After losing a doe a couple years ago that I shot at directly under my stand, I decided to never take that shot again. The side rails on my climber caused the bottom wheel on my bow to get caught in my jacket, thus slowing the arrow down and I didn't get good penetration. I decided then that I would wait til they were moving away from me before taking a shot.
I went out friday afternoon when I got off work to place my stand in an area I had found a few scrapes in the very back corner of the property. I hoped to put my climber on a pine tree about 25 yards from a scrape in a small clearing. There was a trail coming from a thicket on the other side of the clearing and the wind would be perfect. Well, the pine was too big at the base to get my climber on (it had a hollow spot at the base which made it shaped funky), so I had to settle for an oak that was about 15 yards further downwind.
Got there with plenty of time before sunrise and it was a perfect morning. 35° and the wind was in my face as I was watching the scrape. At 9 am I hear a deer coming through the thicket, so I stand and grab my bow. A nice eight pointer steps out and immediately freshens the scrape, dirt flying everywhere like he's gonna dig to China. He rubs his glands on the overhanging branch and "leaves his scent" in the scrape. It would've been a chip shot at 20 yards from the pine I had hoped to put my stand in. Then he starts to walk the opposite direction down the trail. I grunted at him and he stops. He starts rubbing a small sappling on the edge of the clearing, and is about 40 yards away. Had it been gun season, he'd have been dead before he left the scrape. I grunted at him again and he starts down the trail that passes my stand about 15 yards to my left - perfect. He gets about 20 yards away, still facing me, and angles towards my tree. He walks directly under me and stops. He's literally standing on the roots of the tree where I stood to get in my climber. I thought about taking a shot, but told myself to wait, thinking of the doe I had shot the whole time. He stood there for what seemed like forever and I could hear him sniffing. My knees start to shake a little and I thought he was gonna hear me breathing. This was a big bodied deer and looks huge from directly above. His antlers are past the ears, but is lacking good tine length. Would probably score low 120's, pretty decent for and eight pointer on the property I'm hunting.
He puts his nose to the ground and must of smelled something he didn't like, cause he took two big leaps and stops, now about 15 yards in front of me. There is a branch blocking my shot (didn't expect to shoot that direction, hindsite is 20/20). He casually walks off in the direction he was headed before I grunted at him. I tried grunting again, but he paid me no attention. Something just wasn't right, but I don't think I spooked him too much cause he never ran off. I watched him work his way back through the clearing and dissappear into some pines. Didn't see anything else that morning.
I pulled my climber and decided I'd wait at least a week before going back in there.
Sunday morning I had a little yearling doe walk past my stand near a creek bottom, but I passed on her.
Sunday evening I hunted a spot I had seen some small bucks, but no shooters, and had run some deer out of there coming out that morning. I sat there and didn't see anything. I was starting to climb down when I hear something walking up from the creek bottom. It was a steady pace and coming right into my shooting lane. I turned back around and sat down and my quiver banged against the side rail of my stand. The deer stopped. It stood there and stood there and stood there, until it was too dark to even see. I was beginning to wonder if the deer had somehow disappeared. Finally it started walking slowly into the lane. It was too dark, though. I couldn't even tell if it was a buck or doe and could only see it when it was moving. It walked directly towards my tree and stopped about ten feet from the base of the tree. Again, it stood there for what seemed like forever. Then it slowly walked back the way it came from, but never ran or made any indication that it was spooked. I waited about five minutes after I last heard it walking and climbed down. It was now about 20 minutes after legal shooting time and was pitch black.
My grandfather had shot a doe and I helped him find her. Hopefully I'll have better luck next weekend.