We have been invited to help a good friend of ours balance his herd of deer. This year we are hunting does only and letting all bucks walk. And believe me some of the bucks are hard to let walk.
Anyway we need to take 25 does out of the herd. So far the crew has managed 8. Connie and I are headed down for a 3 day weekend this week and hope to close the deal on a couple.
The rut is starting too kick in, what's the best way to shoot a doe?
I know find a big buck and follow him til he finds a doe. LOL
Mike
Wingnut, your in Texas...get close to the feeder and wait...lol.....
hunt the bedding areas, food, water and all trails to & from.
You know the feeder might be a good idea. But we don't run feeders. LOL
These dang does are getting very smart. Seems they've learned were after them and not the boys.
I'm set up on a bunch of trails and pinch points.
Hope I can get Connie in front of one this week. Heck I already got one. But this is her first hunt in four years.
No pressure there. LOL
MIke
The best way? Double lung!! Hap
I agree with Hot Hap. But seriously I have seen does come into fawn destress calls hunting yotes. Maybe even if you get bored I have also seen them come in on fawn bleaps and wounded rabbit calls.
With the bucks chasing them they will be on the move and spooked. buckshot! d;^)
Find the does that have already been bred. They will be calmer. I'm just not sure how to tell who is and who ain't, though!
They have to eat.
Yep I think some hot oak trees with good acorn drop might be the ticket. Got a couple of stands set on travel routes between bedding and food.
Going too be fun. Really want too put Connie on some oppurtunities.
I'm thinking about finding the pigs this weekend myself.
Going to Ghillie up and do some sneaking around.
Mike
Around here you better shoot the first doe in a group that walks in range. The wiley Guard Doe with the human radar system seems to be in the middle or the back of the pack. #1 seems to be the dumbest and least likely to bust you.
Between the bedroom and kitchen. Thick stuff in the morning and food in the evenings. If I'm hunting on a field edge in the evening, I like to be 40-50 yds inside the wood line. Mornings, thick bedding areas near water seem to be hot around here and lots of terrain features like ridges and funnels.
I like to use a fawn bleat or younger doe grunt to get them in. I will call every so often to try and snag a deer outside of where I can see, just don't over do it.
I'll grunt 2-3 times every 1/2hr to 45 minutes depending on how the deer are acting. Right now you can be pretty vocal but early season it's best to stay on the quiet side.
I'll probly get thrashed for saying this..... :knothead:
Shoot the little ones!!!!! (this years fawns)
When the rut kicks in the Bucks run the fawns off and cut the doe from the rest of the herd so they can breed her. Usualy the little ones are just wandering around aimlessly waiting to become coyote bait.
If you want "does only" let them get REAL close so that you can look thier noggin over for lumps and bumps.
GOOD LUCK!!!!! :archer:
Good luck Mike - hopefully you fill up the freezer!
Shoot straight Mike. I'll see you in Tenn. next year at the IBO's. I think the older does are the hardest deer to harvest and smarter than a lot of people give them credit for.
I agree with Lost Arra, I've been busted more by mature does than I have been by bucks. I don't know if it's a maternal thing or what but they sure seem to more cautious than the rest of the herd.
BOB
No, no, no... Mike this is what ya gotta do if you really want to get does in range:
First, locate an area that is directly up-wind of a bedding area. Then make a bunch of fake rubs on saplings with your knife, placed so that they'll be visable to does approching from the bedding area. Next dig out a nice big artificial scrape. Then stand in the scrape, pee in your pants and let it run down your legs into the scrape. Then back off to your strategically located blind and get ready!
Note, Connie should probably sit somewhere else.
Ron
Ron,
Oh you've hunted with Rusty I see.
LOL
Mike
Sharpster,
Now that there is hillarious!!!
Now Mike, this huntin' business isn't gettin' in the way of the buildin' my limbs business.....is it? :D :thumbsup:
Good luck to you and especially Connie
Travis
Yep the older does are the mothers and grandmothers of the one's they are watching out for. Those family units are hard too beat. That's why I like to set up on trails and hunt a place once or twice and then move the stand.
They get real smart real quick.
Mike
p.s. House your limbs are being glued this afternoon. The bow will be in your hot little hands next week.
Excellent! :bigsmyl: :clapper:
Thanks Mike, the bucks are just starting to chase the does up here. Hopefully I can tune her up with some arrows I have on hand and get after them!
