A Picture Story of a Mock Scrape Buck

[Keith@AimLow]

Robin@AimLow said:

I haven't shot and lost a buck since 2000,

In order to lose a wounded one you have to make contact with the animal.


I hope Robin kills him. He's too big for my standards. I'm going to stick to killing Tonys future monsters.

There is a licking branch above the scrape, however it is higher off the ground than most. Its not very big so you can't really see it in the picture. I have also seen scrapes before with no licking branch. They are not very common but I see one or two a year. There are a couple in one of our other hunting spots that are made underneath a bush where all of the branches grow straight up in the air.

[Keith@AimLow]

In all honesty, I wouldn't be suprised to find that we have bucks that big on all the suburban properties. Like Robin says, with such little pressure there should be several around that reach maturity. Killing or even seeing them in daylight hours is the trick. Contrary to what many believe, a mature buck is pretty elusive no matter where they live and seem to have a knack for knowing the difference between the presence of a non-threatening person and a hunter who is trying to put them on the wall.

[PoisonSnake]

Robin@AimLow said:

[bThere ain't no room for gut shots in that place, so you are out PS.

That darn gutshot sumbitch only went 80 yards. Of course, he was already wounded, so I don't blame him. Oh, and we pushed him after waiting for about 6-7 hours to trail him, so he went a bit further. I am thoroughly convinced that if he hadn't been previously shot, there is no telling what would have happened. I have never seen a gutshot animal lay down that quickly. In fact, it may have only been 50-60 yards from my stand. I was dumbfounded, but happy.



[email]Keith@aimlow[/email], I hope your inclinations are correct about mature bucks, because I am considering killing a big one this weekend and I hope one of those 4 bastages is still alive.

[Robin@AimLow]

PoisonSnake said:
That darn gutshot sumbitch only went 80 yards.

Which gutshot one you talking about?

[Warmouth]

There should be a lot of big ones in urban areas in comparison to regular hunting land.

I have been hunting one urban property for 5 or 6 seasons now, and it amazes me that I see bucks in late season that I've never seen before, or find sheds from big bucks that I've never seen at all. They are wary enough even without much hunting pressure. Also, the 3 biggest sheds I've found were within 100yds of each other, right in a strip of the most tangled thick brush on the whole place. Even in early March it's a PITA to walk through, and 90% of the time you can't see the ground your stepping on from the underbrush. And that's with almost zero hunting pressure.

[PoisonSnake]

The one I shot this year. He laid down immediately. I couldn't believe my eyes.



Damnit Robin I about fell out of my chair laughing at your ScentLok comment over on AT.

[Beards-n-Spurs]

Nice beast

[PoisonSnake]

Well Robin? What is the story?

I got to looking at some pictures this weekend and I hereby proclaim that buck to net 163".

I saw a ton of deer Saturday evening. I could have taken shots at numerous does. But, I did not see a single antlered buck. Not even a spike.

[Robin@AimLow]

Wind wrong for that place all weekend. Possibly could have hunted it yesterday evening, depending on if the wind was westerly enough, but would have taken a trip there to decide. Did put the cam back in there to keep an eye out for us.

[Warmouth]

I fully believe you can fool a deer's nose everytime, if you are meticulous with washing gear and body. I swear that you can.



Its much better not to risk it, but when you have a small window of opportunity to work with, like the second rut, you just have to make things work.

[Robin@AimLow]

dave-t. said:
I fully believe you can fool a deer's nose everytime, if you are meticulous with washing gear and body. I swear that you can.

I absolutely do not agree. I don't care what you have done, if you are on the ground, and the deer is close and directly downwind, he will smell you. By downwind, I mean the wind currents actually go from you to the deer's nose. I believe often we think we are directly upwind of a deer, when the actual currents are doing things we cannot see or know. And...I believe it possible that a deer can smell you but not react negatively, making the appearance that the hunter has "beaten" a deer's nose.

We can get into a huge debate over scent lok this, and what about thats, but it isn't worth it. My belief that carbon scent control in theory works, but fails in practice is based on scientific facts with regard to regeneration (which the carbon companies mistakenly call "reactivation"). Without a real scent control measure, your breath is more than enough for a deer to detect each and every time. If I am wrong, the carbon companies would have to prove it to me scientifically to change my opinion. Like I have said other places, maybe someday Scent Lok will come along and prove it to me and they will end up a sponsor.

That said, Dave, you have a good point that with the "iffy" wind yesterday, we probably should have risked a hunt at this point in the game.

[Keith@AimLow]

There is still plenty of time to kill that deer. As the winter wears on and food becomes more scarce he might just slip up. Educating him of our presence could assure he continue to only come on the property at night.

[Rafe Hollister]

Start "accidentally" spilling a 50 lb. bag of corn once in a while.

[PoisonSnake]

I can tell you this; if you were not out there Saturday afternoon, you made a huge mistake. Wind or no wind you shouldn't miss an evening when there is bad weather coming in. No doubt I got winded a couple of times. But, at that point the deer were at 10 yards and would have already had an arrow through them. It was swriling out of every direction and the deer really couldn't place me. I felt like a member of the aimlow crew hunting on the Sanctuary. Granted, it is pretty rural, but I can see a house from this particular stand.

[Robin@AimLow]

We were out there, different location where we have pix of at least 2 shooters and several possible shooters. Nothing seen, and everything soaked. I really thought something would show.

Funny thing about the corn, Flake. Last year, a neighbor in the subdivsion, about 6 or 8 houses up the street fed corn all winter long. Our spot wan't ours then, but the guy that hunted it shot 2 nice bucks and like 4 does as they came thru headed to that house. That neighbor isn't feeding this year, so much less traffic thru there.