I'm looking for advice. This is my first fall hunting and I'm hunting public land and I've been hunting the same 80 acres for about a month and a half. I was scouting for a new spot to buy onSunday and came across this wooded saddle with a creek at the bottom of it. When I walked in I spooked two does that were eating and they ran off. I set up there today thinking that this would be a good spot (two hills, plenty of browse, the creek and the 2 does). I went in at 8 for an all day sit and came down at noon to scout for another spot for another day. When I did that I spooked a doe at the top of another saddle nearby. My question is if I spooked them while I'm scouting is it pointless to setup in the places where I found them? Thanks for your help!
No, deer will not leave a location because they saw a human there, make a note of your approach that spooked the deer and consider another way of entering the area that will not push deer out.
Its not pointless but you want to keep it to a minimum. If it happens a lot they will still come in the area but it will be in the dark. Deer are a prey animal and are always being bumped by something; coyotes, dogs and even cats. I have bumped deer and seen them circle back a couple hours later. Just keep it to a minimum and you should be fine. Worse case is you find a good spot for next year. Good luck.
For future reference, have your scouting done so you don't need to do it during season. I wouldn't worry about having kicked the does up. They will be back before long. Rather than setting up on where they were, I would look and try to determine where they come and go from and try to get setup on one of those paths.
I dunno how many deer are in the area, but even if you bumped 3, you still have a chance at all the other deer that might use the saddle. And it's not like they're gonna tell all their friends. As you probably know, saddles can be heavily used travel corridors to cross ridges. I'd consider the bumped deer as a good sign.
