JDS, I'm still working on figuring all that out but have some ideas on some basic do's and don'ts.
I figure that the ideas stated above about the doe-vestite with spikes is a good all around way to set up. Neither does or bucks should spook easily from a spike and I'll give that setup a go at ANY time.
As for where to actually put them, I'm not real sure about using them in dead open areas where deer can circle and get edgeways to them but guys on here have said it's kinda comical. My fear there is that while it might be comical on a little basket racked 1 1/2 year old buck, it could be anything but comical to spook a mature buck of a lifetime critter.
In the pictures above, I was using a tree stand from the tree just to the right of the doe in the second pic. You can see the tie on steps if you look closely at the middle trunk.
Also, if you look at the second pic, look at the somewhat open area running off behind the doe on the side hill. That's actually the side of a levee and there is a pretty long corridor there where a deer coming over the levee into the brush could look my way and spot the decoys. He'd have to go past my stand to get to them. My hope was that he'd stop short and be dead broadside to me in my stand. In the first picture the background looks like real tall weeds and it is but what you can't see is a similar corridor of visibility running off to the right. The bucks chase does out in the weeds and cross the open area coming and going from the timber.
So, in the set up above, I was near an edge, near a bedding and breeding area. There was a crossing point on the levee where you see the open area I mentioned and the tree I was in was part of a short fencerow that extended about 80 yards out into the weed field and was a natural travel corridor. The thickness provided seclusion. My little open area was a crossing point for several directions and there was enough visibility in several directions for deer to see my decoys by chance if just passing and enough cover for them to sneek in if I rattled or grunted.
Yea, I'll be back there this November!!!
Oh yea, one other idea I had that I wanted to run by some of you guys was strictly for the breeding phase of the rut. I plan to use the buck and doe both together kinda like in the pictures but I'll use the doe completely without the legs and set here right on the ground to try and make it look like she is bedded. I figure a mature buck standing over a bedded doe might just drive the local big boy into doing something stupid within say 20 yards???? I think it'll work!
Topic: Deer decoy?? (Read 576 times)
