The gathering of scavengers is one reason I will not gut a deer close to where I hunt. They leave their stink everywhere.
I don't think a gut pile bothers deer too much, but if it scared off just one buck that could be one buck too many.
We don't have bears in Indiana (I don't think) but we do have plenty of coyotes and dogs running loose..
How soon after a kill will you hunt a stand?
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Woody Williams
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Woody : In my neck of the woods . We have several farms that we " group hunt " . It's not unusual for us to take a couple deer from the same stand a.m. then p.m. or the next day at a location that has a main trail to the food plot . We also gut the deer where they fall except if it is right beside the stand , then we usually move it away .
The farms that we target big bucks ( a location where we have seen a nice buck ) are different .... I don't like to hunt the same stand too often and pressure the buck into going nocturnal or changing his pattern .... we try to limit the pressure and move around lots with our climbers .
In these areas we usually move the gut pile away or in some cases pack it right out for the same reason you mentioned .... it attracts coyotes and sometimes a group of coyotes gathering can bring on some unwanted pressure .
I do beleive as others mentioned that an area that has a large deer group don't get too spooked by a gut pile ( one year I put an arrow thru a buck at 15 yards while he was walking past a gut pile where one of our guys took a small buck the day before ) .
But if I spot a buck in a small fringe area , I try to keep the pressure to a minimum by keeping the area clean ....... Most of the truly monster bucks in our area are loners and stick to the fringe areas that are diffiucult to approach undetected . Last year we saw some bruisers that skipped out of tiny fringe areas before we could even get set up ! This year I plan to hunt some of those areas by getting in way before sun up and hoping to catch the buck coming in to bed at first light . I also plan to get high in my climber and spend all day at these small swamps , because the more I read , the more I hear of guys taking monster bucks at odd times of the days when most hunters have gone for lunch etc.
So in summary , I plan to try a few all day hunts , as scent free as I can be , and at least 25 to 30 feets up .
Almost all of the big bucks we saw last year came from small bedding areas and never ran the same way as the other deer when driven ... they always slipped out the side or the back door .... we are getting better though ... we are starting to leave a guy posted at the start point of the drive because the big bucks seem to like to double back..... still tough to get them to stop for a crossbow shot , but rewarding to know that we figured out the escape route !
That's the fun part about this game ... strategizing for the next season , based on what you have seen from the previous ones .... I guess that's what makes the hunt so challenging !
I was just doing a mental tally and between myself and Mikey Vee we have approx. 19 areas that we hunt during the bow season that are private property and 7 areas that are public access . More than 75% of the private farms will only allow myself and a friend or 2 to hunt and we keep the pressure to a minimum of 2 or 3 visits max per season . The public access areas are of course anything goes ... but we still usually hunt well away from each other ....
The down side to this is it means a ton of off season work to keep in touch with the land owners and lots of summer sausage to doll out since we still share meat even with the farms that we don't take deer off of . But that is a small price to pay for having the privledge to hunt their properties ! At one time or another we have taken deer from their land and you never know when an opportunity will arrise in the future , so we keep in touch and keep the farmers happy .
We don't have the huge deer population that I have read about from some of the froum members in the USA , Saskatchewan , or Eastern Ontario ..... so we have to move around alot !
I beleive this is the biggest reason for being able to take many beauty bucks over the years is because I have been able to move around and hunt many areas never pressuring any one area too much , thus giving me an opportunity to have crack at deer from many gene pools ..... Mikey Vee , can swear to how many spots we visit in a week just trying to get an opportunity at a decent buck ! ....and even that is no guarantee .... this past season I blew a shot on a beauty ! and no matter how hard I hunted after that , the rest of the season I never saw another monster buck close enough for a shot opportunity !
Last week , we saw a monster in velvet accompanided by a beauty 8 point feeding in a clover field at midday ( and to boot .... no camera ! ).... Every night since then I have been thinking of him and how I will try to hunt him this year ..... Chances are I will probably never get a chance at him this season since he is in an area that we hunted hard last year and not once did we ever see him , that means he either just showed up or he is a wise mature nocturnal buck ... they don't get big by being stupid !! Come on October 1st !!!
My $0.02
The farms that we target big bucks ( a location where we have seen a nice buck ) are different .... I don't like to hunt the same stand too often and pressure the buck into going nocturnal or changing his pattern .... we try to limit the pressure and move around lots with our climbers .
In these areas we usually move the gut pile away or in some cases pack it right out for the same reason you mentioned .... it attracts coyotes and sometimes a group of coyotes gathering can bring on some unwanted pressure .
I do beleive as others mentioned that an area that has a large deer group don't get too spooked by a gut pile ( one year I put an arrow thru a buck at 15 yards while he was walking past a gut pile where one of our guys took a small buck the day before ) .
