Did I blow my spot?

[Bodhisattva11X]

Ok, so, couple questions. But first a little bit of background context in order for this to make a little more sense.

So this is my first full year hunting deer. Last year I started late. Got my permit and Muzzleloader at the end of October and did no scouting. Only saw one doe, nothing else. This year. Tons of off season scouting, archery practice, some reading, placed a few cameras, a food source and attractant. I found what thought was a honey hole. Tons of fresh acorn. Would get up to three to four does at a time and even had a couple of really nice bucks. Awesome!!

On the 25th of September I went out put out a small amount of feed, made a mock scrape, placed my blind (no stand, terrified of heights), cleared the view for my camera and a shooting lane for my blind. First 24hrs after that, nothing on the camera. Then I had normal action, and the larger of the two bucks came by two nights in a row and spent 45 minutes to an hour in front of my camera each time. But then, activity died off. Since the 25th I’ve had a few 24hr periods where nothing comes by the camera. I’ll get a day or two of normal activity of does. But it’s either in ones or twos and neither of the two target bucks. Overall I’m just not seeing the traffic.

Did I mess up the spot by clearing too much? Placing my blind, as it’s only about 30 yards from the open area I cleared (area in view of the camera)? I did somewhat try to hide the blind by placing it next to a rather large pile of bulk trash (tires, furnace, car parts) that’s been clearly sitting there for decades. I haven’t been out to the spot since the 25th since I don’t want to be leaving a bunch of scent and blowing the spot further than I may have.

These two pics are comparison from prior to me clearing it and after.

Prior to


After


Terrain information: Area in front of camera was natural open area in the woods, where I cleared short brush. Heavily used trail moves from side to side. Camera is about 15 yards off the tree line that’s visible. Behind the visible tree line is large overgrown field with heavy/thick brush that’s about six feet or more high. Behind camera is a small ridge with moderate slope that’s about 50-70 feet high. About 30-35 yards to the left edge of the screen and a “T” intersection of another heavily used game trail that goes up and over the ridge. The trail that passes the camera continues and leads down to a small heavily brushed/wooded pond/swamp about 1500yds away.

The bucks have always come in from the left side, the does typically come in from the tree line in front of the camera

Thanks for the help.

 

[Schnee]

The deer may be reacting to your presence in the area or they may simply be utilizing a different area right now. There may be a hot natural food source that is drawing them elsewhere.

Is this the only area where you have a camera/ blind? If the deer quit using the area I would go mobile and keep moving until I find the area that the deer are using right now. Don't be afraid to bump some deer in order to better understand the property and how the deer use it. How much acreage are you working with, and how is the rest of the property laid out?

Good luck!

 

[Macintosh]

They’ll either settle back into the area after initially spooking at the blind/scent, or they wont. If they dont, chances are its just a normal summer>>fall change in patterns, happens like clockwork this time of year. Also, if they are red oak acorns they may not be a preferred food source until much later in the season anyway.

 

[Yoder]

Hunting like that I would expect you will only get does and young bucks during daylight. Maybe if you're lucky a big buck will come by, but they aren't stupid. Just depends what your goal is. I think you can get away with putting up a camera if you rarely check it but once you start putting up blinds or stands you are going effect the area. I never setup ahead of time, I make sure the wind is right and try to access clean. Without doing that, they know they are being hunted. I also try not to burn the spot by sitting too many times.

 

[EdP]

Put up the blind early enough and stay out of the area and it just becomes part of the landscape to them without being brushed in. I think like others said, the deer are just on other food sources right now. Are white oaks dropping acorns? That's where the deer will be. Look for tracks and fresh droppings and try to figure out where they are travelling and feeding.

 

[Drenalin]

Things are still probably settling down from when you were in there last week doing all that. You mentioned you haven't been back, so I'm assuming this is a cell cam? If not, you need to resist the urge to check it. Food sources also shift this time of year, some of it could be due to that. Bucks are also either out of or just about completely out of velvet now and they're going to make themselves more scarce for about the next month. Deer will also stay spooky around a blind for a good amount of time after you set it up, in general.

Given all the above, I'd stay out of there for at least a few weeks unless you start getting good daytime activity on your cameras (again assuming they're cell cams). In the meantime, you need to find out where those bucks went and either hunt them there or wait and hope to get lucky during the rut. I wouldn't wait.

 

[KHNC]

Bucks always seem to relocate around the last week of september. They will show back up eventually if you have does around still. Doubt you did much to mess it up. Probably just a different food source or neighbor has a bigger corn pile.

 

[SMOKYMTN]

Did you mess it up? Not permanently but you may have them a little skittish temporarily which is why you only received nighttime pictures in the days after that. What you are most likely noticing is a switch from bucks moving from major food sources to staging in and around pre-rut areas, which I usually begin to notice heading into early October. I very rarely see the same bucks in November/December that I watched in August/September for this reason alone and I consistently have a neighbor who lives over a mile away from me, killing those bucks I watched on my mineral sites all summer into into he early season while I kill different bucks. With that said you'll likely begin to see different bucks moving through.

