Interesting Saturday afternoon and some questions.

[bigbore442001]

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I went to my stand on the top of a hill. My stand faces the east while a road runs to the west of it from north to south. The wind was blowing north,northeast and east for the late afternoon and evening.

I wasn't sure where the deer would emerge so I had some of these Deer Quest scent sticks at the house and I figured that I might as well use them up. I set up two of them to the side of my stand and lit them. These deer scent infused incense sticks burned for over two hours and the stream of smoke would issue towards the northeastern area of my stand.

Sure enough at 5:50 PM from that direction I heard a doe blowing. She blew eleven times and then stopped. Then at 6:05 PM she blew six more times and that was the end of it. I figured she was about 75 to 100 yards behind me where the stream of smoke went.

I figured that after that any deer in the area was warned and since quitting time was so close I decided to quit at 6:10 PM. As I removed my face mask and put my arrow back into the quiver I heard something in front of me running. I figured it was a squirrel but to my surprise it was a small doe. She was only ten yards away and walking around the front area of my stand. My bow was not ready and I did not want to move so as to spook her. She meandered around my stand area within twenty yards and then settled in a patch of laurel behind me. She was downwind of me as well as the area inundated by the scent sticks.

It was close to dark when I figured I will lower my bow down and head out. She heard me fumbling in the dark as I lowered my bow and trotted off. She didn't blow or seem to act really spooked as I could hear her heading out but not at a full tilt.

I walked back to the truck thinking of what happened.

Three things might have happened and I suspect one is the real culprit but I would like those with wiser minds to provide their input on the matter.

1. The doe blew at me because the Deer Quest Scent Sticks spooked her. Although they were done burning the scent lingered in the area and for that distance. The scent was foriegn to her or at least alarming and she blew.( This is what I believe happened)

2.She caught my own personal scent in spite of using scent killing spray, taking a shower in scent killing soap about one hour ago and using clean,aired out clothes and rubber boots.

3. Something on the road spooked her.

What are your opinions?

[Mohawk]

  Well, I tend to think it was a foreign smell. I tried a new scent the last two weekends, Trails End #307. I had deer snorting at it. A small 8 point yesterday morning not only snorted but ran while snorting with each step until he was out of ear-shot They obviously did not like it a bit. So for my last hunt I switched to my "old reliable", Tinks #10 Skunk scent. I was not snorted at any more. I should have stuck with what worked instead of trying a different scent. The skunk has worked for me about 90% of the time and has been very effective.

[dukkillr]

Nothing can completely eliminate human scent.  Those things are all a good idea but a mature whitetail that is downwind will still have a chance to smell you.  My experience has been that young deer may be more curious than scared if you've done a good job of hiding your scent but an old doe or mature buck will not hang around if they catch even a slight hint of smell...