What scares deer the most?

[Upatreeinwv]

What spooks a deer the most? Catching someone hunting? Foot traffic all over the woods? Getting chased? Better yet, whats the most effecient way to scout and get on deer? Four days ahead of a good hunting day?

[szwampdonkey]

The absolute best way to “scout and get on deer” is to scout with your bow in hand and stand on your back prepared to set up the moment you find hot sign. That’s your best chance to kill what’s there. If you scout a few days prior they’ll undoubtedly catch the ground scent you left all over which leaves a chance of altering their behavior when you do show up to hunt.

Imo, scent is the thing that bothers deer the most. If they smell you they’re scared and ready to bolt. Same with your ground scent. They smell that you were walking around their favorite feeding spot they won’t forget it and will be much more cautious there going forward.

[Upatreeinwv]

Ok. So what about morning hunts. You have to prescout for them right? I was able to set up on some snapped saplings the other morning in the dark, but it wasnt the hottest spot in the area. For me, it takes a pretty good bit of walking to find the "high percentage" spot. But i know how pressured areas are too. It doesnt take much to tip the scales.

[szwampdonkey]

Ok. So what about morning hunts. You have to prescout for them right? I was able to set up on some snapped saplings the other morning in the dark, but it wasnt the hottest spot in the area. For me, it takes a pretty good bit of walking to find the "high percentage" spot. But i know how pressured areas are too. It doesnt take much to tip the scales.

Well, for the most part i don’t hunt a lot of mornings early season. If i do i often will go to a predetermined spot i’m already familiar with, say a rut funnel for example.

If i wanted to hunt a totally new spot in the morning i’d probably go in before sun up so i could get to the general area i wanted to hunt then slowly move through it at grey light. If i found any promising sign i’d not go past it and set up right there during grey light. Most morning deer i’ve killed weren’t right at first light anyways, more like 8am to 11am. So if you were able to get set up half way decent right at first light to an hour after you should still have a good chance at deer.

But honestly, i’d really only set up in the am in a known spot just due to logistics and the high odds of spooking deer that are on their feet.

Another option is to scout your way in the day before, hunt a promising spot, then get right back in that same tree an hour before sun up the next day.

Good luck with whatever way you go about it!

[Tennhunter3]

When I eat taco bell before a hunt.

I really like am because deer are more relaxed if I bump them at 4am they just see the light and run off. Less then a hour later they are calm moving again. I know most on here don't hunt am but our temp am will be low 40s high 80s.
Am is definitely the time I see alot of action I think due to cooler temperatures.

Bump a buck in the afternoon he heads for the other side kf the property.

I've had bucks come by me so many times in grey light right before visible light. It's great intel that you know your near bedding. Am can teach a hunter more about a area then pm hunting. Because pm either your close enough or you arent..

Though 2 of my 3 nice bucks were evenings but ive missed several in the am.

[austin1990]

Ok. So what about morning hunts. You have to prescout for them right? I was able to set up on some snapped saplings the other morning in the dark, but it wasnt the hottest spot in the area. For me, it takes a pretty good bit of walking to find the "high percentage" spot. But i know how pressured areas are too. It doesnt take much to tip the scales.

Well, for the most part i don’t hunt a lot of mornings early season. If i do i often will go to a predetermined spot i’m already familiar with, say a rut funnel for example.

If i wanted to hunt a totally new spot in the morning i’d probably go in before sun up so i could get to the general area i wanted to hunt then slowly move through it at grey light. If i found any promising sign i’d not go past it and set up right there during grey light. Most morning deer i’ve killed weren’t right at first light anyways, more like 8am to 11am. So if you were able to get set up half way decent right at first light to an hour after you should still have a good chance at deer.

But honestly, i’d really only set up in the am in a known spot just due to logistics and the high odds of spooking deer that are on their feet.

Another option is to scout your way in the day before, hunt a promising spot, then get right back in that same tree an hour before sun up the next day.

Good luck with whatever way you go about it!

This!

I got an example. Last year I had been hunting this property most of the season and as it was winding down deer sightings in person and on cameras was going down. I'd been bouncing around this one area trying to peg down a big deer that called it home and one night just sitting around staring at OnX I remembered a location that I'd wanted to hunt but never been into, it was the last weekend of the hunt and I said heck go for it. So I waited til gray light and started slipping in. Found some good rubs and then finally found a great kill spot, lots of sign. I picked a tree, got setup and text a buddy hunting the other side of the property. It was 7:30 when I text him, well after daylight, at 7:38 I caught movement and it turned out to he a 140"-145" 10 point. The deer took a different trail than I expected and went by at 43 yards, and I sent an arrow over his back

But going in and scouting my way in starting at gray light is what put me in the game. That same buddy that morning did the same thing on the other side of the property, but didn't get in a tree til 8 am. At 10:03 he killed a 143" buck crusing by. This was all the 2nd weekend of Nov.

[<DK>]

Out of all of those options id say getting chased but they are dang good at their jobs and they can feel comfortable in any situation.

If you want to find a buck to hunt a few days before then the most effective way is jumping them. I would never suggest going in blind to a spot, if thats the only option then id rather just spend the first day scouting.

[Hawthorne]

Human scent spooks them the most. Lingering effects of hunting pressure can last up to years for mature bucks. I remember Dan saying if something gets hunted really hard it can take a couple years for a spot to recover if hunters abandon the area. Find the over looked spots which isn’t easy

[MichiganMike]

I would say invading their bedding area, especially in morning. I screwed up a couple years ago and got turned around in a swamp that ends up to a river oxbow. There was a buck I was targeting that beds on that oxbow. I got too far in and SPLOOSH- in to the river he went and crashing away on the other side. Out of my life for good- and on someone else's wall

[Rich M]

Id go walk the area after work, stay on dirt toads and look for tracks. Find tracks, then see what edges they are using, set up where an edge and the trail intersect.

[Upatreeinwv]

These big woods deer are definetly touchy. Some of them get spooked and go two or three hollers over. I do like jumping them up in non hunting situations cause its just another dot on the map where he's been. Enough of those dots and I can strategize a little more.