strange things that work

[crowhunter1]

Was sitting in my stand and looked behind me seen a couple of deer,bush to thick no way to get a killing shot, so i took out my doe bleat,tried 2or 3 time no result than one of the deer I was watching in my binos,raises her head and her ears go back,I said myself might have somthing here,I did it again and she starts walking toward me stomping her front legs when she cleared the bush and came into the field 75 yards away bang flop down she went,I dont know if she was coming to pick a fight or what,she"s in the freezer now.

 

[MrTom]

For years I have carried a tiny bell in one of my pack's outside pockets. Its about 1/2" high on a piece of fishing line. I'll give that little bell a ring, not hard, just a single jingle and its amazing how many deer will turn and come in and try to locate that sound. Seldom are the tails raised or is there any stomping or head bobbing.

 

[crowhunter1]

I didnt know what would happen but it never did put them on alert the big doe is the one that came in.

 

[MrTom]

Deer can be curious critters. Your bleat probably signaled here that there was another deer nearby and the stomp was used to try to get the supposed other to return a stomp. My little bell is so subtle that deer will come to see just what the heck made the sound, which is totally foreign to them in a deer woods.

 

[Saxtonyoung]

I've had deer trotting by my stand and let out a very loud "HEY" , more often than not they stopped long enough for me to get a stand still shot.

 

[Saxtonyoung]

Your right about deer being curious or as I call it nosey . I can cut wood in the woods all day and hunt the same area later on and see deer that probably want to see what was making all that noise earlier.

 

[MrTom]

Take a shovel to your deer stand and leave it there while you hunt. Every morning before getting in the stand just turn a couple shovelfuls. Nothing will stop an animal like freshly dug dirt, deer included.

 

[gman57]

Thank you MrTom thats two more tips to try on my next outing..

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Take a shovel to your deer stand and leave it there while you hunt. Every morning before getting in the stand just turn a couple shovelfuls. Nothing will stop an animal like freshly dug dirt, deer included.

Ive seen cover scents sold that are dirt or fresh dirt scented. Ive been scraping or toeing up the ground around where i want to shoot for years. It will slow them down if they arent spooked. Peeing in a scrape(real or manmade) slows deer down too. Ive seen the deer and turkeys not give a second look at me in my truck, until i open the door. I am going to give the tiny bell a try.

 

[GLenn]

I'm sure we have all been told not to pee around your stand for many reasons so for many years I always had a pee jar on stand be it bow, muzzy or modern firearms hunting. Then my cousin and I hunted with a friend in the area of Carbondale Pa. Sitting around the camp fire one evening he mentioned peeing on the tree in which was his hang on stand. That started a long discussion on the topic of pee and the scent factor alarming deer or not. He simply stated "pee is pee and they don't care".

Fast forward to a few years ago. I went to my ladder stand on a food plot on a tidal creek here in eastern Va. For a late PM quick hunt so I just grabbed the muzzy and possibles bag and left my pack in the truck. As soon as I got in the stand I realized that the urge to pee was not going to wait and no pee jar so I just turned to my right and let er rip or I guess drip would be a better description given my advanced age and prostate condition. Not 10 minutes after that I noticed behind me in th narrow strip of woods between food plot and tidal creek comes a nice sized spike buck. He turns toward the food plot and comes right under the stand. I'm literally looking straight down at him. He is looking the plot over looking for his friends I guess when he starts sniffing just like a dog. He then lowers his head and sniffs the still very wet leaves. He raises his head and licked his nose and checks the food plot once more and turns around and walks away the same way that he came in.

I could not believe what I had just seen and have never carried a pee jar since that day.

Glenn

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Peeing in the woods is just a scented 'hello' to other social animals.

 

[crowhunter1]

I don t think deer are as jumpy as people think I was watching a doe one time just as my buddy shot,he was in a stand about 500 yards away,all she did was lift up her head lick her a couple of times and kept on walking,didnt brother her in the least.And then another time I had a buck walk out in field,I snorted to get him to stop at that he took off you cant figure them sometimes, Ive done that 100s of times to get them stop not this time.Maybe he had that trick played on him before.

 

[coupe]

Possibly, I also have been told the note of the grunt is important. A deep toned grunt may signal a bigger male and him not wanting to get into it at that time. I have adjusted my grunt call to a lesser sharper tone, may think it is an easy one to run off. I know my doe bleat bruoght an 8 pointer back to round ball range this year so who knows.

 

[Renegadehunter]

Something a bit different that has worked multiple times for me when still hunting.
I discovered this one Spring when turkey hunting. I was headed towards a gobbling Tom, not being all that stealthy as there was quite a bit of distance to cover, when I caught movement. It was a herd of elk, around 20 of them. They were bedded about 75 yards from me and all stood up once they caught my movement. I instinctively crouched when I first noticed them. They stood looking as if they were trying to identify what the movement they'd seen was and whether it was a threat. I decided to test out my hen yelps on them and so gave them 3 or 4 yelps. Half of them immediately bedded right back down and the others started grazing.
They had alerted to some movement but hadn't identified what I was. Once i gave them a non threatening sound to associate the movement to they calmed right down.
I've started keeping a turkey reed in my mouth when still hunting. If I happen to have a deer see me before I see it and it starts to stomp, blow, or leave, I just give it a few soft yelps. This is always from a crouched position, as I always drop to a knee when I first notice a deer that is close by, it helps as they pick off the standing human form much faster.
I've had this either calm them down completely or at least stand long enough for a shot about 75% of the time. The times it doesn't work I think they've already fully identified what I was.

