How to recover after spooking a BT

[predatorG]

I was out trying to get my late archery BT today but couldn't get it done. I was attempting to cross a small trail/ old logging road on my way to the tall, open timber on the other side. With the recent windstorms the past 2 weeks I don't believe that there is a tree with a leaf on it in the entire west end of the state. The cold last night froze all these leaves, making it especially loud. So here I am,  attempting to maneuver my way through this (and not walking neat as slow as I should have been  ) when all of a sudden on the hill above me, a deer takes about three bounds down the hill in my direction. At this point he was probably about 20 yards from me and just inside the timber, which I was about 10 feet from being into and free from the noise. Between me and the deer were a few trees and some brush, so I never was able to see him. He continued bounding down the hill for what I would guess is 60 to 100 yards, and then silence. There is a small opening with some alder trees below me where I think he might be, but I can't get a good look at it. I begin working my way down the trail I was trying to cross until I get to the opening. From here I look up towards the timber that he came out of. It is very open so I walk up into it and setup, hoping to spot him coming back around (I was coated in a bit of doe in heat and I don't think he had fully identified what I was when he spooked). I waited there for a bit and then looked around some more for him. I would've waited longer but the relatives were here for thanksgiving so I had to head up to be with them. And I was getting very hungry. Anyways, all this to say, what should I have done? Is there anyway to salvage a hunt after spooking a BT?

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

In my experience, once they go somewhere, they pretty much stay in that area.
The ones in my yard just run into the trees, and go back to feeding.
You might set up in that spot (Where you first saw him) at another time, but usually it works better to try to figure out where he was headed and circle around downwind.
I have bumped the same deer several times with this tactic, sometimes I even get a shot!.

[Boss .300 winmag]

If spooked out of their beds and don't know what you are they sometimes try to circle up wind of you coming back.

[Bullkllr]

I'll throw my 0.02$ out there.

Most of the time there is probably nothing else you could do in that situation.

To find that deer, you would be best off knowing exactly where it was and be in a situation where you could make a silent approach without the deer knowing you were there, with wind in your favor. Most of the time this is impossible, unless you get really lucky.

If the deer thought it was hidden, it may just hunker down, but what are you going to do when you can't see it and it bolts at 10 yards?

Better odds to cross that one off (unless the 1:100 happens and it gives you a shot in bow range) and go find another. Maybe check that area later though.

[JDHasty]

Primos Can Call

It's worked for me in the past...................sometimes

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Blacktails aren't like whitetails when spooked. Once they get into their cover area, they calm down when a whitetail just wants to keep going. Try following or heading one off if you know their direction of traveling. I have got second and third looks at blacktails by just slowly and patiently following one I've jumped. They will run to cover, then stop and see if they are being pursued. If they decide you are still after them, they will circle you trying to throw you off, often ending up right back where they started.

When I was young and our family had a large hunting party we often made drives and would jump deer that would slip through the drive. We'd often turn around and go right back through the same canyons a second time if the standers didn't see anything come out and oft times someone would score on the second time through. Blacktails don't go far unless really pushed.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

 

Blacktails aren't like whitetails when spooked. Once they get into their cover area, they calm down when a whitetail just wants to keep going. Try following or heading one off if you know their direction of traveling. I have got second and third looks at blacktails by just slowly and patiently following one I've jumped. They will run to cover, then stop and see if they are being pursued. If they decide you are still after them, they will circle you trying to throw you off, often ending up right back where they started.

When I was young and our family had a large hunting party we often made drives and would jump deer that would slip through the drive. We'd often turn around and go right back through the same canyons a second time if the standers didn't see anything come out and oft times someone would score on the second time through. Blacktails don't go far unless really pushed.

kind of what I said

[predatorG]

Thanks guys! And yah JD I've heard some of your stories about the can, so I may have to pick one up sometime.

[JDHasty]

It's real good for getting a buck to turn or move a bit towards you.  It can bring them back if spooked too.  Like I've said, I have had mixed results with it.  But it sometimes works and more often than not if they are not spooked and just need to be turned or like the buck I shot this year have wandered off and I wanted him to come back out of cover he went through.  About three quick turns and then put it back in your pocket and get ready for a shot is how I use it. 

[fishnfur]

The difficulty of the situation is twofold.  One - the ground is frozen and noisy so tracking silently is almost a waste of time.  Two, you have a timeline to be somewhere else in the near future for dinner - which limits your options.

There's probably no certain answer to this situation since deer have personalities that affect the way they react after being startled.  I agree that a can call or perhaps a light rattle might have been the best option in that situation if you weren't seen by the deer - something to make him think you were a deer.  You should always consider that the deer might circle downwind to figure out what you were and perhaps move quitety a bit in that direction or at least look for him in that direction as he circles.   

I'd revisit the spot again but earlier than you were yesterday and be up in the timber where you saw him come down.   

[coachcw]

I have used doe estrus and really got carried away with it . move ten to twenty yards and sit for twenty minutes . if its his home turf you may try and use bait , apples and a bail of good greens . give him a day or two with no pressure then enter from a different direction .

[predatorG]

I have used doe estrus and really got carried away with it . move ten to twenty yards and sit for twenty minutes . if its his home turf you may try and use bait , apples and a bail of good greens . give him a day or two with no pressure then enter from a different direction .

Yah I think I may have located another way to get in there. If not it'll probably just turn into another spot I swing by every once and a while when I'm not in the stand.

[predatorG]

Fishnfur- yah it was a rough ordeal all around. It appeared that he came out of some thick brushy almost reprod like stuff up above me. I'm not sure that I've figured out what my plan is from here. The area I saw him in was a section if the property that I had never been at but looked alot like what I hunt elk in down south. I may end up swinging back by there Sunday morning.

Also, how's your year been going?

[fishnfur]

PredatorG - good to see you're still out there and looking at new ground.  Even better that you're seeing deer.  Two more days before back to school, huh? 

Check out the thread on hunting frozen ground started today.  Sounds like everyone agrees that you should be in your stand when hunting in these conditions.  I'm not much on baiting, but if you have a source of apples, perhaps a neighbor with a tree still holding apples that won't mind you taking the rest off his tree, you might consider putting some out below your stand for a few days in a row to see if you get any action.  It's pretty late for apples now, especially after the freeze, but it's worth a look.  I have a tree that in normal years would be dropping the last of them now.  The summer drought wiped them out way early this year.

As far as my year, I finally got it done after a couple mess ups over the last few seasons. 
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,186186.0.html

Good luck.  Hope you score a nice one.  Late estrous is either underway or starting very soon.  Go get 'em.

[predatorG]

Congrats on the deer! I absolutely love seeing bucks pulled out of kitsap, because for some reason I feel like it's one of the most undervalued GMUs in the west end. My neighbor had a pretty solid stash of old apples sitting under his tree, but he's an old loopy man that is usually wasted by the AM. I think he feeds them to his dogs so that opportunity was wasted  my morning hunts for yesterday and today have had to be cancelled due to a 9 am basketball practice. I've been sitting in the stand at night then hoping to get one coming in early (doe or buck I'm less concerned about it being a trophy now). I found a very heavily and recently used trail about 50 yards in front of our stand, and it went on for several hundred yards. I found some good looking spots on it that I might check out tonight and/ or tomorrow. Then it's down south for late elk next weekend!