I couldn't think of a more descriptive title but how/what do you do when it's dark and time to get down but there are still deer around? Waiting until they leave isn't really an option because my trail cam says that they're staying nearly all night. Any ideas to scare them away so you can get down without spooking them too bad?
Tough question I don't really have a answer to that could apply to any situation. my best advice would be get out as quietly as possible and try your hardest to get to the ground before getting spotted so they aren't associating you with the your treestand. if you hunt close to home or even a fellow hunter, have someone walk to you and scare the deer from the ground, then again you're not educating the deer and letting them know you might be in the treestand. The worst thing to do is have the deer actually watch you climb down your stand and completely give up your location, but I understand in some situations that's the only option.
I've never found a good way, and it drives me crazy. Can go all day without seeing a thing and in walks a doe and fawn right when you are getting ready to leave and you can't get them to leave. I've knocked two arrows together (when they were aluminum), I've flashed my lighter (when I smoked). I've done everything short of shooting them without luck. Might be worth spending the money to get one of the electronic callers with a remote set to coyote or something. Set it away from your stand and trigger it if the situations arises.
We used to start up the car and pull over that direction if one of us could get out. Now all the kids are in college I am gonna hope my Onstar app works to blow the horn. Thats my plan at the moment.
I have this exact issue on one of the farms. The only way to access it from the top of a hat/clover field. My stand is in the thicket at the bottom of the field. Last year a few times I had up to 11 deer in the field after dark and I was still in the tree waiting to come down. I got tired of waiting so I just climbed down and walked the farthest field edge I could. They stopped, looked at me, and went back to feeding.
If your hunting early field edge setup I have my son drive my truck right up o the tree I am in,are fields have roads around the edge. Same thing going in just have your hunting partner drop you off right under the stand. One of my best spots has a creek right behind the stand and I walk thru the water and step right up to the tree next to a large beanfield super stand site.
hum.......take a predator call with you and make the "coyote howl" sound if you have that problem and maybe they will run off and believe it was just a yote out there and never know it was you........never tried it and just now thought of it....lol but maybe it will work????
I slap the side of my leg and hoot like an owl! A friend taught me that. Works every time! They leave but don't blow at me. I check the cam from that night and they are back less than hour afterwards.
That is interesting. Gonna have to try that. Thx! The coyote call tactic has been used on an episode of BHOD a while back. I think it worked.
I have the same issue at my in-laws place. My stand is in a hedge tree overlooking the foodplot. I've left the low hanging limbs just to help cover me when I get down. Problem is that there are deer behind me sometimes that I don't see until I get down. If they aren't behind me I can get down and slip in to the ditch and get back to the house. We haven't hunted our farm yet to know how this is going to work yet. Hopefully the wife can send the boys out to help me escape.
Interesting thoughts. I would be very careful with coyote call.. if deer habituate a predator to the area, you, or a coyote, they will be very wary of coming back and that defeats the purpose and taints your spot. Also, we need to be very honest with ourselves as to why we are hunting that spot. If we always boot deer, then we are defeating the purpose. So hunt a spot you can maybe intercept deer, but not be camped out right at there evening/night destination when you need to get down (fields,etc.). You have to think about entry/exit stealth more than anything. You can get in without them detecting you, great, but if you can't get out that's only a good spot once or twice. www.soundbarrierhunting.com
I'm not sure what to do at the moment. Maybe I'll try what Sam said.. Last year when I was in the particular situation, I threw down my water bottle, hat, my release...they just looked at it. I have a e-call, a Foxpro but I'm not too sure about playing the coyote vocals. As Sound Barrier said, they might not like that too much. Who knows, maybe I'll shoot one of the big ones I'm after and not have to worry about the does.
Like others said with the yote howl but i just bark with my own mouth. Better for the deer to think a dog is present than a human.
Always a dilemma but I've noticed that if I wait until it's pitch black, I have pretty good luck. I walk in and out with a red light head lamp. They don't seem to mind it if I take my time and walk slowly stopping occasionally for a minute. They look my direction and then go back to grazing. Not until I step on something that is loud do they bust out of the field. Advantage of it being so dark is that they don't correlate a certain thing/person to a sound so they seem to be back in the field rather soon.
I used to text the kids to come up to the food plot to push them off but they are off to college now. Last season I developed a super slow quiet climb down it worked, as long as you don't see the deer bound away tails up you are ok.
I have a predator call on my phone. It has all sorts of noises that will get them to move out of the area. Usually they just trot off.
I sometimes shake the limb as I am hooting like an owl and then slap the side of my leg. Either way works really well for me.
Well, to answer the question that started this thread, tonight when it was time to get down, I had 4 does, 2 fawns and a little buck surrounding my stand. I waited until it was dark and hooted like an owl like SharpEyeSam said and it worked flawlessly. They just trotted off, no blowing or indications that they thought it was a human. I figured I would answer back and let everyone know how it worked so you know the next time your in that position.
Tried this yesterday. The spike under my stand just looked at me and then went back to eating. Tried throwing sticks at him and shaking limb, barking like a dog. still kept eating. Finally just climbed down. That idiot stood there and watched me walk right by him.
