UPDATE Post 17..15 ft away and no F***ing rifle!

Wrench75

Wrench75

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So far this season I haven't seen a single deer, until today. I had all but given up on there being any deer in my area. For whatever reason they just haven't been showing themselves in my yard this year. Even so I still have some vanilla/maple syrup/salt bait out there to try and draw them in to my yard. The woods behind my house smell great. [laugh]

So after many disappointing days. I went out this afternoon w/ some vanilla and water in a spray bottle to soak down the area that I was fairly certain is a traveled path. I work my way to the back of my property where it borders over a sq mile of woods. Now I'm standing at my property line spraying away for the past 5 min or so when, I hear something. Something big.

I look to the left and there it is. Probably one of the biggest bucks I could ever hope to pull out of SC. We don't generally have the big bruisers of up north. This one was huge. Probably a good 200 lb., and 15 feet away. So there I am standing there with a spray bottle in one hand and my dick in the other, STS.

He looked at me for about 10 sec then casually hopped over a downed tree and walked away. I went back to the house and grabbed my rifle and headed back out to the same spot. He hadn't gone far, I could hear him moving around. We played cat and mouse in the woods for about an hour before I didn't hear him any more. But I know he's there. There is way too much dead debris and leaves back there for a good stalk. Even the cats make noise moving over it.

I did however learn a lot today. This is my first year hunting. The internet and NES my only mentors. But today I entered their world for the first time. While I was stalking him I started noticing things. Things I normally miss, not seeing the forest for the trees, and all that.

Some of it was obvious like the glaring deep tracks in the clay where the ground was clear. But the rest not so much. Like snapped or bent vines and thorns where they move through the brush. What I am convinced are paths they created in the long grass where it just doesn't look like the surrounding areas. I saw my first "scrape" today. A conspicuously clear circular area near a few snapped off saplings that looked completely out of place w/ all the tall grass right around it. After being in there for a while and looking, I mean really looking. I finally started to put it all together and on the way back out I realized that when it all started I was practically standing in his bedding area! [shocked]

It is amazing how many times you can look at something and not "see" it. After an hour tracking this guy it was like someone just took the blinders off. All of a sudden there it all was, like it was all glowing. The tracks, the paths, the signs. As I walked the paths, his paths. I started to realize they all seemed to head to the access road or back toward my property. twisting and turning, but ultimately all leading back to where it all began. What I then realized on my way out of the woods was his bedding area. Five feet from where this story began.

So now I know he is out there, along with the does who's tracks I saw also. I've been completely re-motivated. But more importantly and the point of all of this, other than sharing is...

Today, for the first time, I have seen through a hunter's eyes! [smile]

I'm going to take a few pics and see what you guys think, but I'm pretty damned sure I have his beading area located. If so, it is only a matter of time...
 
15 ft away and no F***ing rifle!

Im pretty sure its not his bedding area anymore if hes smart youll never see him again

Im surprised you are in sc and havent seen a deer. I thought there were a lot down there.

Forget the spray. Use corn or a baitblock or or apples. Set a treestand and a camera to verify time. Bait does nothing if they are noctournal.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Done that, it's ok.
i was walking back to my truck off my stand about a quarter mile in the dark,
with my arrows quivered on my bow.
I was dragging doe pee on a tassel behind me and being A little crunchy walking out,
when out ninty degrees from the path, twenty ft. Away, comes an eight pointer.
too late to legally shoot, and he probably was a little disappointed I wasn't the doe in heat he was smelling!
so off he went , and my lesson learned was stay in the stand till dark , that's when the timid ones stir.
 
Mark from MA said:
Im pretty sure its not his bedding area anymore if hes smart youll never see him again

Im surprised you are in sc and havent seen a deer. I thought there were a lot down there.

Forget the spray. Use corn or a baitblock or or apples. Set a treestand and a camera to verify time. Bait does nothing if they are noctournal.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Oh I've seen deer. Just not the ones that were coming out and shitting in my yard last season. I see them all the time crossing the road or in other fields in my area. We have a huge coyote problem and it is decimating our deer pop. That is why there are no restrictions on hunting yotes. Open season 24/7/365 no bag limit.

I wasn't expecting to see any at all given the time of day. It was 1pm. I went out to throw some scent out there to hopefully draw one in to my yard later in the day when I expected they would be moving around. I think the only reason I saw him at that time of day was because we had a cold front coming in and he was out eating ahead of it. It was a good one. It went from a high of ~72 that day to a high in the 40s the next day.

I went out and got a bag of Roasted Corn Freaks bait the next day. I put it out near where I was standing that day. I sat out all night and was never touched. I haven't seen him since. Here is what I think is screwing me. See the pic.

yard.jpg

The address marker is the half way point in my yard. Between the 2 green lines is a clear area about 15 ft wide at the property line. The red circle is the bedding area, there are a few more along the line. The area past my yard was cleared years ago then allowed to regrow. So it is filled with roughly 10 yr old saplings, brush and tall wheat-like grass.