Let it settle down and as mentioned above, resist the urge to go back in there too soon.

 

[GWHunter]

I have a similar type of area and here is what I have seemed to discover. The acorns are dropping mid September into the beginning of October. I have tons of pics of deer, does, bucks, turkeys, during that time frame. The problem is I have never dedicated time to hunt that early in the season. I'd hunt it mid to early November and see some deer, but not like the camera was showing was using the area. My conclusion is that they are hitting those early acorns hard early then when they dry up they are moving on to somewhere else. I have still yet to prove this as I have still not yet dedicated the time to hunt it early in the season, but plan too one of these years. It seems later in the season as the acorns everywhere are done dropping they will move back through to search for any they missed earlier. I say hang in there, but they may not be using it nearly as frequently as they where when the acorn drop was hot.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

What kind of blind did you put out there? IME popups and such alert the deer pretty quickly on public and it'll take them several weeks to get used to them if not longer. I don't think you messed up by clearing it.

 

[Bodhisattva11X]

The season hasn’t started here, not til the 17th. I was told by many of the older guys who’ve been hunting the northeast their whole lives to place the blind at least three weeks out to allow the deer to get used to it. Whether that’s correct or not I don’t know.

The acorns in this spot are all from white oaks, with some red oak mixed in. But a majority of white oak.

The cam is a cell cam, and I don’t plan on going back out there until the 17. I also can’t place any more feed or food based attractant or mineral blocks.

The blind is one of those small domed pop up blinds. Got it from Cabelas.

I know the bucks are using the trail that leads to swampy area of the pond. Lots of the tell tale “buck” shit all along that trail.

 

[Bullzeyez61]

I think there are a few factors that come into play that can dictate kinda how deer will react to human presence in that spot.

What does the 5 or 10 square miles around that spot look like? Is it mostly timber, crop fields, low swampland, houseing development. As a new hunter you can kinda profile deer and their reaction/behavior based of the surrounding landscape and apply that to new areas and states. That does not apply as much here in this instance but that is a good tip for a new hunter that is putting the time in to scout and hunt as years come.

How much land do you have to hunt? It sounds like you are on private land if I had to guess. The last few years has anybody else bow hunted that land? If it’s been 2 3 4 years sense somebody had bowhunted it you can get away with a lot, as the years go on they catch on and will change their routes based on where you had been hunting and how often.

Are the neighbors bowhunting too? Less surrounding pressure will yield less of a reaction to disturbance in the woods.

How many known bedding areas is on your land? More spots they feel safe to lay down better the odds are of them staying on your property vs going to the neighbors. My piece of land I have 3 major bedding areas, 2 huntable and 1 that’s not and I keep that Undisturbed as a sanctuary but I got a camera in there to see what’s in the area. I’ll hunt one bedding for 3/4 of the season then the other for 1/4, then the next year I end up hunting the other bedding for 3/4 of the year and the other 1/4 of the time. I have noticed between those two bedding spots they like one one year and next year they switch and they switch to the one I hunted less previously and they are only 140-160 yards away.

A deer knows the difference between was there somebody here and how long ago were they here, and IS there somebody here right now. You go out in the afternoon clear brush leave a bunch of scent and noise that will not blow out a smart deer as if the same deer was walking through your spot and they catch your scent because your in a tree 20 yds away.

I will pull my cam cards once a month in sept Oct and November and that is including the deer sanctuary cam. But when I do that I do not wear camo I am in my regular smelling cloths regular boots I got my dog with and maybe a friend. I make as much noise and disturbance as I can and I will walk the whole property and swap cards. There is no surprising the deer that I am coming they can hear me long long before I get there. I make sure they know where I came from, where I am walking towards and also when and where I leave. They remember things like this. If you hunt a spot till let’s say noon get down and you walk a spot/scout quietly going back to your truck and kick a deer by surprise that is not good, get down get out with as little disturbance as you can. Go back to your truck or house and then start as if you had just shown up and be loud then you can go in and do what you need to do.

Deer like to know where did that thing come from, what was it doing, and where did it go. If you can control the answer to these questions you can kinda control their reaction.

—Okay that thing or person started up a wheeler drove into the land from the house or road, walked a giant loop around my bedding area making a bunch of noise got back to the wheeler and left in the same direction it came. Deer knows that thing or person was not sneaky, knows where it came from, and knows where it left to and when it left. Deer will be really comfortable. If you get behind a deer on the back side where there is no human traffic at all and kick up a bedded deer by surprise they will ask the same questions, where the hell did that thing come from, how did it get behind me without me knowing, why was it here, and where did that thing go after it kicked me out of my bed. Those questions will remain unsolved and the deer will not feel comfortable.

