Busted last night

[HI TIDES DRIFTER]

Just wondering if any one has had this problem with a ladder stand. I have hunted about 5 times since bow season came in and could have shot each day until last night. I realize the many factors that come into play while hunting, but I usually have all the bases covered. I have this stand in some oaks in between 2 cut overs with about a 20yrd shot 360 around the stand. A deer came in and hung up about 30 yrds, just out of sight for about 15 min. before dark. When I got up to leave the deer bolted like it was looking at the stand and was a little leary. The only mistake I think I made was 2 bleats with the can and 1 grunt all about 45min. earlier. The deer was standing about 10yrds from a scrape. I usually hunt out of my loc-ons w/ tree steps, so I'm wondering if it could be the ladder on this buddie stand? The stand has a blind around it, but that deer acted like it was looking at the stand even though a scrape was made 10yrds from it since last week. Any of you guys that have experence with these stands and how not to get busted by the ladder please let me know. Thanks, Bill

[jfish]

Most likely not the stand. The deer may have spotted you or most likely smelled you. It is one of those times when the deer knows something is wrong but not sure what action to take to resolve it. Sometimes the best defense is to freeze. Heck, I have had dozens if not hundreds over the years do much the same. Keep in mind they have directional smell, and ears that turn backwards... lol lol

[done workin]

Sounds like you got down while the deer was still there. Bad mistake.

If not, and the deer was further away it probably still saw you even though you couldn't see it. If it was a doe, I swear that they just have an ability to know when things aren't right. If it was an older buck, nothing more needs to be said.

Deer walk by the same trees day in and day out and when a ladder stand shows up they know something is different. The same way they bust you sitting in a tree when you haven't moved and you are 100% downwind. THEY JUST KNOW. The same way that if you walk in the front door of your house and somebody were to move a light on an end table when the light has been in the same place for 5 years. You don't know what's wrong or different but you knowit's something.

it's possible that somebody else has been busted out of that stand before, or left an odor there on a different day.

I had a deer bed down 40 yards from me a few years ago and not wanting to climb down while it was there I threw sticks at it, whistled at it, etc and it wouldn't move. I lowered my bow down and it still didn't move UNTIL I started climbing down with my stand. Then it bolted as soon as it saw movement. Didn't really care about the noises.

[HI TIDES DRIFTER]

Deer do strange stuff all the time, but this one still has me wondering. Most of the times I've been busted from smell they blow at you at least the bucks do. Hunting only about 100yrds from my front yard where a doe, a yearling, and 2 fawns come out every night, I think it was the doe looking for the buck that made the scrape since I was there a week ago. Also I was going to move the thing if nothing good happened last night. Finding a scrape, and hearing all the acorns falling I guess it will stay for a few more days, there's a good bedding area in front of it. I just don' like the ladder with these spooky deer I have.

[done workin]

Deer do funny things. Movement #1, scent #2, sound #3. Most people would disagree, but scent, unless swirling or riding warming/cooling currents, only blows in one direction and deer can only smell you from that direction. As long as they look up they can see you from pretty much every direction if your not careful.

A mature doe is as hard to kill as anything else out there. There's more of them, that's why it seems easier. Usually they are not alone and it's bad enough drawing on one pair of eyes let alone 3 or 4.

They just know when something different is in their world.

[finfinder]

We put ladder stands in every year. And never have a problem with them. Many have been in the same location for several years and are now just part of the tree as far as the deer are concerned.

The woods change all the time. trees and branches fall accross trails, fox dig holes, animals die and decompose. I think the important thing to remember is not to put too much pressure on any one stand by overhunting it or hunting during unfavorable conditions. Just by you trailing in and out of the same site over and over can make the deer avoid that area even if they have never busted you there. Overhunting a stand is the kiss-of-death.

My best stands rarely get hunted, but when all the conditions are right and I do decide to sit it I am rarely disappointed. When the conditions arent perfect for one stand they may be for another. If the wind is just shifting and swirling I use that time to locate and scout new areas.

If you smell a skunk in the same place over and over you could reasonably assume he lives very near and a place to avoid. If you only smell him once then he may have only passed by. To a deer we are the skunk.

