Late Oct decoying!!!

[RWTaxidermy]

Out of the 20yrs I have been bow hunting whitetail deer I have recently in the past few years started to take bowhunting to a serious level. I have never tried making mock scrapes or even decoying to bring deer in for a shot mainly because most of the land I have available to hunt have alot of under-growth from previous logging. This year I want to try a little something different, mock scrapes and decoying. I was thinking about buying a doe decoy for use on one of the farms I hunt and place it near some mock scrapes on the edge of a field, but I also think back to some previous hunting videos where they use buck decoys instead. For those who do decoy what set-up seems to work best for you and why? I plan on buying a decoy in the next few weeks and have yet to decide what will work best.

[ksdeerhunter03]

Try the new DElta Buck Decoy, it has a smaler body, which wont intimidate bucks near as bad, and they will come to it more agressively. Just my 2 cents, but I know it works!

[Tominator]

I've never decoyed that early in the season, but I have decoyed in the past. It's fun for sure. Tons of fun to watch a deer get bamboozled over a piece of plastic.

Actually, now that I think of it, I have decoyed during the rut. I set the decoy in a hay field, and dumped some Tinks on a handkerchief, then pinned that to the butt end of the decoy. I had a small buck circle that thing for over an hour, and one doe who was literally frothing at the mouth when she got down wind of the Tinks, it was weird.

Buck decoying is fun too. Fun to watch a buck get all bristled up.

Only thing I don't like about decoying is the hassle of dragging it in and out, and the fact that it tends to make the deer real spooky/jumpy.

[toddyboman]

Only thing I don't like about decoying is the fact that it tends to make the deer real spooky/jumpy.

No joke the first time I used a decoy a group of does came and just looked at my decoy. After a long stare down they started blowing and stomping creating all kind of ruckus. They left my foodplot only to circle around and coming from a differnt view to check it out again. And the same thing again happend blowing and stomping. Needless to say no bucks showed up that night.
The fact that that "deer" was just standing there and not moving they DID NOT LIKE!!!

So I believe you really need to add something to create some type of movement. Do like Chris said and add a handkerchief or a piece of toilet paper anything to create some movement.

Now I'm sure things could be different giving the righ situation. It is fun to see the deer react differently to the decoy.

[M00N]

A friend of mine has used decoys for some time now and swears by them. This will be our first year trying a decoy setup in an open area that we need to try to pull the deer towards us a bit out the middle the field. Here's what his suggestions he told us about.

• Store the decoy somewhere scent free. Wrap it in a bag and seal it in the off-season. Don't just jam it in your garage or it'll pick up garage smells and that can spook deer.
• After buying a new decoy set it outside in the fresh air (pending weather) and let it sit outside a week. Spray it a few times with some scent killer.
• After setting it up in your hunting spot spray it down one last time with some scent killer. If you want add some deer lure around the decoy, too.
• If you know a big dominant buck is in the area use antlers on the decoy, but keep them smaller or equal to his size. If you aren't sure if there is a dominant buck and don't mind pulling in a less-dominant buck turn it into a doe and use some doe in heat scent around the decoy. Large antlers will scare a less-dominant buck away in a lot of cases, so if in doubt go with a doe setup.
• Try to get a decoy with the body size similar to your deer in the area. Don't put out something that looks like a Canadian deer in an area where the deer rarely are over 120lbs.
• Decoys that move and aren't purely stationary are the best. Deer sometimes will get confused by a deer that doesn't ever move and just stands there. Sometimes they'll even stand there and blow and snort at the decoy if it doesn't move and get really upset and won't come any closer to it.

He's tried many brands of decoys and the one that in his field trials this year that pulled in the deer the best was the Buckwing Lifelite Bobb'n Head decoy. He liked how the head and tail move in the wind, small and large set of antlers, how you can change the position of the head and ears, how light it was, and how realistic it was. His only dislike is if the wind blows really hard the head rubs the plastic and can make a weird noise, but his solution was simply line the edge of the body where the head goes in with mole skin and that fixed that issue completely. This is probably the same decoy we'll be purchasing for the season. We've shopped around and really like this one the best.

[Mathews XT Man]

Im thinking hard about this one too. looks really good