I was heading to my tree stand. It was very heavy winds, and I was doing my very slow walking thing.
I saw movement and froze. It was a doe who had seen me at the same time. The woods were thick and she was staring right at me trying to figure out what I was.
I decided that if I moved at all she would bolt. But if I stayed still long enough, she might decide I was a stump and give me a shot.
So we stood there staring at each other at about 50 yards in the heavy cold winds. My left leg got tired and started to shake, my nose ran all the way down to my chin. My left eye teared up and dripped onto my coat. And we still just stood there staring right at each other. She finally looked to the side for a second, then right back at me again.
After a while she hopped off to the side and loped away with her tail up.I had no shot.

Any thoughts?

What were you shooting?

quote:

What were you shooting?

sounds like nothing.

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:
What were you shooting?

450 marlin rifle, scope.

I learned long ago that you cannot outwait a whitetail. They can literally stand there for what seems like hours and never move a muscle.

That wasn't the only deer in your area of the woods. I would have tried to very slowly shoulder the rifle. If she blew and bolted, so what.

The way you handled it only resulted in a deer trotting off 50 yards. Not much downside.

Throwing up a snap shot in that situation has a lot more downside than up.

You got busted. It happens.

-nosualc

I agree that you can't outwait a deer. I would have tried the ultra slow shouldering of the rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
I agree that you can't outwait a deer. I would have tried the ultra slow shouldering of the rifle.

Exactly.

Very slow gradual movement generally just draws more couriosity. As soon as the crosshairs are settled you need to shoot though because when the movement stops the deer usually gets ultra nervous and bolts anyway. You tried and that is about all you can do sometimes. Better luck next time.

God Bless, Louis

I've done it a number of times. Very slowly raise the gun, fire instantly when on target !

You handled it perfectly. The method of "outlasting" a whitetail is more frequently successful than trying to "outdraw" a whitetail. If you had tried slowly shouldering your gun you would likely have had the same result, then you would be asking the opposite question.

Neither approach is certain, or even percentagewise highly successful. But being still is always a better bet than not being still.

It is possible to outlast a whitetail. It takes a lot of determination, and experience helps. When I am really moving slow it will take about 1 hour to cover less than 100 yards, and that is moving.

If the deer blows and runs, it alerts animals for hundreds of yards to your presence. And the animals it startles alert other animals that something is not right. I try to avoid that kind of thing. Then the whole woods is on high alert. I can't see far enough in my woods to shoot farther than that disruption.

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:
I learned long ago that you cannot outwait a whitetail. They can literally stand there for what seems like hours and never move a muscle.

That wasn't the only deer in your area of the woods. I would have tried to very slowly shoulder the rifle. If she blew and bolted, so what.

quote:

Originally posted by youngoutdoors:
Very slow gradual movement generally just draws more couriosity.

I have to disagree....it may cause curiosity but raise your arms quickly and see what happens. Fast movements make them run away....fast.

The best is if you don't stop at all, keep walking at your regular pace while keeping track of the deer in your peripheral vision, when you get to the best openning available pull up the gun, take a last step to square up to the deer and shoot. If they don't think you've seen them, they'll freeze and let you go on buy. When you change course, they know something is up and you won't have much time to shoot. Works good on rabbits too.


If any of you have a deer stomp and snort (blow) at you, stomp and blow once right back, they won't run off, and the deer will give you 5-10 seconds, thinking that it is another deer making the ruckus. One snort is a contact call ("what's that"), two snorts is a danger alarm.

The single snort/stomp trick works so well that it'll surprise you.

if i wanted that doe, i would have slowly tried to raise the rifle, then shot. if the deer ran off, so what? creep on thru the woods to the stand a hunt as usual.

Might not have been anything you could do.

I had the same thing happen to me this year. It was also a white tail doe. She was running and I think she caught my wind and stopped in her tracks. After a few seconds I decided that since she didnt bolt I would slowly raise my rifle for a shot. The slightest movement though and she was gone.

Petty awesome tips.
I never would have thought of those.
Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by dave-t:
The best is if you don't stop at all, keep walking at your regular pace while keeping track of the deer in your peripheral vision, when you get to the best openning available pull up the gun, take a last step to square up to the deer and shoot. If they don't think you've seen them, they'll freeze and let you go on buy. When you change course, they know something is up and you won't have much time to shoot. Works good on rabbits too.


If any of you have a deer stomp and snort (blow) at you, stomp and blow once right back, they won't run off, and the deer will give you 5-10 seconds, thinking that it is another deer making the ruckus. One snort is a contact call ("what's that"), two snorts is a danger alarm.

The single snort/stomp trick works so well that it'll surprise you.

"Can't outwait a deer"?

Come on guys, we do it all the time. Most of us call it venison when we do it.

Done it many of times slowly raise the rifle when the sights settle shoot.

Does it work all the time no but it works enough of the time for me to keep on doing it.

