Mikey S.

I watched a good 16" wide 8 pointer do something last nite that I have never seen buck do in 13 years of bowhunting. I went to a corner of a field last nite with my climber, to hunt where I recently have seen to good 8' s visiting the field at dusk. I knew going in beforehand that there is only one tree suitable for a stand, 15 yard into the woods, but with the leaves still on, shooting lanes were very slim. I still wanted to sit there just to see exactly were the bucks were coming out. Before climbing the tree, I carefully trimmed 3 branches the size of a pinky finger off a 4" diameter baby maple tree. About 6:30, I see one of the 8' s making his way into the field. When he get in front of me he stops quickly and puts his nose straight up in the air. Now I' m up about 20-22 feet, and the air current is drifting in his direction, but since he' s an older buck, and didn' t leave right away, I figured I was ok. After testing the air for 5 minutes, he then proceeded to walk straight to me( another clue he didn' t pick me up) and went directly to the tree I trimmed! I could hear his nose sniffing the trimmed branches 12 yards away, sharp quarter towards me, offering my no shot what so ever. He sniffed that little tree, figured out something was wrong, then quickly turned around and walked back into the woods from where he came. Now the pruning shears I use are 7 years old, used only in the woods, and I was wearing rubber gloves when I cut the tree. Tell me that ain' t the best nose in the country. I' m happy he never really became alarmed and bolted away, just kind of casually walked away with a little nervous posture, occasionaly looking back to check the area. Heck, he even started to browse in the woods 50 yards from me after he left. Perhaps we' ll meet again?

bigdog02

Same thing happened to me wednesday night, a big doe came right to the tree I was in and smelled and the ferns and leaves where I had laid my bow and stuff while I was getting ready to climb the tree. She did the same, just nervous jogged about 30 yards away and continued feeding :-)

NorthernHunter

Never experienced that before, but i have heard other hunters tell me they have had deer come in and actually eat the leaves from the branches they had just trimmed hours earlier! Keep on that deer and good luck this weekend.

I' m pumped! My mgr is off today and I might be able to sneak away from work by 4PM to get out for the last hour or two...then hunting Saturday and Monday! Hey, got to get in shape for the rut season. In fact, I am psyched right now. I don' t have another Monday to work until mid December. I have to use up all my vacation time by year end so I am taking every Monday from now until mid December to hunt. That means I will be hunting Saturdays and Mondays here on out!

Rangeball

Here' s a post in TR' s forum that talks about this very subject-

http://forum.hunting.net/asppg/tm.as...mode=1&smode=1

Dalejbrass

He didn' t necessarily smell you........he smelled the freshly cut limb(s) and knew that it wasn' t right!! Remember that trail and those woods is his domain. Anything and everything OUT OF PLACE is going to alert him to your presents. That' s why all trimming should occur months before the season, so he can have time to adjust and relax.

Mikey S.

Yea, I agree with you on that. It just amazed me that he possibly picked up on those 3 branches being cut. I' ve trimmed hundreds of shooting lanes, and have never had that happen to me. I' ve had them smell the tree I was in, and the area where I stood while setting up my stand, but never a trimmed a tree. I don' t like trimming lanes either during the season, but sometimes you just have to when you' re going into a new area for the first hunt. I had this tree picked out last winter to hunt, just didn' t realize that the leaves on the trees and underbrush would really put the screws to me in the early season. He' s gonna get his time to adjust, then I' m gonna move on him sometime next week, probably on the opposite side of his trail somewhere. The evening air current carries the way it was last nite, and that doesn' t help matters. It was a new area to me, so I was somewhat unfamalier with what the air was gonna do when it got later in the evening. So I need to adjust my tactic/position as well since he may be a little wise to that corner of the field from now on.

JeramyK

I like to spray some type of scent at the base of the tree I' m in. Just to help cover any odor that might be left behind by myself or my equipment. Right now I' m using Deer Dander by Fitzgerald Outdoors. I' ve not had any bad results with it. http://www.teamfitzgerald.com/mall/TF02_scents2.asp