But if I spot a buck in a small fringe area , I try to keep the pressure to a minimum by keeping the area clean ....... Most of the truly monster bucks in our area are loners and stick to the fringe areas that are diffiucult to approach undetected . Last year we saw some bruisers that skipped out of tiny fringe areas before we could even get set up ! This year I plan to hunt some of those areas by getting in way before sun up and hoping to catch the buck coming in to bed at first light . I also plan to get high in my climber and spend all day at these small swamps , because the more I read , the more I hear of guys taking monster bucks at odd times of the days when most hunters have gone for lunch etc.
So in summary , I plan to try a few all day hunts , as scent free as I can be , and at least 25 to 30 feets up .
Almost all of the big bucks we saw last year came from small bedding areas and never ran the same way as the other deer when driven ... they always slipped out the side or the back door .... we are getting better though ... we are starting to leave a guy posted at the start point of the drive because the big bucks seem to like to double back..... still tough to get them to stop for a crossbow shot , but rewarding to know that we figured out the escape route !
That's the fun part about this game ... strategizing for the next season , based on what you have seen from the previous ones .... I guess that's what makes the hunt so challenging !
I was just doing a mental tally and between myself and Mikey Vee we have approx. 19 areas that we hunt during the bow season that are private property and 7 areas that are public access . More than 75% of the private farms will only allow myself and a friend or 2 to hunt and we keep the pressure to a minimum of 2 or 3 visits max per season . The public access areas are of course anything goes ... but we still usually hunt well away from each other ....
The down side to this is it means a ton of off season work to keep in touch with the land owners and lots of summer sausage to doll out since we still share meat even with the farms that we don't take deer off of . But that is a small price to pay for having the privledge to hunt their properties ! At one time or another we have taken deer from their land and you never know when an opportunity will arrise in the future , so we keep in touch and keep the farmers happy .
We don't have the huge deer population that I have read about from some of the froum members in the USA , Saskatchewan , or Eastern Ontario ..... so we have to move around alot !
I beleive this is the biggest reason for being able to take many beauty bucks over the years is because I have been able to move around and hunt many areas never pressuring any one area too much , thus giving me an opportunity to have crack at deer from many gene pools ..... Mikey Vee , can swear to how many spots we visit in a week just trying to get an opportunity at a decent buck ! ....and even that is no guarantee .... this past season I blew a shot on a beauty ! and no matter how hard I hunted after that , the rest of the season I never saw another monster buck close enough for a shot opportunity !
Last week , we saw a monster in velvet accompanided by a beauty 8 point feeding in a clover field at midday ( and to boot .... no camera ! ).... Every night since then I have been thinking of him and how I will try to hunt him this year ..... Chances are I will probably never get a chance at him this season since he is in an area that we hunted hard last year and not once did we ever see him , that means he either just showed up or he is a wise mature nocturnal buck ... they don't get big by being stupid !! Come on October 1st !!!
My $0.02
See Ya. ... R.J. > " Remember , Trophies are measured by the time and energy expended to get them , not the size or quantity of the quarry "
Grey Owl ..... I hear ya ! 
I got carried away ... I hit submit and went back to look and said holly crap ! Did I type all that !?
Getting close to 10/01/04 .....!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey did you see the footage on the link that Sandman just posted ?? Awsome .... I'll be hanging out there for awhile !!........
I got carried away ... I hit submit and went back to look and said holly crap ! Did I type all that !?Getting close to 10/01/04 .....!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey did you see the footage on the link that Sandman just posted ?? Awsome .... I'll be hanging out there for awhile !!........
See Ya. ... R.J. > " Remember , Trophies are measured by the time and energy expended to get them , not the size or quantity of the quarry "
It takes me about 2-5 minutes to get reloaded and ready again, so I would wait 5 minutes before hunting the stand again. I have killed several deer from the same stand within a few days or so....
Last edited by Book on Fri Aug 13, 2004 2:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Several years ago (can’t remember how many), there was an article in a bowhunting magazine about three Pope and Young Bucks taken from the same stand over a period of three consecutive evenings. One was shot each evening. Three P & Y’s from a single stand.
Very unusual, but just for the record. You sure do ask some great questions, Woody. Must lay awake nights thinking of them.
Very unusual, but just for the record. You sure do ask some great questions, Woody. Must lay awake nights thinking of them.
It's better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you are not!
Daniel James Hendricks
POB 251
Glenwood, MN 56334
320-634-3660
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.horizontalbowhunter.com
Daniel James Hendricks
POB 251
Glenwood, MN 56334
320-634-3660
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.horizontalbowhunter.com