sse

I am a novice to bowhunting (or any hunting for that matter). The other day a decent whitetail buck pranced up to within 7 yds of my ground blind, but I was caught with my recurve hanging on the tree next to me. The deer miraculously turned away and I tried to get the bow as quietly as I could. Something twitched and the deer bounded about 10 yds away to my right. It stared at me for 5 minutes and finally walked away.

If you were caught off guard like I was, what would you do??

Thanks, sse

CAJUNBOWHNTR

I limit my hunts to 3-4 hour sits.I put the bottom limb on top of my foot and rest the bow on my leg holding it with one hand.This is hunting out of a tree stand.I' ve had deer slip up on me too so I try and be on gaurd all the time on stand.If your sitting in a blind all day it' s hard to do.

CB

Wahya

What wouldn' t I do, lol. Actually, I probably would have reached for the bow and tried to get the shot. But with the animal alert and moving, that may not have been a viable option. But, I still would have tried, lol.

I' ve had deer sneak in on me when I was asleep at the base of a tree. You know, off in a daydream and not paying attention to what I' m there for. Anyway, the first and next to last time it happened was kind of comical. I had stopped my still hunting in late morning because it was July and the heat of the sun was starting to beat me up some. I' d chosen a shady spot and layed my bow down next to me as I sat with my back up against the larger of the trees. As I leaned back and got comfortable, I noted that my scent was blowing in the direction that I was looking, so I figured no sane critter would walk in on me and I decided to close me eyes and catch a couple of winks. No sooner had I drifted off when I was startled back awake by a noise. There it was again and it was coming from behind me. I reached for my bow, drew an arrow from the Selway quiver attached to the old widow recurve and nocked it to the string. Ever so slowly I turned my head to try and get a look at what was making the racket, but the tree blocked my vision and because of the surrounding brush and trees, I knew that I' d have to at least get up off my butt and onto my knees so' s I could get a better look see. So as quiet as I could, I got to my knees and readied my bow. I peered around the tree and danged if a big ol doe wasn' t doing the same thing in my direction, lol. We were eyeball to eyeball and stayed that way for what seemed a heck of a long time, but probably wasn' t. She got tired of the staredown and moved off. I just couldn' t help but laugh out loud at what had just taken place. I look at it as one of my most memorable hunts, even though we can' t hunt does and I never did see a shootable buck all season long.

sse

I have always heard that whitetail hunters have plenty of tales of unexpected close encounters. One other thing, you aren' t going to have any encounters unless you get your butt in the woods.

Regards, sse

dkbs

Yes, no matter how alert you are, every so often one will sneak in on you. You may not get an opportunity but it still gets the juices flowing. That is what bowhunting is all about, the memories. And if it was a huge buck, now thats a memory that will last a long time, long after you finish kicking yourself in the butt.
Happy Hunting
Dan

sse

Thanks, guys. This particular buck looked large for its antlers, which appeared large enough for at least 3-4 points per side. I' m wondering whether a deer that size would end up with a LARGE rack in a few years. ??

Anyway, I' ve been day dreaming about that moment. I think I' m going to remember that for the rest of my days.

Regards, sse