I am a rookie bow hunter. i've never hunted anything in my life. just moved into a place last summer with 15 acres and backs up to over 200 acre of state land. Deer have been coming and going since we moved in. now that ive started to bait them they come in for a couple of days. now there gone not even a nibble on an apple. ive been going about 200 yards back in the woods. do i need to go farther? any help would be great. thanks
You may have left to much human scent behind. Leave it along for few days and try again. However, acorns are dropping like crazy and that a deer’s steak and potatoes. (Favorite food)! They might be hanging around those acorn trees. Make sure that you don’t wear regular shoes when entering the area you want to hunt. Rubber boots work awesome at concealing foot odor. Wear glove as well. And as always spray yourself down with scent eliminator. If the deer smell you in the woods they will stop visiting fast.
You may definitely have to go back further in the woods. Ideally, you would want to know what the deer are up to in your area. You will have to scout to figure it out. You may find that you'll have to hunt farther away from your bait pile also. Let them tell you where you should be.
you are doing everything wrong, just hang it up there is no hope...... Is there any oaks on the property, if the acorns are falling they are there. the deer have quit on my food plots and are now eating almost exclusivley acorns.
I have a camera hanging in a small, secluded apple orchard on the property I hunt. Its all maples surrounding this orchard, but the neighboring property is all oaks. I was getting pics of a great 11pt up until the acorns started dropping last weekend. Ever since then, I have yet to get a picture of any deer in that orchard. Keep an eye on your bait pile, but do a little scouting looking for acorns falling. Thats where youre going to find your deer right now. The bait pile will probably heat back up in a few weeks, but most of the activity on it is going to be nocturnal becasue the bait is not natural to that location.
One other thing you need to do is make sure you are not violating any rules by using bait where you are at. When I check my cams I go in and out with little human scent left. Now that the season is close I stay out of my spot for a good two weeks before opening day! They will come just give it time. It is still way early and rut they will be running like crazy!
If they were coming and going without you baiting, I say lay off the bait. Just let them return to their normal routine and ambush them.
What are you "bating" the deer with? And like was said above do they have any laws against that? For example in Indiana you have to have food plots cleaned up 2 weeks prior to the hunting season - thus if you decide to sit a deer stand on that plot it's probably not going to get much traffic at this point. That said, do you really want to shoot a deer while baiting it in? That's not called hunting, that's target practice. Learn the land, just sit in the tree and scout - you don't have to have a bow or gun in your hand to learn about the deer on your property. Just sit right on the property line as deep into the woods as you can and watch the movement. Walk your property and see if you can find any rub lines or anything of this nature, if they have a food source in the area then good chance the bucks have probably been rubbing some place in your area. They just don't hang out in the back woods all day long. Good luck!
