I recently got permission to thin the herd of does from a local farmer. Rare in Michigan these days. He is having a real problem this year, so he had a weak moment!
He didn't tell me his deer were very educated!
My first two sits, the deer were headed to a hay field to feast and when they got about 100 yds from the field, some would start "hunting" for hunters. In particular, one doe "hunted" me down twice, and in different trees!
Last night I made a drastic change. I got unusually high up, for me, and build a little canopy of leafy branches to break up my outline with a good wind direction.
She covered the 80 or so yards in about a half hour, scouring each tree and watching every careful step she took, head constantly in the air checking the wind. I truly I wish I had this on video. It is crazy how wary she acted.
A small buck came in just as she was approaching my range and spooked her off.
She ended up coming back and was a little less careful when she got a shaft 12 yds from my tree through the lungs.
I think I put a stop to that just before the fawn knew what she was up to!
Many years ago, when people really started hunting more from trees, I heard of deer really looking up, but I never really witnessed it unless there were other circumstances like a noise or scent they caught...but this was out of control. I almost jumped up and down with excitement!
To me, this was a bigger trouphy than 90% of my bucks!