I gotta vent some here I'm a little cranky after having been "busted" by mature does twice in my last 5 sits. The kicker, is that to the best of my knowledge, neither of them were down wind of me. But they both got to within 30 yds & just started looking for something that wasn't right. Oddly enough too, they both seemed to look at where my trail in to my tree was. But they weren't downwind of that either & they were between 10-25 yds from my path. I am puzzled. And it kind of ticks me off because I haven't been busted like this in years, and it happens twice in a few days. Then to add insult to injury after the 2nd instance, I had another big doe come in and was 2 steps from being shot, until she 180'd and walked away(but not because she spooked, she just turned & went the other way) He fawn almost caught an arrow out of spite after that move :D Still puzzled as to what is going on here?
Are you wearing an open pattern with a huge tree trunk behind you? What got me in trouble a few years ago was wearing open pattern with a huge tree trunk behind me. I think you get reverse blobbed. I had a doe walk around the tree to look at me.
Are they patterning you Ryan? What I mean is are they scent checking your trail after dark, walking to your tree, smelling where your coming in and out of the woods and when they approach your area even if they dont have the wind are they checking for you since they have smelled you in there from scent checking your pathways.
Are you in the same tree? It only takes once for a smart deer to pinpoint a tree where something scary is hiding out. Move 50 yards up the trail and kill them. That's what I would do.
They got a text from the deer at Robs place. "Be on the lookout for men in trees flinging sharp sticks!! " :D
All it takes in this instance is moving 5 maybe 10yds to fool the old nannys...they will be looking at your tree while you lace em LOL:D
An open pattern and a large tree behind you IMO will cause a reverse blob effect. I have 2 setups that a deer has never seen me in, and I have hunted both of them for 20+ years. I had a setup in 2008 where the damn deer picked me off all the time. Once I got caught moving and not that much. That was the deer that walked around the tree twice to get a better look at me. I had a deer pick me off with a large, very large tree behind me. I was wearing an open pattern, now the deer did not bust out of there, but she knew something was in the tree. I was 25 ft up. Walk around the tree and check the line of sight where they busted you. I bet you stand out.
Wow Ryan, that sucks.... yesterday I hurried to my stand (didn't take a scent killer shower) and forgot my Scent Killer spray. I had zero scent control and at 5:08 I had a group of doe and fawn sneek up behind me. They were standing roughly 3 yards behind me and moved to my left at around 15 yards... at this point they were directly down-wind of me. I figured one of the old does was gonna bust me, but they spent 45 minutes within 35 yards of me and never had a clue I was there. I was only about 14 feet off the ground at the time too.
i sit on the ground when i hunt with the open pattern realtree camo in front of bushes and such. i get deer within 20 or thirty yards from me and they dont notice me unless theyre walking straight at me. im on the camo is more important than height side. im sure it can go other ways for other setups tho...
What's important is the setup, it dictates everything IMO. I agree it's about movement, but if you match your background you can get away with more movement. Every setup i hang or from the ground I take notice of what is around and behind me. I try to cover all angles. I am willing to bet when Rybo looks at where these deer are picking them off he'll see something. I had a tree I kept getting nailed on in 2007, it was aweful.
Clean your boots off, could be leaving scent Try some Harmon Deer Scents Interdigital as a cover scent around your area and on your boots when you get close to your stand. Seems to calm deer down in my experiences using it. http://www.harmondeerscents.com/products.aspx?cat=3
I think this and what Troy said is what is going on. Switch locations by a little bit and see what happens.
Both instances were the 1st sit in that particular tree. The 1st doe eventually did see me, but she was on alert for 15 minutes or so before that & kept throwing her nose in the air trying to wind me. Eventually her nose in the air pointed my direction from 16-17 yds & she saw me. The 2nd doe, I don't believe ever saw me. She was in some thick brush and as best I could tell never looked my way. She was looking out in front of me. She started snorting 4-5 times but not running. Then she took a couple hops & was gone. Neither doe crossed my trail, but other deer did & never blinked. It was like they came in looking to bust something & I have no idea what set them off.
That is strange Ryan... is there any chance it was from something/somebody else that spooked the deer? Tonight I had 10 doe within 30 yards of me again without ever going on alert... this is after crossing my path several times and going in and out of my down-wind.
I hunt from fixed stands. I have at last count 19 of them. Most of them I have been hunting in for over 10 years. I bring this up only to reiterate that I hunt in many different set ups on a regular basis and over the years find the trees that "camoflauge" me into the surroundings and I "cull" those that leave me "naked". The tallest stand I have is 18' and most are in the 15-16' foot range and one as low as 12'. Therefore, I have no opinion/experience on the difference in these heights compared to 25'. I do however have an opinion on camo and what gets you busted. It is the amount of (or lack thereof) background/foreground branches/leaves/other trees, etc that determines whether you get busted or not. A three pronged tree or similar work the best in our country if you can find one. I know a lot of you are going to disagree, but if you have the right tree as far as backdrop, it makes no difference what camo, if any camo at all, you are wearing. If it is the wrong tree, there is not a camo pattern out there that is going to "blend" you in. I hunt in solid shirts/pants on a regular basis and have no problem as long as I am in the right tree.