A shot never taken is always a miss.

Hey Frank, It depends on where my arms and legs happened to be. Hopefully the arms would be close to my side and my feet relatively close together. Once the Deer can actually see I have arms or legs, the Deer moves on, mostly spreading the Alarm.

If however my rifle was in my right hand(where it is supposed to be for me) and my left hand was close by my side, then there is a little Trick my buddy John Ray developed which works reallllly well. I'd have kept my left arm close to my side, but waved my hand just enough so the Deer could see it. That is the Universal Doe Signal for everything is A-OK. And no White would be visible to the Deer(like the inside of the Tail) and it "might" begin eating or ease off without Blowing the Alarm.

Then it is either Aim when the Head is down, back-off the spot, or ease ahead v-e-r-y slowly. I'd prefer to back-off, or if the Doe was large enough, Kill her and get the Drag Stick.

Good Hunting and clean 1-shot Kills.

quote:

Universal Doe Signal for everything is A-OK

... interesting ...

I may have to try that one

I also like the

quote:

keep walking at your regular pace while keeping track of the deer in your peripheral vision

and the

quote:

stomp and blow once right back

tips, too!

Goodness knows I've tried several methods that have not worked.

That keep walking tip will work in thick cover, but it has to be pretty durn thick. Tall grass, CRP, thicket type stuff. Wouldn't work in open hardwoods, etc.

The single snort will work, but it draws attention to your position. The up side is that the deer that you are after expects to see another deer, and will tollerate some movement. When if worked for me on a group of does on some pretty hard hunted public ground, I was sold.

Guys, these are just some awesome tips.

I think there are thousands of tips like this that have been forgotten. I'm trying to learn a few of them.

quote:

Originally posted by dave-t:
The best is if you don't stop at all, keep walking at your regular pace while keeping track of the deer in your peripheral vision.

There is a LOT to be said for this! I was always taught to "walk and drive like a farmer". Stop walking and pay any attention to deer and they get skittish. Slow the truck down as you drive by and just watch them run. Keep a steady 35 mph around the corner and they often (not always) don't care a bit.

Now, that said, once you have stopped like in the original situation and they have at least partially busted you, you CAN wait them out...and I have done it. I am totally convinced that deer very clearly want secondary indications of what you might be when it's not obvious to them. In situations when they stop and look at you, it is definitely NOT clear to them what you are or they would just bolt. These secondary indications could be more movement, scent, or noise. Sit long enough and amazingly the deer might actually approach you to get that secondary indication of your identity!

I was sitting at the bottom of a tree during bear season in central Idaho just five years ago and a whitetail doe caught me turn my head to see her at about 30-40 feet. I probably also fidgeted because I remember her spooking me a bit as the brush was so thick. She stopped for about 5-10 minutes and stared and neither of us moved a muscle. She then made a half circle around me and simultaneously approached from slightly behind the tree. As she did this over the course of another ten minutes, she would sometimes stop and thump her hoof on the ground and snort like she was spooked but it was actually more like she was trying to force more movement out of that thing she had seen so she could get a secondary indicator of it's nature. She got so close that I could eventually hear her sniffing around the back of the tree but I kept my head steady. I don't know if the wind was swirling and she couldn't get my scent, if scent-lok clothing actually works, or she couldn't reconcile the scent with something now not having moved for so long, but she was still clearly confused and VERY curious even though she had definitely previously seen movement that made her concerned. She then actually walked in front of the tree and looked at me from certainly no further (and probably a good bit less) than 10 feet.

I remember thinking at the time that hypothetically, if I were really aggressive, I might even kill her with a club or knife if I had one. That's how close she was and also the degree to which I think deer CAN BE waited out. Shot a decent bear that trip too!

I have tried most of the way the guys have talked about here sometimes one works sometimes something else work but one thing always work. (whitetail will drive you crazy) the best you can hope for is that you choose the right move on the right day with the right deer. good luck keep throwing lead at them

I'm going against the grain here because I have outwaited 2 deer and killed them both. Lucky for me I was crawling during both and just laid down on the ground which was comfortable. That has nothing to do with this situation it appears. Since it was a doe in your situation, I would have slowly raised the rifle and tried for a shot.

quote:

Originally posted by frank4570:
I was heading to my tree stand. ...

Hey Frank, I've also found putting my Face Mask on as I get out of the truck is an advantage. And I adjust it so I'm just barely looking over the Bottom Edge of the eye-hole. Then when I pull the Boonie hat on, it comes down so I'm just barely looking under the Brim. That keeps my eyes in the dark and helps prevent Deer from seeing my eyes.

When they see the "Whites" of my eyes, that is generally enough to cause them to run off Blowing the Alarm.
-----

Oh yeah, in the early season, make sure your "sweat" doesn't have any smell to it!

frank, the only downside of trying to shoot quick, would have been snot on yer scope....eewww

otherwise no great loss, one way or the other.


Mad Dog