Im pinned down!!!

[Zmonster]

What should I have done. Its just about dark, and I going to climb outta my stand when two does start approaching. I ready myself for the shot, and they don't get within my comfort zone. This is the third time I'm just out of range this season. The wife is putting a lot of pressure on me to bring home some venison, especially with all the money I have sunk into this hobby.

The first doe spots me, and knows something isnt right. I freeze and 10 minutes later she decides Im no threat and continues to CAUTIOUSLY walk around staying about 40 yards away. I considered taking the shot, as I have made 40 yard shots at my block target, but the conditions were perfect. I'm cold, its dark, and my heart is pounding outta my chest. No way I'm going to make a good shot.

At this point its DARK, but I still hear them in the area. I slowly get down from my stand and as soon as I hit the ground, I get the typical doe blow as they catch my wind.

What could/should I have done in this situation? Ive been spotting the same two in the area every evening. Are they going to be there tomorrow? Should I let it rest?

My wife laughed at my text I sent her from the tree stand. I'm pinned down!!! She didn't laugh at the fact that I didn't have a bloody knife.

[ckanous]

Ask her if you can sink some money into it and get a ground blind set up closer to there area they are coming from. Maybe stay outta there for a bit to give them some trust again.

[dirtguy]

Bark, hoot, cackle...make some noise that will move them along without spooking them

[Mudd]

"The wife is putting a lot of pressure on me to bring home some venison, especially with all the money I have sunk into this hobby."

If you had golf as a hobby what would she want you to bring home? I'm not a golfer but I bet it's as or more costly than archery.

Actually the cost of a hobby be it bowhunting or race cars has it's own rewards without having to produce  any more than a sense of well being and satisfaction.IMHO

I didn't answer your question but the statement made just struck me as "wrong".

God bless,Mudd

[adkmountainken]

well bro don't know how much ya spooked the does but it is that time of year and you can bet you know who will be in the area looking for a hot date!!! i would sit back there as soon as possible.

[Robhood23]

Ya this time of year I would be sitting there but there seems to be a pattern of them being out of range, you need to move the stand closer to the trail they are using!

[John Scifres]

Carry a grunt tube.  Nothing spooks a doe like a horny buck when she isn't ready.  Especially when it's coming from a tree.  Silly as it sounds, dog barks work too.

[wingnut]

I hang or move stands almost everytime I hunt.  Deer pattern you just like you pattern them.  If you don't get them unaware. . .well you don't bring home venison.

Mike

[batty110]

I always have someone who knows where I am to come "rescue" me if I'm not back by an hour after sunset.  If nobody's willing to come get me, then it'll be a long cold waiting game until they leave.

[Fletcher]

I'd relocate the stand and keep hunting. The doe that saw and smelled you will be looking in that tree when she comes back in for the rest of the season.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Next time Casey, kill one and please the wife  :D    :p

[straitera]

Shoot your judo near the deer to scare them off. Or whatever works. I don't like to let them know I'm there either. They'll change routes.

[Bill Skinner]

Move your stand, hunt it the same day.  They know where everything is in their woods, you have to suprise them by changing things around and being in a place where they haven't seen you before.  Bill

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I had the exact same thing happen to me tonight. Just about dark and I'm thinking of packing it in....here they come. 4 big bodied deer, 2 small deer and I couldn't tell what any of them were because it was too dark!
I sat there for a good hour after I should have already been out and they just kept milling around, then the coyotes started howling right behind my stand and they still didn't leave!
I even got out my grunt tube and that didn't work. I went ahead and eased down out of the stand since I didn't think they could see me anyway and I never heard them run off or hear one blowing at me......so I really don't know?

I was actually getting ready to start a post of my own on this topic when I saw yours.
My problem is that I'm hunting to close to my food plot, but I really don't have any other option right here behind my house. It's either hunt there and take a chance on getting pinned down, or just don't hunt it. I have no other real good answers for my dilemma?

[ron w]

Casey, just remember legal shooting time ends at "SUNSET" here in New York, plan ahead in the future! That grunt call sounds like a good idea!

[LV2HUNT]

Bark like a dog to scare them away. If you have been busted twice though you should move your stand.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Originally posted by ron w:
Casey, just remember legal shooting time ends at "SUNSET" here in New York, plan ahead in the future! That grunt call sounds like a good idea!

What do you consider to be sunset? I'm sure everybody would have a different explanation for that and here in Mo. the conservation dept. puts out a set of time tables to go by and then legal shooting hours are 1/2 hr. before sunrise and 1/2 after sunset. They do this to allow a hunter to take full advantage of every available minute of shooting light and if you go by their times listed I guarantee that you can't see well engouh to stay that long!

Check your laws to make sure you aren't getting out of the stand too soon. Let your eyes dictate when you get out of the stand, if you can't see well enough to make an ethical shot then it's time to get out. That's what I do, but this time the deer decided that was the time to go eat.

The laws and legal shooting times were set up to keep poachers with guns from spot lighting deer, I honestly don't think they are worried to much about a bowhunter or how long he sits in the tree stand.    

[lpcjon2]

Hang a stand in the direction they came so you can get an early jump on them at last light.I also take a small stick(12-14") up in the stand and if it happens like that move a little and break the stick. It is a little more natural sound that will get them to scoot away but not get freaked out to the point they don't come back for a few days.

[Zmonster]

Okay,

So I went out the next morning just to sit for an hour or so, and then move my stand. As soon as I get up in the stand just before shooting light, I hear crunching of leaves. There they are!!!!

I wait a bit for them to get closer, and of course they spot me just like everyone said. They did remember. Although they were just curious as to what I was and played all their moves very cautiously. One of them caught my scent and blew, but still couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, and they still hung out. After about an hour of cat/mouse around trees and whatnot, I had an opportunity.

The shot was at a tough angle and there was some distraction from my safety harness. I tried moving the harness away, and attempted the 20 yard shot, and clipped the harness anyways....

The shot went a foot to the left and stuck in a tree. They got outta dodge in a flash. So I climbed down and relocated the stand. I went out last night for an hour but didn’t see anything.

I didn’t hunt this morning, but I may get out there this afternoon in a different location. I’m going to try giving it a rest for a few days in hopes that they will be back. This was the third time I put tension on the string this season, but the first time I let one loose. WHAT A RUSH.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I just got back from my food plot this morning and while I was there I was looking for lots of possible stand relocations that would enable me to slip out of there if I should get pinned in again. I found one tree that's a possibility that's on the upper edge of the food plot where the deer come in, instead of midways in the bend of the food plot where it is now. I might make the move? Then if I get trapped again, I can just wait for the deer to feed further away from me until it's dark enough to slip out of there.

The main problem I have is that I made a 1/2 acre food plot in the back corner of our pasture and the only suitable trees for stands are on the back side of the food plot and I have to cross around the edge of it to get back to the house. There's just not much way around it, and a ground blind is out of the question because they would bust me everytime if I was in a blind close enough to the food plot for a shot.
The good thing is these deer live right here around where there are people noises and smells all around so they are used to a certain amount of human intrusion, but they won't tolerate much of it real close to them or they will blow out of there like a scalded cat. I was going to build a box blind on legs right in the middle of the pasture just up from my food plot this summer and never got around to it, I really wish I had of now.