Bringing Bucks In

[dcamacho13]

I am new to bow hunting and I have realized that there are many more factors to consider than during gun season. I have some questions for anyone willing spare some time and information in order to help me have a successful season. Any info would help me out a ton. So, what type of strategies are used to bring bucks within range (20 yds.) in the early season? I have only studied the rut and have not come across much information about how people hunt before it happens.

[DouglasSpear]

Trails End #307 seems to work pretty good. Just put it on a scent strip and hang it on a tree branch about 6-7 feet high.

[dcamacho13]

Thanks for the info, but this leads me to another question. I hunt on about 100 acres of land, and there are about 8 guys total who bow hunt. Now if every guy places two scent lures around them to try and bring the bucks in, that's 16 scent sticks in the area. The closest guy to me is about 30-35 yards away. To me, it seems like the deer are going to be overloaded with stink and they will be scared off. I was wondering if it would be best to just spray some scent killer on me and use the the other guy's lures to my advantage. Hopefully the other deer will want to avoid this and walk AROUND those areas, right into my sight! Any opinions?

[Jaypo]

Just an opinion, but I think having somebody 35 yards from you is a little too close. I mean, 35 yards is a pretty easy bow shot, so if he is 35 yards from you, you can take a deer from under his stand! If you are hunting 100 acres, that is roughly 695 square yards of property. It's big enough to hunt on, but if it is surrounded by other deer friendly habitat, the deer will simply vacate your area if they have too much pressure on them. And if there are stands every 35 yards with hunters going to and from them, they probably will. Especially the big, old bucks.

[DouglasSpear]

Thanks for the info, but this leads me to another question. I hunt on about 100 acres of land, and there are about 8 guys total who bow hunt. Now if every guy places two scent lures around them to try and bring the bucks in, that's 16 scent sticks in the area. The closest guy to me is about 30-35 yards away. To me, it seems like the deer are going to be overloaded with stink and they will be scared off. I was wondering if it would be best to just spray some scent killer on me and use the the other guy's lures to my advantage. Hopefully the other deer will want to avoid this and walk AROUND those areas, right into my sight! Any opinions?

Well that brings up a whole new game plan. See my example below. I just picked a random area near my hunting location (unfortunately i don't have access to these fields but for the purpose of helping you out, it made sense to have a visual). The orange circles are "pinch points" or locations where different terrains all meet, a place that deer most likely travel from one area to another. This could be a strip of trees next to a field, a fenceline along the field and treeline, a manmade trail, etc. It's a place where deer feel most safe traveling from the woods to the field to eat. The blue squiggly line is a creek, an obvious pinch point, especially with the lack of rainfall we are having this year - deer need to drink and it's right near a pinch point already making it that much more of a hot spot. For the early season in your case it wouldn't really be worth using scent with so many hunters. However, for the pre-rut and rut, I might think about putting scent sticks were I have the red squares indicated on the map. The yellow "x's" would be good stand locations. With so many people on the land, you may be a little tight but make sure to sit near a pinch point and if you decide to use scent, wait until the pre rut and rut. If you are in the woods, I'd put out a scent stick, but if you are hunting on the edge of a field, I would make a mock scrape under an overhanging tree branch near a fence or treeline next to the field with a dripper. (I'd put them about 100-200 yards away from each other).

example.GIF (131.5 KiB) Viewed 606 times

If I were you, I would pick out at least two spots, near or across from one another that would allow the wind to carry your scent away from the field or location that the deer will be depending on which way it's blowing that day (see example 2). This is very important because deer move with their nose...if they bust your scent, they will be gone. In my example, if the wind is blowing in the direction of the blue arrows, I would be in the stand at one of the blue "x's" and if the wind was blowing in the direction of the red arrows, I would be in the stand at one of the red "x's".

stands.GIF (28.62 KiB) Viewed 606 times

The key is to have the wind at your face or from an angle so the wind goes to your blind spot behind you. However, this does not mean deer will not come from that direction, sometimes they won't smell you because they are tracking a hot doe or they may start out in front of you but smell the chili or bean soup you had the night before and go around down wind of you and bust your scent anyway, but do what you can and spray down with scent elimination or scent cover. Make sense??

[dcamacho13]

This makes a whole lot of sense. The pictures cleared everything up and is a great source of information. Thanks a lot.

[DouglasSpear]

Cool. If you have any other questions, let me know and I will try to answer. If not, one of the other more experienced hunters will have an answer or opinion. Keep me posted and let me know if you shoot a deer or see a lot of deer from these tactics, and if you aren't seeing deer, I will help you change strategies and get you a deer!

[dcamacho13]

I have an update on how my stand is positioned. Last time I was talking about how hunters on the property would be somewhat squished (35 yds apart). Well, instead of working the tree line, I decided to post my stand in the thick stuff. This places me approximately 100-150 yards from the nearest hunter. There's a creek to my right, a bedding area to my left and some type of nut all around me. I have also found some descent trails throughout and the area is protected from the wind. However, there are two potential problems here: the stand is only about 10 feet high and there is no way for me to funnel the deer between areas. Bow season starts in less than a week (Oct 1 in Illinois), and I am going to apply all the info that was provided previously. However, does this setup change the scent strategy? With my stand being so short, I wouldn't mind placing some doe urine scent in my shooting lanes to slow the deer down. Thanks for the advice!

[Jaypo]

I usually collect old pill bottles and fill them with cotton balls. Before you walk to your stand, pour some doe urine in the bottles, and let the cotton balls soak it up. Then place them around your stand. It's kind of like homemade scent bombs!

But the best advice is to hunt with the wind in your face and eliminate your scent. I'll personally be hunting on the ground. So I have to be even more careful than you. But 10 ft. is a good enough height.