DanesDad
Posts: 1989
Joined: 3/21/2005
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Hunt dates: 10-13, evening, 10-14, morning. Boths trips, I put Tinks #69 on three scent bombs and placed them around the tree I was in. Climbed same tree both times. 10-13 hunted from 3 pm until about 7. 10-14 hunted 5:30 until 10 AM. 10-13 was cloudy and about 75 degrees. 10-14 dawned clear and sunny and about 55 degrees up to about 65 as the day wore on.
The area: 2A, an oak flat of about 1-2 acres on a hill above a major highway. I chose this area because I've seen deer there in the past and I felt that there was a good chance that there were deer in the area. At least one very large buck lives in the area. This year, acorn production is very light. There is no agriculture nearby.
Results: 10-13: saw nothing, heard nothing. It was very warm and I believe that the deer weren't moving during the daylight. 10-14: There was a lot of snorting both upwind and downwind of me AFTER I was set up. This went on sporatically throughout the morning, even after it got light. Before it was light enough to see the ground, I could hear a deer wandering through the underbrush downwind of my position, but I didn't see it. About 9:00, a doe and two smaller deer bolted out of the underbrush downwind of me and stopped under my tree. Although they had their tails up, they weren't running out of fright (IMO). Instead of running in a straight line like they had a pressing appointment in another county (as frightened deer run), they were basically tearing around, pell mell, throughout the forest. In my experience this type of random running is more consistent with a doe being chased by a buck. The big doe stopped about ten feet from one of my scent bombs (she was so close to my tree that I couldn't even move, much less shoot-this all happened so fast, I was caught flatfooted). She seemed to be sniffing the air, but then one of the smaller deer ran a half circle around my tree, crossed in front of the doe and then all three dashed off the way they came. About a minute later, they came running back in my direction, but the doe stopped about 50 yards out and looked right at me. I think she busted me at that point. All three then turned and disappeared for good back in the direction from which they had come.
Conclusion: I think that the doe definitely noticed the smell of my scent bomb, but I dont think she was lured to me by it. Based on the movement I heard before it was light enough to see, and the snorting I heard throughout the day, I think it's possible that there was a buck in the area that had picked up the smell. Since I didn't actually see a buck, this is just speculation on my part. Maybe he caught a whiff, but didn't see any doe until he came upon the one that ran by my stand. So, he starts sniffing around her to see if she's the source of the estrous smell, and she wants none of it. So she and her little ones dash off and wind up running right to me. The only time I've ever seen does running at random through the woods before this was during the rut.
Did placing scent out this early help: I think it definitely had an effect. There is any one of a hundred things I might have done wrong that kept the buck from walking by me, but I do believe he was in the vicinity and if I'd been ready for the doe and her little ones to appear out of nowhere, I'd have shot the doe. I'll certainly try this again, in the future and maybe later this week if I get the chance. Sorry so long. Hope this helps the research.
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RE: Who wants to help with an experiment? - 
There are charcoal flats all over where I hunt, and deer love scraping on them.
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