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Stay out? Am I pressuring? #6004910 11/01/15 07:40 PM
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I had been seeing these two nice bucks that I had posted here on camera regularly, mostly at night but occasionally during the day .. I have been spending ALOT of time on the stand, but taking extreme scent tactics every time I go in . The two bucks have basically vanished off camera. Haven't seen either in a few weeks . Every tin I am hunting I am seeing 10 deer a day and some different bucks but of course not the shooters . Do you think my scent is pressuring them out of the area? Or it's simply they aren't making an appearance? Just keep sitting or stay out for a little while and see if they come back?

Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6004957 11/01/15 08:19 PM
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They are looking for the ladies. They will wander back thru your area but may not stay long unless you have does in your area.





Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6004960 11/01/15 08:21 PM
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No amount of "scent tactics" will ever eliminate your scent.

They are probably roaming and checking the ladies.


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Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: 5Redman8] #6005025 11/01/15 09:15 PM
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Originally Posted By: 5Redman8
No amount of "scent tactics" will ever eliminate your scent.


I remember reading two separate articles about the same study a grad student did on hunting pressure one a large lease in the Carolinas. It was a very exhaustive study that included over a 100 stand sites with tight controls. I'll see if I can dig it up, but the results clearly showed that deer quickly respond to human presence at site sights no matter how hard you try to avoid detection. He found that older bucks would avoid a stand after a single occurrence of detecting a hunter, and a significant idle period with no human activity before they returned.

Of course you will find no shortage of those who defend their routines by saying deer get used to them driving all over their leases and parking their ATV's next to their stand sites. And during the rut when a buck is so sex crazed that it might chase a doe through the middle of their camp, they luck out and take a trophy. However, the old saying "They don't get old being stupid" is as true today as it was at any time in the past.

"More than 100 stands are spread throughout the property. For each one, McCoy designated a visual danger zone of 100-150 yards around it, meaning bucks that moved into the danger zone put themselves at risk of being harvested. At any one time hunters occupied 20 to 30 different stands. Each hunter was dropped off at their stand before dawn, stayed until lunch, and then returned to their stand in the afternoon.

By the end of the study, McCoy found that each adult (2½ years of age and older) buck’s location averaged 55 yards farther from stands than at the beginning of the study period, demonstrating that adult bucks adjusted their movements in response to hunting pressure. Yearling bucks did not move farther away from stands as the season progressed. McCoy noted that yearlings were protected from hunter harvest, so they didn’t need to move farther from stands as the season progressed.

If a buck stayed out of the danger zone of a stand, McCoy surmised the deer was responding to hunting pressure. He was surprised to learn how quickly bucks would react to the presence of hunters.

“After a hunter had sat in a stand just one time, bucks would stay out of the danger zone of that stand for the next three full days, meaning they wouldn’t return, on average, until the fourth day,” explained McCoy. “This finding held regardless of whether the hunter had shot at a deer. Just occupying the stand made bucks stay clear of it for several days.”

Another interesting finding was that the age of each buck did not affect the likelihood of it staying clear of danger zones. In other words, younger deer weren’t more likely to move through danger zones than older bucks, dispelling the long-held assumption that mature bucks are more intelligent than younger bucks (see sidebar).

Not surprisingly, use of bait sites during daylight hours decreased as the hunting season progressed. At the beginning of the season, half of all visits to bait sites occurred during shooting hours. By the end of the season, only one in four visits were made during daylight hours."

http://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/big-game-hunting/how-much-hunting-pressure-is-too-much-for-deer/


"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: DLALLDER] #6005130 11/01/15 10:26 PM
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Originally Posted By: DLALLDER
They are looking for the ladies. They will wander back thru your area but may not stay long unless you have does in your area.


Oh yea, I've got 10-15 does that are at my feeder regularly

Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6005135 11/01/15 10:28 PM
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Originally Posted By: jcarroll3
Originally Posted By: DLALLDER
They are looking for the ladies. They will wander back thru your area but may not stay long unless you have does in your area.


Oh yea, I've got 10-15 does that are at my feeder regularly


Best scent you can have on your place. Wont be the 1st time "doe perfume" pulls in a twisted mental buck.


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Dennis

Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6005159 11/01/15 10:49 PM
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It was just weird how they seemed to disappear

Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6005161 11/01/15 10:49 PM
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I reckon I will just keep on sitting

Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6005191 11/01/15 11:07 PM
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Originally Posted By: jcarroll3
It was just weird how they seemed to disappear


A season never passes in East Texas when you won't hear someone make that comment three weeks into the general season.


