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BUMPING DEER
DEER HUNTERS NIGHTMARE
By Allen “horntagger” Morris
WASTING TIME
Welcome to a double edge sword topic. You hear deer hunters talk about it every year. I spooked them when I was walking to my stand; I spooked them as I was headed back to the truck.  Bumping deer can be one of the most frustrating parts of deer hunting. Me and you spend hours, washing clothes in non-scented soap, keeping our boots scent free till season starts, buying deer scent, practice shooting for days, scouting the area down to the little piece of deer hair on the fence to turkey feather under the leaves.
Worse thing about it you have caused it. Let just think about it. You have spent your hard-earned money on minerals, food plots, watering holes, apple trees, and even supplement feeding. You have now and in most of the country brought your local deer herd population up and now working on quality instead of quantity.  Only now every time you head to your stand you have to run deer off to hunt. This is a problem we all need. The deer want to be there because of all your hard work. You are thinking that you have almost wasted your time. NOT.
CONTINUED


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3 STEP TO SUCCESS – OK MAYBE 4

After putting in 10 to 12 years of food plots, I am not about to consider it a waste of time. I did however have  to run several deer off every morning just to get to the stand. The typical contact would be me walking in before with a flashlight that would also spook them. Then me crunching leaves, and almost to the stand when snort, and then silence. The snort, snort, snort, and off to the races the deer go in every direction. Does this sound familiar?

STEP ONE – FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD – OK, GREEN

This is the most extreme solution to a bumping deer problem. Every year in Southern Missouri on the first weekend in September, we get the leaf rakes out and we rake paths to each deer stand no matter how far it might be. Also, when we get the dirt exposed we sow winter wheat on the paths. This does few things provide a path to follow, food to eat, and once the wheat is up it will keep a lot of the leaves from blowing back on the path and when the leaves fall will allow the wind to blow them off the path.  To go into more detail, this allows us to walk to the stand in the dark without a flash light because the color of the ground allows you to follow the path and if you get off the path then the leaves will let you know. Also makes your trip to your stand a very quite. Now you have defeated two of the defenses of a the deer sight and hearing.  This will be a lot of work, but will also provide great bonus for deer and turkey. First the deer, come bow season will follow the same path as you do but for different reason. They are feeding on the wheat that has started to grow.  After 4 years of doing this, come to find out the deer will also make this a permanent trail that they will follow.  We also have a turkey bonus twice a year. The turkey will also use these paths this fall scratching in the pile of leaves on the side of the trails for bugs. Come this spring they will do the same thing plus it the wheat will have died off because of too much shade provide a dry environment for the hens and poults to follow.
STEP TWO – GETTING THEIR FIRST
This one is easy to figure out but can drive a hunter crazy. You got it get to the stand 2 to 3 hours before daylight.  This is extreme but I have tried this at one hour at a time till I have made it to around 2 ½ hours before daylight without bumping one deer going the stand.  One of the most important things you can do for this is get plenty of rest, you will need it to be alert because every sound will be the big buck you just can’t see. 
The deer will be more relaxed. But, the thing that can kill this entire plan is another hunter, friend, family, dog, and coyote coming in and bumping the deer anyway.  This will work but I only do this as a last resort any more.

STEP THREE – BECOME A DEER

Besides using the wheat paths, after for 3 years of thinking the snort was only an alarm call, I have made this as my number one successful tactic:
When walking in before the daylight most of the time you will hear the deer snort at you. Your silence is what gives you away. Then you will hear the deer snort at you 3 times then run for its life.  Snort back, most of the time the deer has heard you instead of seeing you. When you hear that first snort, the deer expects that if you are another deer to snort back. When you just stand there like a knot on a log you have told the other deer that you are not a deer, but some thing that it wants no part of.
I have learned to snort without using a man made call, but there are now call manufacturers that do make snort call now for the same reason. I suggest getting one if it has a tape with it and learn using the call and learn to call without.  Every time the deer snorts you snort back if it stands there and snorts seven different times, you snort seven different times. Sometimes the deer will still run off, but I have found most times the deer will allow you to make it through the woods as long as you don’t get any closer to them or they will mill around or walk off.

