Anybody ever try a doe decoy while treestand hunting??If so what was your setup ,How did it
work????
Does HATED it!
Have to be careful with decoys--some of the time they will scare away critters--and occasionally they will work wonders and attract like nothing else. I call them the passion fruit of hunting tools--animals love them or hate them! Probably more hate than love.
We used to use one quite a bit. We weren't getting good results with just a plain ol' doe decoy so we took it a step further. We rigged up a brown/white sock and put a bleat can in it and attached it to the doe's butt as a tail. Using branches above the decoy and some fishing line, we could raise the "tail" and "load" the bleat can, then let it back down and emit a bleat call. That seemed to work better but not great. We eventually ended up screwing a set antlers to her head and had better luck agitating bucks than trying to romance them...as for your setup, place it upwind just far enough that when the buck comes in to check it out, he comes downwind of the decoy and right into your lap. We stopped using them because it seemed to spook more than help. I'm sure some guys have had good luck. It sure is fun to watch how they react to it!
Why do decoys scare deer away but the real thing doesn't? Most every rutting buck I saw ran after any doe he saw.
because they don't move/smell/look like/behave like a real deer would be my guess. We need to invent a remote controlled robot deer that looks like the real thing. Could use it to catch poachers in the off season!
Also I think that whitetails have such a small neighborhood that they expect to recognize everyone in the field with them. A strange looking new deer would create some anxiety I would think
I have had some luck with the Montana decoys the I bought from KSDan. Both buck & doe decoys brought in bucks. My brother shot over the back of a 145" 9 point last year that came into the buck. 16 yards. The next day he shot a 100" 8 point at 32 yards that came into the doe. Like calling and everything else. Depends on the deer. Good luck.
I've tried one this year. Had a spike horn get spooked by it, but the turkeys sure liked it. They came across the field right to it.
Try using a decoy as a bedded doe without the legs. Almost everytime time I do and a buck sees her this time of year they check her out. Does usually don't mind it nearly as much as a standing decoy too. Problem is smaller bucks have nudged it and then took off after they hit plastic instead of a doe! When I have used it as a ready doe, almost all does spook because of no movement and most bucks circle it 20+ yards out. My experience anyways.
Only luck I had was a tom came in and was strutting all around my deer decoy then hopped on its back then went back to strutting.
Dave
I like mine...very noisy getting it to the stand, but I know it helped me get bucks. They are so focused on the decoy, you can do jumping jacks in the tree and they wont see you. Used mine for the first time tonight!!!
Thats the first time this year...i have had the decoy for a few years.
Just like with calling, the situation, timing, buck moods and set-up need to be right. Sometimes we don't give enough credit to the development of the deer's survival instincts where conversely a high percentage of hunters will decoy to what is advertised as the fastest, most accurate, best penetrating, best scent protection and so on and so on. Deer don't decoy as well as humans do.