close encounter

[looper]

A few days ago, I was hunting a public land tract. After blowing a tire out a mile from the forest road I was going to, I was sweaty and frustrated, but determined to get a hunt in. I decided to go to a different spot than I originally intended; one that I had walked through but hadn't actually picked out a good ambush spot. I picked a huge patch of beauty berries amongst the pines. I picked out a small muscadine covered persimmon and set down my pac seat.

I had barely cleared the ground under my feet when I heard a deer moving to my right, some 50 yards away. I couldn't see it through the brush, but it soon passed behind me at about 20 yards, right where I'd walked in. When she hit my scent trail, she started blowing, but didn't run of. Eventually, she calmed down and made her way away from me. I watched her and this year's fawn step along the edge of a clearing 80 yards behind me, cautious, but not alarmed.

Less than 5 minutes later, I heard another noise, a little to the left of where the first deer came from. A second or so later, I saw large doe making her way directly toward me. She was followed by a yearling doe, and another mature doe and her yearling. At about 20 yards, they veered slightly to my right and passed by me at less than 15 yards. The lead doe paused for a moment and gave me a hard stare. After a few seconds, she must have figured I was just a strange looking stump and moved on. The group paused to browse on the beauty berries for several minutes and were just a few scant yards away. I could see them through the leaves and could clearly hear them crunching and munching. Pretty soon they moved off in the direction the other deer went, but didn't cross my scent the way the others had.

Another 5 minutes passed and I heard something moving ahead of me. Sure enough, amongst the undergrowth, I picked out a deer working his way toward me, roughly on the same path the does had gone. I quickly noticed that this was a yearling buck. Not being nearly the size that was legal for this area, I stealthily fished my phone out of my pocket and hit record.

Enjoy: https://vimeo.com/184127988

[Dakota Kid]

That was pretty intense. That buck will never look at a "strange stump" the same way again. I like the way he pretends to graze and look away after he got spooky in an effort to get you to move. He didn't take his eyes off you from there on in, but never bolted. I assume you have some good camo.

 I have a week before the season opens for me. That video got me ready to go. Thanks for sharing.

[looper]

I have another 1.5 minutes of him stepping behind the brush to my left and staring at me. He never did figure out what I was and just meandered off.

I was wearing Predator Spring Green pants and shirt, with a blaze orange mesh vest, a camo Tractor Supply Hat. That's it. No face paint, no gloves. I do have a full beard, though, and I wear glasses. In this case, the cover behind me made the difference. The biggest factor, though was the wind was perfect. I had also used a stick of that Evercalm on a few branches around me. At the end of the video, where the buck is walking out is where I came into my spot. I had put some of that Evercalm on a few branches and leaves around there, so that may have contributed to it. I also didn't move an inch when he was looking at me.

The next day, not 50 yards from that spot, I watched a small six point work over a couple of small cedars from about 50 yards away. He was grunting up a storm, too. He ended up catching me trying to sneak to a better vantage point and started blowing at me.

[JW_Halverson]

SWEEEEET!

[bjrogg]

Thanks for sharing looper, That's what makes hunting so much fun.
Bjrogg.

[bradsmith2010]

thanks for Sharing ,, great footage,, sorry he was not legal,, he looked really tasty,,

[Swamp Thang]

Wow I'm impressed with I could take you hunting with me 
Last year was my first year think I found a great spot hoping I can get close to them like I can hogs.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Cool video!

[mullet]

Wow, that's pretty col. Where are you hunting? looks like Fl, Ga or SC?

[Danzn Bar]

Don't those encounters get the heart pumping.......
DBar

[Aaron H]

Wow, that was pretty cool.  Thanks for sharing

[looper]

That was on Belfast WMA in South Carolina. Pretty neat place, but they only have 2 weeks of bow season. They then have about 10 limited draw rifle hunts.

I had another close encounter yesterday with a bunch of does. I was set up a basically in a briar patch, with my back to a small tree. At about 6:30pm, I was passing the time by whittling on a stick. I got a little too engrossed in what I was doing and glanced up to see a bunch of brown backs about 20 yards in front of me in the next cut lane. At first I thought it might be a bunch of hogs, as all I could see were their backs . Then the big lead doe lifted her head up.

I slowly reached for my bow and shortly they started heading straight for me. Once the lead doe stepped into the narrow strip of pines, she was about 15 steps from me. She looked at me for a few seconds, then angled to my right. She stopped with her head behind a big pine and I planned on shooting her once her vitals cleared the tree. She took a step, and, when I started to slowly draw back, the other mature doe spotted me. She blew, of course and they all bounded off a few yards. They didn't completely bolt out of there as I could watch them enter the cut lane I was in about 40 yards north of me, browsing their way to wherever it was they were going.

They are really hard to pattern at this time of year. There is browse literally everywhere, and there is a substantial mast crop this year. It's also been do dagblasted hot. I hope tomorrow will be better.