Chasing deer

[Badseed]

How long do you wait to chase a bumped buck and how far will you track him before turning around?

While hunting with my son the other morning we bumped two bucks. My assumption was that they saw us because they wasn’t any wind that I could detect. They were just far enough away and tucked into some shrubby brushes that there was no chance for a quick off hand shot. As soon as we saw the bucks we had stopped moving with the hopes that they would bound off a little ways and stop moving once they realized they weren’t being pressured. We watched the bucks for at least 150 yards before they disappeared into the brush. We had a good vantage spot to see the area where they ran into so we laid down and glassed the area for about 10-15 minutes to see if they would pop up in one of the open pockets. I felt confident that if they hadn’t popped up by then, they had probably continued to run out of sight. After waiting, we walked down to where we saw them originally and started to follow their tracks. We followed them into some thick timber on a very steep canyon slope and ended up turning back because it was getting late in the morning and the wind was starting to swirl. On the walk back I started to wonder if I should have done anything different to increase the likelihood of a having a shot at the bucks.


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[TimberMuleys]

How long do you wait to chase a bumped buck and how far will you track him before turning around?

While hunting with my son the other morning we bumped two bucks. My assumption was that they saw us because they wasn’t any wind that I could detect. They were just far enough away and tucked into some shrubby brushes that there was no chance for a quick off hand shot. As soon as we saw the bucks we had stopped moving with the hopes that they would bound off a little ways and stop moving once they realized they weren’t being pressured. We watched the bucks for at least 150 yards before they disappeared into the brush. We had a good vantage spot to see the area where they ran into so we laid down and glassed the area for about 10-15 minutes to see if they would pop up in one of the open pockets. I felt confident that if they hadn’t popped up by then, they had probably continued to run out of sight. After waiting, we walked down to where we saw them originally and started to follow their tracks. We followed them into some thick timber on a very steep canyon slope and ended up turning back because it was getting late in the morning and the wind was starting to swirl. On the walk back I started to wonder if I should have done anything different to increase the likelihood of a having a shot at the bucks.


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From my experience many bucks will run and eventually make a “J” or “L” shape. When they make their hook or turn they will often watch their back trail. I haven’t really gotten a consistent distance because of different situations. How hard they are bumped definitely plays into it. I think the more open the country, the further they will run without slowing down. How far I will follow them would depend on how well I know the area. Many spots I hunt, I know very well and would have a solid guess as to where those bucks are going. If I don’t have any clue where they are going, it would most likely depend on how well I could track them and how quiet I could be following them. If I have consistent tracks in quiet conditions, and know the buck I’m following is a shooter, I would drop the rest of my hunt to follow them. That situation would be most optimal after a fresh few inches of powder. If they go into a thick area with no chance of a shot, I would give them space and not spook them completely out of the area. Robby Denning has some great stuff to learn about this on the Rokcast episodes.

 

[TaperPin]

On the walk back I started to wonder if I should have done anything different to increase the likelihood of a having a shot at the bucks.

That’s a good situation to meow at them with a cow call to pique their curiosity, stop and look back. I’ll blow it once just barely loud enough for them to hear and stop. If you aren’t able to get the shot off before they start moving again, and they aren’t too skittish, you might get them to stop a second time, but they will only stop for a few seconds so the shot has to be quick.

There are multiple compact calls that can be kept handy and are so small they don’t weigh much. I started using the Cow Talk brand way back and never had a reason to upgrade. The newer models do seem to have better sound, but for this purpose it probably doesn’t matter. Mine is always on the binocular strap and it’s automatic to put in the mouth just in case.

 

[TaperPin]

. . . and there is a time to watch them walk away, and sometimes it pays off to run up to where they were last seen if it gives you a better vantage point. I’ve had deer on an all out run stop to look back at what is making all the noise coming toward them. Being excited, out of breath from a jog, and knowing a shot will have to be quick, is one of the most challenging moments to get a shot off. The same month I thought a nephew was old enough to fully understand and do it safely, we went over what not to do, and he ended up using it to get a respectable buck he had jumped near a big sage draw. Had he not changed vantage point quickly, his odds would have been zero.

 

[MarkOrtiz]

We bumped 2 bucks two weeks ago. We stopped and tried not to move and just watched them. Once they went over the next ridge we went to that ridge and slowly looked over. We spotted them about 500 yards away and had settled down a bit. Enough to get a good look at them and decide if we wanted to pass or pursue. They ended up bedding about 550 yards away from where we were standing. They travelled about .75 miles. We also ended up seeing them the next morning in between where they bedded and where we had bumped them the day before.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

Based on experiences the last couple of years, I don’t think big mature bucks have the stamina to go far when bumped. If you follow their general direction you can catch up to them pretty easily. My avatar buck is the perfect example, we jumped him from a bed at about 10:30 in the morning, I tried to follow and ended up turning in the wrong direction when I saw a doe go left I assumed he went with the doe, he had gone right, he ran about 1/2 mile and bedded up within sight of a county road. I happened to drive by 30 minutes later and when I got out of the truck he didn’t move and sat there breathing hard and seemingly winded. Another big mature buck I missed last week ran over 1 ridge, I caught him in the next canyon, missed again and he ran about halfway up the next ridge and stopped and stood there huffing and puffing. I tried to close the distance but ended up running out of light before I could get back within range.


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