Travis
LOL yes that is why Wingnut takes me hunting with him. He plans is hunts around where I am. The squirrels and pigs are just too tempting for me. Ya see I like to shoot a lot more than I like to wait. This means I drive all the deer over to where Wingnut is.
Well that and I don't think the deer like the smell of raspberry jello. dig a little hole in shot range from your stand and pour in a couple boxes of raspberry jello. ya don't see any deer but it will stop the train when the pigs come by. they can be in a full pig trot and will stop on a dime when that raspberry smells hits them :)
Oh all that activity makes for an fun hunt for me and good deer hunt for wingnut :)
rusty -raspberry jello kid- Craine
it makes for an interesting ride down. we dirve a little ways and Wingnut starts sniffing..sniff sniff sniff....you waring some kind of perfume..
nope I ain't waring perfume.
we drive a lttle farther....snif snif snif. you sure you ain't waring some kinda smelly stuff.
nope I ain't waring any smelly stuff
we stop for gas. Wingnut starts sniffing the back seat. zero's in on my back pack. sniff, sniff....it's your back pack :)
no it's the raspberry jello in my back pack.....wingnut just sakes his head :)
rusty
Do want me to come down and show you :bigsmyl:
Good luck.
actually I think Wngnut is on a pretty good roll. As i remember he is up to 3 or 4 row.
Wingnut closes the deal as good as any hunter I have hunted with. The guy is lethal :) .
rusty
Oh got a correction - I knew Wingnut was on a pretty good roll but it is 7 does. One shot all recovered. that is a real good string for Texas whitetail.
Heck I get more than 7 shots every time I go to the stand. :bigsmyl:
rusty
For a minute I thought Sharpster was being serious!!!
oh thank goodness. that was gonna be real uncomfotable in the stand. I wasn't kidding about the raspberry jello. me and the pigs love the smell. i find it interesting that a pig can smell anything....but themselves.
rusty
Rusty,
You find that interesting but can't figure out why on day 4 of an elk hunt we want to go to the hot springs. LOL
Mike
This is why I always...always check any thread I see Wingnut post to cause the banter tween you and Rusty is just too good to miss!
Rusty, nanner puddin will work on does...they think it's paw-paw... it's in their genetics! :rolleyes: :jumper:
Oooooooo, i might fight the does over nanner pudding. maybe I could just eat it in the stand. now that is a good idea.
Wingnut, ya know how to cook nanner pudding?
as Johnson told the queen of england. No madam, I do not smell, I stink. You smell :)
rusty
yeah shoot the first one because once that alpha doe stops and starts doing her PIA nervous "I know something isn't right" then all the other does get nervous too,,, if it comes to this aim 3" low minimum..
if you don't bait then you have to just WAIT! I find a doe around here will do almost the exact same thing if she's not spooked, so moving the stand a few more yeards to fine tune their run might be in order.
I second taking out the lead doe! They can haunt you the whole season if they bust you once.
I heard from Wingnut last night. He and Connie made the trip fine. The moved Dead Doe stand a little farther in from the pipeline. there is a old roadway maybe 40 yds in. when I set the stand last time i saw a deer traveling the old road.
Wingnut found a bigger buck and doe bed down in the middle of a 25 acer hay field. I believe that is the only deer they saw.
I new wrinkle in the conditions of their invitation. the invitation has been to shoot doe. the rules have changed a bit. You can take any buck that you will spend the money to have the head trophy mounted. tnat makes good sense. you would not wan to spend the money on a little six point.
I'm betting on Mike (Wingnut) he is a closer of deals with deer.
Connie has been practicing. Now boys that is a bad thing. When Connie get a little practice the lady can shoot. I have lost many a quarter shooting with her :)
If they don't run out of time before they get to the deer, we are gonna have pictures :)
rusty
BTW - we have a low pressure front coming thru this evening. Temp is gonna drop a litte and is gonna get wetter. not sure if that is good or bad.
rusty
Wingnut checkd in again tonight. Wingnut had a wall hanger encounter but not a close encounter of the 3ard kind. The wall hanger comes from the next ranch over running his scarpe line. Crosses the hay field where Mike saw him last night. There is a batch of trees in the middle of the hay field. Mike set up in that. Wall hanger was following a doe headed for Mike. Doe changes here mind and takes a left before the stand. Then two young bucks (not shooters) jump the fence and come under Mikes stand to watch the wall hanger in action. So Wingnut and the two young bucks watch as the bull of the woods tries to talk the doe into stopping :)
I know how they all four felt :) dang those does
rusty