If you walk out to the dirt road and clearing you can see in the upper portion of the pic you can't take one step without seeing 10 tracks. Literally. It's like a ****ing deer highway. There are tracks everywhere. Leading from the road to paths through the brush, or coming out to the road. Scrapes, rubs, etc... Plenty of fresh tracks. (No dry edges around them in the clay)

No one drives that road, at all. Every once in a great while I'll hear a 4 wheeler back there but that is it. The owner bought the land from a contractor who decided not to develop it when the market started going south. He bought it specifically so it would not be developed and could regrow. It has been untouched since. That is where I need to be.

Given the choice between coming out in to the neighborhood, a dog heavy neighborhood. Or going out to the deer highway. It seems like a no-brainer. From the green lines to the "hwy" is about 50 yards. Judging by the paths, and what appear to be several bedding areas near my property line, they are going out to the hwy to do their eating an doe chasing. Then coming back near my yard to bed down. Obviously the same is happening on the other side of the hwy.

I have just been trying to use sweet stuff to draw one on to my property so I can take a shot at it. I'm not worried about it running in to the woods. In SC you don't need the permission of a land owner to go on to their property to collect a deer you shot. But I won't shoot it while it is on their property. I'm not going to have my first deer, or any other for that matter, taken by poaching. Even if it is only by a matter of 2 feet. My neighbor is getting me the contact info for the guy who owns the land so I can get his permission to hunt it.

If all goes well with that, I'll be setting up a stand or blind somewhere out there. Which should drastically improve my odds.
 
W.E.C said:
Done that, it's ok.
i was walking back to my truck off my stand about a quarter mile in the dark,
with my arrows quivered on my bow.
I was dragging doe pee on a tassel behind me and being A little crunchy walking out,
when out ninty degrees from the path, twenty ft. Away, comes an eight pointer.
too late to legally shoot, and he probably was a little disappointed I wasn't the doe in heat he was smelling!
so off he went , and my lesson learned was stay in the stand till dark , that's when the timid ones stir.
Click to expand...

So the obvious question is.....

why the F are you laying a scent trail on your way out in the dark?????
 
Walking his trails left your scent everywhere. Now he will bed elsewhere unless the ladies drag his ass out to your place. The path that is highly visible is not the one 15 or 20 yards away that he actually uses.
 
Fixxah said:
Walking his trails left your scent everywhere. Now he will bed elsewhere unless the ladies drag his ass out to your place. The path that is highly visible is not the one 15 or 20 yards away that he actually uses.
Click to expand...

I had scent-block on my boots and cloths and never came close to breaking any kind of sweat. I'm sure I left some but not like I just walked in off the street. When I saw him he was on one of the "highly visible" paths. Picture a forest growing in a wheat field. Other than on the dirt road, there isn't 2in of ground that isn't covered in 3 ft tall tan colored grass. Or with brush an thorny vines. We have Tarzan quality vines down here.

Nothing can move through there without leaving "highly visible" paths. The rabbits leave noticeable trails when they move through it. We have a shitload of rabbit here. I probably saw 20 while I was walking around back there. They decimated our flower garden this summer.

He was right in the middle of one of the paths leading to/from the bedding area. Off the paths is dense enough that when he left he didn't run. He had to jump up over some brush and debris just to take the first step off the path. Then I could hear him moving slowly circling one way or another.

I'm thinking of getting some doe urine or estrus scent to see if that will motivate him to come out in the area. If he is even still alive. I hear plenty of single, high caliber rifle shots back there. Including one later that afternoon. There are definitely at least a few people hunting those woods. Every time I hear one I head out, if I'm not already, just in case someones shot drives any my way.
 
So I just came back in after loosing the light. He, or someone, is still in the area. During the last 20 min out there I could hear something moving off to my left. I'm on the ground. So I didn't have a good vantage through the brush in the fading light. I could tell by the sound it was big and moving slowly. I stayed out until I was convinced it wasn't getting any closer and I couldn't see well enough to take a shot either way. For the last 5 min the sound hadn't moved. Sounded like it had bedded down and all I heard were little rustles.

I knew there was no way out quietly, dry leaves everywhere. As soon as I took my third step I heard him get up take a few steps and then a clear thump. Either he jumped over something or maybe a warning stomp. Once he started moving I could tell he was just on the other side of some brush from me.

I was right near where I was standing when I last saw him. Crouched and silent in some brush where I could see what I have been referring to as his bedding area. As it turns out he had stopped 20-30 ft. to the left of that area. So now I have narrowed down where he beds and what time he comes around. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I have any trees I can get in to with a view of that area.

I'm really surprised the bait I put out sat there untouched until the rain washed it away. Since I know they come within 30 ft of it, probably nightly.

He may not know it yet, but my dog will be gnawing on his bones sooner or later.
 
Wrench75 said:
I knew there was no way out quietly, dry leaves everywhere. As soon as I took my third step I heard him get up take a few steps and then a clear thump. Either he jumped over something or maybe a warning stomp. Once he started moving I could tell he was just on the other side of some brush from me.
Click to expand...

You're educating him.

If there are too many leaves for any kind of spot and stalk, you need to be in a tree stand.
 

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