Well I settled into my stand last night and I got hungry....took out my apple, now this is the first time I've brought anything at all to eat on stand. I spooked a deer about 50 yards away just by chewing....I was still doing the slow motion thing, so I assume it heard me.

This year has been especially hard on me, the landowner put cattle on the land and the damned things sure have changed the movement of the deer. The other side of the fence is deer heaven, but I can't hunt there and the fence has been fixed up so the deer aren't as willing to jump it now.

Sheesh

the chef

I always take an apple as cover scent. I trample it under my boots when I get out of the truck to walk to the stand. I had a young buck follow that scent trail right up to me several years ago.

I got busted by does twice yesterday and once this morning.

They scented me every time. There was no steady wind or breeze, just gusts from random directions every once in a while. I swear the scent was travelling in every direction.

One old doe stood 20 yards away (out of sight) and huffed and puffed like she was trying to blow my house down. She kept that up for 20 minutes!

Same thing happened to me yesterday...does with fawns snorting and blowing the last hour before sun set. No bucks in sight but it was awful hot to shoot one anyway. They were in my biologic patches just as it got too dark to shoot so I stayed there for awhile so I didn't spook em. I threw a couple sticks to get them to move and I counted 18 deer as I left the stand....looked like all doe and fawns.....there is always tomorrow!!

Good luck guys!!

I have a funny story to add to this. Several seasons ago I had 5 deer go by in the thick stuff. I couldn't get a shot so I watched them. They bedded 30 yd's away. One would get up and munch for a while, then lay down again.
They wife had fed me her home made chili and I was loaded with gas. I couldn't help it and started to blast the woods. This continued for a long time. I watched the deer carefully all the while and not a one of them even glanced my way. They stayed until they decided it was time to eat again and slowly fed out of sight.
I don't think biting an apple will bother them in the least! They must have just caught your scent.

bfr,

I think chemical weapons are outlawed!

I tried to at least make them groggy so I could walk up and tie one up but it didn't work. It is hard to believe what you can get away with and then some of the tinyest things will mess up the hunt. A few seasons ago, I didn't want to kill a deer that day because I didn't feel like butchering. I let my bow down on the string and just sat there. 17 deer came in and fed right under me. They were bumping my ladder and bow as they fed. None smelled anything either. I think they knew my bow was useless. They were there for 20 minutes. I did a lot of moving to watch them too. Sometimes it's more fun then shooting.

Saturday afternoon I had about forty minutes of daylight left and and old doe and yearling came into view about sixty yards out. She started feeding away from me so I used a doe grunt. I carfully lifted my binos to get a good look at her and she had me cold. After staring at me for a couple of minutes she took off blowing and raising hell. So it was probably movement that busted you like it did me.
Twenty minutes later it was time to get down so I pulled the velcro on my release and one took off from behind me, again about sixty yards out. I never knew that one was there. This was a new stand and I felt my best chance to get one early on. Talk about burning it up!
Yesterday, I had a little button buck walk to within one foot of my tree.

When I used to Bowhunt in New Jersey I had a treestand in an old apple tree. I used to bring apples with me to eat all the time. I think it attracted the deer half the time by the smell....