I killed a nice buck that was locked on a doe few years back that I applied some of this to and that’s how I got it. I canoed up a small river behind my house in November to a small 40 I could hunt. The water level was high and dropping and it was cold and there was a sheet of ice 1/8-1/4” thick being held up from all the grass across the whole bottom. It had froze and water dropped 6 inches but the ice sheet was all still in tact. I had 60 yds of frozen river bottom to cover before I got into the woods. I thought this is going to be loud, very loud, and there is never people back here. So when I got there I banged my canoe with the paddle repeatedly and yelled made a shit ton of noise. I wanted to intentionally scare off any deer bedded along the river or close to me. I was so loud. Did this for a few minutes before I started stepping through ice. I scared the deer away out of ear shot from my crossing though the ice. That was really loud too but not 1/2 as loud as what I was. Get to the woods where I’m on high ground tip toe to my stand and grab the card off the cam that’s on my tree. I got in my stand and scrolled through the card. Sure enough when I was making all that noise a nice buck had walked right under my stand following a doe. I kicked them off the river bank deeper into the bedding/ wood edge. Not even 2 hours later I see the doe coming out the same trail she went in on and the buck following gave me a nice easy shot at 4pm in beginning of November.

I think it’s not about if you scare a deer or disturb the area, it’s how about you go and do it. If you did not surprise the deer of your presence and it doesn’t sound like you did I think you are good to go. Take note of this and apply it to next year, these bucks were here until the 25th then they started moving on you. Next year they will probably follow the exact same pattern. You know where they start the season find where they finish the season at. I see that on my land as well. Batchlor groups of bucks bed in this spot for the first 2 weeks of the season then they disperse. But I hunt crop land with not a lot of timber in the 10 square miles so they don’t go far. I notice they are still there they just might prefer laying 100yds away from where they do through September.

There is also a big difference in “bedding areas” and “a bucks bed”. Younger batchlor groups hang in the bedding areas until just before october comes then I find they are not bedding in the bedding areas but in a more specific bed often under fallen down tree/brush thicket in open wooded area very close to the bedding area typically within 50 yards or so. Mature bucks they are in the buck beds throughout the offseason I don’t see them in the bedding areas with the other deer. They pass though it but don’t bed down. They are hanging off to the side by themself.

I hunt flat crop land with no big timber only smaller wooded sections. I am hunting 1/2 of the biggest wooded lot/lowland swamp spot within 10 square miles, there are 2 or 3 spots that are as big as mine around but I am in the center of it all. So it takes more to bump deer out of there. If I bump them they will still be around because they don’t have many areas to go, but they will just be hanging out on the other side of my property or into the sanctuary. Big woods or near housing developments completely different behaviors.

If you get snow in your area that is really helpful. I can learn more from one snowfall about a section of land over a whole season running cameras. First snowfall I would walk the whole property everything and pay attention to the tracks. Note the wind direction that day where they come from where they go to. look for fresh beds look at the tracks around the beds. Is there a set coming in and leaving the bed or only leaving the bed. Look at scrapes did they get freshed up right after the snow, if not check it the next time how long does it take to get freshed up. Go back the next day look for new sets of tracks and compare from the day before. I would absolutely blow out the land to scout after a fresh snowfall because that information will narrow down spots and locations for the next year and that will reduce the amount of disturbance years to come becasue you will not be searching as hard to find them.

We got 8” of snow one day I did not make it out for 3 days after to scout. Seen a lot of beds in their normal spots tracks in, compressed snow in a deer bed, tracks out. This was the case for all the beds except 1. That bed was down to bare dirt. No tracks coming in only tracks leaving. There was a buck that was bedded down before the snowfall and stayed there for 3 days did not move until I kicked him out when walking in to scout. That’s how I found his exact bed. Focused in on that spot and he uses it year round. Wait for the conditions are perfect and doesn’t matter the time of year I go in and hunt that specific bed. Very invasive standing on the ground very close. I have not stepped foot on that property yet this year but when I do that is going to be my first sit.

 

[wind gypsy]

Impossible to know for sure. Some bucks will avoid walking past cameras after the first time they see them. Even more likely with a blind that hasn't been there for multiple months already. Fresh blind, camera, bait is a good way to make that specific spot a nighttime only visit for mature bucks for a while.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Great knowledge dump, Bullz!

I think there are a few factors that come into play that can dictate kinda how deer will react to human presence in that spot.

Great knowledge dump!

 

[ScooterBiscuit]

Could be anything—food, other pressure, etc. New hunter worries are real (experiencing them myself, lol)

 

[Bullzeyez61]

Took a friend who’s never shot a deer before out hunting waited for a good northwest wind took him up the river by canoe. Was paddling past deer on the way I knew the bedding area was going to have deer in it. No moonlight and suppose to be 15mph winds all day. Got in there early when I got to the spot banged my paddle on the canoe over and over to blow the bedding area out so we could put up two stands without deer being around. Did so and the plan worked great we were both done a hour into the hunt. They really have no idea what is going on when you enter in by water. Of course i shot the bigger one