"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6005215 11/01/15 11:16 PM
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Every Year we always have certain bucks that will disappear from our cameras. But we always seem to see them again later in the season while hunting. I honestly don't believe the all the mature bucks even visit a feeder. I put a feeder out for the does and the does are what bring me the bucks. So I wouldn't worry about it too much I bet they are just busy.

Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6005568 11/02/15 02:04 AM
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If you have the ladies, they will come back around!

Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: Texas Dan] #6006386 11/02/15 05:08 PM
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Originally Posted By: Texas Dan
Originally Posted By: jcarroll3
It was just weird how they seemed to disappear


A season never passes in East Texas when you won't hear someone make that comment three weeks into the general season.


I know .... dang you deep Piney Woods Thickets

Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6006446 11/02/15 05:40 PM
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What has happened, happens a lot at the first of the season. You have changed your times you are out on the lease to before daylight and after dark. I have seen this many times where people change their patterns on a ranch and it will change deer movement. If the does are still around the bucks will be there.


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Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6006602 11/02/15 06:47 PM
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Pulled camera card.

He was there night before last at 11 o'clock, and then last night at 9 o'clock, and 2 oclock. He also is taking the time to stop and work the mock scrapes I made. Should I stay out and let him get comfortable in the evenings? Or is he likely to make a middle of the day appearance

Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6006733 11/02/15 07:51 PM
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Just try not to bump any deer entering or leaving the stand. Do not leave till all deer are gone in the evenings is the most critical IME.


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Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6006859 11/02/15 09:10 PM
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Originally Posted By: jcarroll3
Pulled camera card.

He was there night before last at 11 o'clock, and then last night at 9 o'clock, and 2 oclock. He also is taking the time to stop and work the mock scrapes I made. Should I stay out and let him get comfortable in the evenings? Or is he likely to make a middle of the day appearance


Your observations follow the results of the study in the article I posted earlier, the study that tracked the movements of some 30+ bucks to see if they altered their movements in response to hunting pressure. And hunting pressure was nothing more than a hunter occupying one of 100+ stands sites during a morning or evening hunt during the study period. You will find another article that covers this same study in the current (November) issue of Deer and Deer Hunting magazine.

Now to answer your question, as others have noted, he may follow a doe to your feeder in the daytime IF she is in estrus and will soon accept him. This could happen at ANY time of the day or night, meaning that if you can, hunt all day during the rut if you're up to it. As soon as you see a significant drop in the number of deer at your feeder, give it a break for several days before going back. And if your camera shows you he's hitting the feeder only at night outside the rut, I would suggest a new setup along one of his approaching routes about 100 yards or so from your feeder. You may get lucky and catch him "staging" before hitting the feeder after dark.


"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6006913 11/02/15 09:44 PM
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You also have to consider hunters on the surrounding properties coming in the woods gearing up for the deer season. The older bucks are wise enough to know what is happening and are becoming more cautious, they are also making the rounds and looking for those ladies and may frequent your area much less often. I have hunted bucks in the past that came thru my area every 3 or 4 days with no set time or pattern, just roaming and never came thru while I was sitting my stand.




Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6006920 11/02/15 09:47 PM
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Same thing happened to me this year. I've only been out once for bow season, so there is no hunting pressure on my parcel. But I had 2 big mature 10 & 12 point buck showing up consistently through summer and september. Then all of the sudden they're gone, no where to be seen on camera. I do have a few new bucks showing up but not these two.

Similar thing happened last year, then late December (after I've been ran ragged and stopped really hunting), the big buck I had hoped to harvest shows back up. I have plenty of does on the property but for some reason these old guys roam off for 3 months. Fortunately where I hunt, there's not a lot of hunting pressure. Residential area to west and south, farms north and east a few hunters.

Re: Stay out? Am I pressuring? [Re: jcarroll3] #6007148 11/03/15 12:03 AM
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A few more thoughts...

Mature bucks will often "cruise" for a hot doe by passing near feeders and food plots on the downwind side and safely back in the brush where you can't see them. They will also learn the location of fixed stand sites and move through a tract like a robber avoiding detection. I killed my largest Mississippi buck less than hour after setting up a ladder in a spot where I thought a buck would pass to reach bedding cover. Although he came from the direction of a food plot, a fellow hunter watching the food plot never saw him. In fact, every hunter on the lease claimed to have never seen him.

Here's a photo of that buck for those interested.



"Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons."
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