[kepone cats]

Sounds like a middle age - older buck that was waiting to see what you were. Sometimes they will wait down wind until they get a nose full or until you walk out of the woods after dark.

[HI TIDES DRIFTER]

Thanks for all the good advice guys, the stands only been up since Oct. 2nd. The wife is going to hunt it this afternoon, so I hope you are right kepone cats. She is trying to win the big buck contest we have going. With all the acorns that are falling I'm going to tell her not to call any, hopefully he will not be looking for her tonight. If it doesn't happen tonight I'll move it somewhere Sun. to get in better position for muzzle loader season. Thanks again for the great advice, and I'll let everyone know when the ladder comes through. Bill

[Big DV]

done workin originally wrote:
Deer do funny things. Movement #1, scent #2, sound #3. Most people would disagree, but scent, unless swirling or riding warming/cooling currents, only blows in one direction and deer can only smell you from that direction. As long as they look up they can see you from pretty much every direction if your not careful.

A mature doe is as hard to kill as anything else out there. There's more of them, that's why it seems easier. Usually they are not alone and it's bad enough drawing on one pair of eyes let alone 3 or 4.

They just know when something different is in their world.

Great advice. You read my mind. Those big old does are a pain in the arsh! They also don't slip up as much as the big bucks during the rut.

[Bass_hunter]

I agree with with what some others have already said. First thing that came to me after reading your post was it is'nt so much the stand as it is the number of times you've hunted it.
If your hunting the spot just because the acorns are there and it was a buck. i would say you've pretty much busted the spot for that buck for now.
But if its a good travel area and you dont stink all the does out of the area you may catch a buck there in a few weeks hunting does.
The best hunt to take a buck has always been on the first hunt in and area in a portable.
I put up a new ladder stand a weekago to powder hunt out of. No acorns there now and no deer. But thing are going to change in a few weeks.
You've got some real deer hunters on here from what i'm reading. Great advise guys.

[wino]

Old smart bucks will do that especially if they think something is amiss. I stayed in a stand until 11pm one night because I had a pope and young buck bed down 15 yards from the tree I was in. He was very close to a scrape which he might have made and finally at eleven he moved off. I never had a shot and he bedded down way after dark. Man I was tired cold and had to piss but I didn't want to spook him. My buddy arrowed that deer one week later and made the book. I think I should have an asterik for not screwing up the stand.

[HI TIDES DRIFTER]

Wino, I had so many squirrels around me that night I wasn't sure whether I was hearing things or not. I ended up seeing it in my yard about an hour later I think. I haven't been back to the stand since, but will go in and check that scrape this evening. I bought that stand as a family stand for the wife and 2 boys. It's 40yrds from my driveway and 100yrds from my front yard. We put it up on Oct. 2nd and not really a 1st choice spot, but I wanted it to be easy access since I had never put one up before. I was quite surprised that day because of the location in relation to my house. We don't get too many big bucks around here but you never know. Still I wonder if I had been in my loc-on if things would have been different. The ladder still is at issue, had it been up longer he might not have zeroed in on it so hard. If I hadn't made those calls he might not have been so hesitant in that opening. I guess it will haunt me until I kill one out of the ladder stand.

Thanks For The Insight,
BILL

[frayedknot]

Mr buck will pattern you. scent ! I have had bucks and sometimes doe's stop in front of me 50 yard's are further runnin wide open in in front of a pack of hound's because they winded me! so if you are sittin in a stand they walk around you and know you are there! Morel of the story hunt into the wind. The rut is the time to get Biggun ! Tom Turkey Struttin gets foolish!


Grey Ghost Got Bear Dawg's

[HI TIDES DRIFTER]

frayedknot,
A few miles north of you, there are guys that have dogs so good a deer doesn't have a chance to wind you or they will catch him. They even can turn those bear dogs of yours into respectable deer dogs. It used to be club dogs when I was growing up, but now about 1/2 the members have their own personal packs. If they jump a buck that slips by the standers, they dump a fresh pack on him every time he crosses a road. It's the wildest thing you have ever heard to have 25 cracker-jack hounds pouring it on him. He ain't got time to tack around or anything. You better have your gun ready, he ain't going to be worried about you!