STEP FOUR – THE ULTIMATE PREDATOR

That is what we are. The ultimate predator and these are the final and most difficult ways to not bump deer on the way to the stand.
Stalking to the stand when shooting hours start, moving ever so slowly, watching every inch you are about to step on. At the same time watching every little movement in the woods until you either catch a deer while you are still on the ground or you make it to your stand.  For me most of the time I get caught for one reason or another, and only attempt this method when I am running late for a morning hunt.

SEE YOU AT THE STAND

Which every method you choose or multiple methods you choose, I hope they work out for you as well as they have worked for me and my friends, so we could enjoy all the hard work and watch the deer roam by the stands.


Hope to see you in the woods. horntagger

Making Mock Scrapes
By Allen “horntagger” Morris

How, Where, When, What and Who
That’s the question I put to you when you deal with scrapes and mock scrapes. But they are not hard to understand once you have watched or hunted scrapes. Mock scrapes are a tool like anything else dealing with deer hunting; no one thing will work 100% of the time. But anything that can increase your chances is worth trying. Personally I have a few methods I have tried.
HOW
The first one that has worked best is when I find a scrape in an area I don’t hunt and I know others don’t also. P.S. I don’t do this to scrape lines. I hunt them. Anyway, I carry a 2 gallon zip lock bag with me and dig the top 1 or 2 inches up and take it with me.  Then I deposit it in the area I hunt. Does not take long for other deer to start using it if nothing else trying to figure out this new deer in the area.  I do wear only my hunting gloves, boots, and clothes when doing this they have very little or none human scent.  The second way is just clear the ground and put in doe urine. If I have any buck lure I will us that also.

Third way, which I tried last year in the area just outside of where I hunt but within in range of my location I cleared the ground and urinated into it.  I did this in the morning and I only had water to drink for some hours before. Within 24 hours I had a deer track in it.  It is my understanding, and a topic last year of discussion, that urine breaks down into ammonia but it takes heat so I made sure I did it in the morning and in a sunny location so it would break down faster.  Also by not drinking alcohol or taking medicine I cut down on any strange scents. Unfortunetly I has no sighting or pictures to show me the deer reaction other than the tracks in the dirt.

Fourth way is I take small amount of ammonia and pour into the mock scrape.  But  with any of these methods I have started adding small amounts of salt just enough to dissolve quickly. I believe this helps with the frequency and use of the scrape.

WHERE

Well this is the easiest of all. Where the deer want to be. Along travel corridors or edges of food plots or fields.

WHEN

I have tried late September and late in November but it I have finally settled down into one time of year. That is during what I call the FALSE RUT in October.  This is when less than 5 percent of the does are breed and others almost come into heat, but the scent is now in the woods and the bucks show a little more aggressiveness by marking their territory. For the year 2002 I believe the FALSE RUT will be October 10th thru the 15th this is when the last quarter phase of the Moon occurs and you will have to look at my Missouri Moon Phase Chart to find out more. So as a true weekend hunter I will put mine out October 13th and 14th in 2002.

WHAT

What is the most important thing about a mock scrape?  Clearing on the ground is a good start but without an overhanging limb it is almost a waste of time.  After reading a study, which for the life of me I can’t find that magazine, I believe the numbers said that mock scrapes with overhanging limbs where used 80 % of the time. Mock Scrapes without overhanging limbs only 20 %.
Also after a few pictures of salt licks and mock scrapes the limb seems to be more of a key to me.  I have even cut off limbs from scrapes and put them over my mock scrape that has no activity and a deer would open up the scrape then.

WHO

Typically the more mature bucks will make the first season scrapes, but younger bucks as well as does will make, and maintain scrapes. So don’t get buck fever every time you see a scrape. But don’t write it off either.  If you ever get to watch traffic that comes to a scrape you will learn that every size and sex of Whitetail deer will visit a scrape along with rabbits, raccoons, bobcats, and coyotes.  Scrapes within 100 yards of each other that you think are a scrape line can be part of two completely different populations of deer. So don’t take the close location for granted.


 

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