5 yr old. I bet he was nice in 2014.

Thanks guys, he was a very cooperative subject!

BlackEagle said:

Great footage.

Foaming at the mouth and all! Have you seen him since this?

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We saw him again a few days later in some white oaks a few hundred yards from that plot and another one of our members saw him in the same area too and then he went poof, didn't see him at all in '14.

BornToHuntAndFish said:

That was a hoot. I've never seen anything like that live in person, but that Southern whitetail seemed well mannered with good sportsmanship in fighting only if the opponent will turn & face him for the showdown instead of a blind siding charge. I'm still surprised & shocked he didn't knock the decoy over. Good job filming by Cindy, too.

Thx for posting.

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GTHunter007 said:

That was pretty cool. Little fellas just couldn't make heads or tails of that plastic statue. LOL

SOlid 3.5 yr old. I bet he was nice in 2014.

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He just kept looking at the decoy like will you move or run or something!! Lol
I don't know what happened to him on '14, we were thinking that he may be in the shooter list, maybe he will shows himself this year.

bulldawgborn said:

that was a really cool video. Thanks for sharing. Yall pass on bucks most hunters would love to shoot lol That joker had a huge body.

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Sometimes I wonder if we pass too many bucks but I always tell myself, you can't kill a really good buck if you kill him when he is a decent buck...

You don't shoot 110" deer. We always have atleast 3 deer a season that size that we hope to see the next season and they disappear.

Cool video. I guess decoys do work in Ga!

Cool video

He kept looking at the decoy like, "Dude!?!"

I thought he was gonna charge it a couple times after he pawed the ground and took a few steps back.

davidhelmly said:

Sometimes I wonder if we pass too many bucks but I always tell myself, you can't kill a really good buck if you kill him when he is a decent buck...

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Yes Sir, you got that right. He definitely won't get no bigger with his lungs deflated. Imagine the bucks that would be killed in Georgia if everybody let those 110" to 115" 3 year olds walk...I've only benn able to do it a few times myself.

bulldawgborn said:

Yes Sir, you got that right. He definitely won't get no bigger with his lungs deflated. Imagine the bucks that would be killed in Georgia if everybody let those 110" to 115" 3 year olds walk...I've only benn able to do it a few times myself.

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On the other side of that same coin...I bet more 5 and 6 yr old 110-120" deer get passed than people realize. Only a small percentage of bucks have the potential to reach 150+, even smaller 170+. The majority never crack 130 if allowed to see 6 years old. But you are right...a 115"+ 3 year old is exactly the deer you pass if you want a stud.

I don't have the study to quote right now, but if memory serves me, it was less than 20% of bucks on the King Ranch in Texas that ended up passing 150" of bone at maturity. Mix that with the trigger fingers of GA hunters and the chances of a buck getting that big are quite low. No odubt letting bucks live would be beneficial to raising opportunity to encounter a 150"+ deer, but someone has to be shooting those 120" 6 year olds. And by the age judgments and rack estimates on this site, chances of this going over smoothly are slim to none.

I don't have the study to quote right now, but if memory serves me, it was less than 20% of bucks on the King Ranch in Texas that ended up passing 150" of bone at maturity. Mix that with the trigger fingers of GA hunters and the chances of a buck getting that big are quite low. No odubt letting bucks live would be beneficial to raising opportunity to encounter a 150"+ deer, but someone has to be shooting those 120" 6 year olds. And by the age judgments and rack estimates on this site, chances of this going over smoothly are slim to none. [/QUOTE]

What makes you say that GT... ???

I killed the 8 pt in my avatar this year and he scored 121. He was 5.5 years old and I let him go two years ago as a 100 inch deer. He was never going to reach 130 in my opinion. He did not get any wider at all from 3.5 to 5.5. His mass improved and his tine length increased maybe 20 inches in those two extra years. He weighed 194 lbs which is pretty good for our area of Georgia. He was a mature buck and I was proud of him but genetics play a large role in horn growth.