For stopping a deer I like to just use a soft, neutral doe grunt. Since it isn't an aggressive call or rut related it seems to play more on their curiosity/social instincts and so they stop but are calm.
I like the fresh turned dirt idea, I will be trying that when ambush hunting.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

I kneel too when i have deer alerted to me on a stalk. I hadnt thought to try calming them with a turkey call. Thats a good one that Ill try.

 

[Cobweb]

Several years ago a friend of mine was filling the Pepsi machine at work. I knew he was a deer hunter so asked him about his hunting the first day of season coming up this weekend. He said he would be doing the same thing he had been doing the past 5 years. "The night before opening day I'll take my ole D-7 Cat and run it down in the field about 50 yards from my stand. I'll make about three real tight circles and turn up fresh dirt. The past years when shooting hours are legal there have been deer standing in the dirt. Game over!"
I don't know but it was working for him and did that morning with the presence of a nice fat doe for his freezer.

I've never tried it but have mentioned it to others who work up fresh dirt days before the season opener and they say it works.

Big John

 

[MrTom]

I don't think I could get a cat where I hunt. lol.

Honestly though, I turn over two or three shovelfuls just off trails where I can have a shot. The stand is where five or six different trails converge on a water hole that deer created over the years when a salt block was left over the winter and deer since have eaten the ground out enough that it holds quite a bit of water. Each morning I'll take a few minutes to grab the shovel and flip a couple spoon just off each trail. 9 times out of ten if a deer comes down any of the trails with the freshly turned dirt they'll stop and sniff it. If this doesn't work, the small bell I mentioned is right there at an arm reach away and that will seal the deal.

Granted, deer have to be using the trails or close enough to hear the small bell but I've found that deer can hear that sucker up to maybe 60 yards. I've taken two bucks during the full rut that stopped and came down a trail after hearing the bell, one three years ago and the other four years ago. I can begin to tell how many deer have tipped over because of the dirt. That shovel has been in the woods for about 15 years now and I've had to replace the handle once as I simply leave it up at the stand all year.

 

[Cobweb]

Mr. Tom ... I can see where the fresh dirt trick might work. I'll have to keep this in mind if I wever get back to hunting. I'll bring this up to my brother-in-law. They have shot three nice bucks on the property where they hunt. He took his dad and he harvested a nice 9 point on 2nd day of the season. He is a WWII vet. Served in the Marines from 1942 to 1946 in the Pacific Islands and will be 98yrs. old this month! I only hope to make it near that age!

Big John

 

[jcnull2305]

For years I have carried a tiny bell in one of my pack's outside pockets. Its about 1/2" high on a piece of fishing line

@MrTom - How in the hell did you discover that little trick!?!? That is the goofiest/cleverest trick I've ever read?

I await the story, breathless with anticipation....

 

[Smyrnagc]

I'm sure we have all been told not to pee around your stand for many reasons so for many years I always had a pee jar on stand be it bow, muzzy or modern firearms hunting. Then my cousin and I hunted with a friend in the area of Carbondale Pa. Sitting around the camp fire one evening he mentioned peeing on the tree in which was his hang on stand. That started a long discussion on the topic of pee and the scent factor alarming deer or not. He simply stated "pee is pee and they don't care".

Fast forward to a few years ago. I went to my ladder stand on a food plot on a tidal creek here in eastern Va. For a late PM quick hunt so I just grabbed the muzzy and possibles bag and left my pack in the truck. As soon as I got in the stand I realized that the urge to pee was not going to wait and no pee jar so I just turned to my right and let er rip or I guess drip would be a better description given my advanced age and prostate condition. Not 10 minutes after that I noticed behind me in th narrow strip of woods between food plot and tidal creek comes a nice sized spike buck. He turns toward the food plot and comes right under the stand. I'm literally looking straight down at him. He is looking the plot over looking for his friends I guess when he starts sniffing just like a dog. He then lowers his head and sniffs the still very wet leaves. He raises his head and licked his nose and checks the food plot once more and turns around and walks away the same way that he came in.

I could not believe what I had just seen and have never carried a pee jar since that day.

Glenn

I read a post in TNDeer by a University of Auburn biologist that did deer studies for many years and he would make mock scrapes in front of his cameras. I have been making mock scrapes and peeing in them for several years. Have seen it work many times. Deer refreshing the scrape at night but also had a small four point make another scrape right by my mock scrape. Peeing out of stand has never seemed to bother the deer at all.