I wish I would have had time to grab my camera last night before the big doe got in my wheel house, but last night was a great example of what a deer will smell and tolerate. Around 6:30 last night, I heard a commotion near one of the few acorn producing oaks on our property this year. It wasn't long before I caught a glimpse of two fawns and an obviously nervous doe. When I got in my stand last night, I threw in a chaw of Trophy and commenced to spitting right out of the tree. Around 5:45, I took a healthy piss right off the end of the stand. Seeing the nerves of this doe at full tilt, I figured I was in for a show if she got down wind. I hung that set for a southerly wind, but after thinking over this weekend, I feel it will be a great wind regardless of where its coming from given the availability of shots in a 360 degree view. And as luck would have it, this doe came from the north and wanted to head south right through my wind...
I watched in amazement as she worked in to my wind at 30 yards where she instantly threw her nose in the air and went to work. For nearly five minutes, she sniffed the air while working closer and closer to my stand. As the wind began to pick up with the storm front approaching, she was at 12 steps getting a full nose of me, my gear, my chaw spit, and my piss. She eventually gave up and went back to feeding, working her way back to the fawns and proceeding towards the bean field south of me. If there was ever a moment I should have been winded, it was last night! :smiley_clap:
Needless to say, I'm not worried about spitting or pissing out of the stand any longer! And I have just one more story to share in regards to the power of smoke. I had freshly cleaned clothes on last night, was showered, and my gear had been outside for a few hours prior to the hunt. I did work up a good sweat on my way up the ridge, but it was nothing that wasn't obviously covered by the smoke. The other good thing was my fear that the stand might not be concealed as well as I would normally like. But she walked past my stand at 12 yards in a roughly 270 degree radius of the stand and never once acted like she saw me. When she was completely down wind of me, she was staring up at me for a brief moment, but she quickly went back to staring off in the direction she came from. So it gained a good bit of confidence in that stand TOO...
I watched in amazement as she worked in to my wind at 30 yards where she instantly threw her nose in the air and went to work. For nearly five minutes, she sniffed the air while working closer and closer to my stand. As the wind began to pick up with the storm front approaching, she was at 12 steps getting a full nose of me, my gear, my chaw spit, and my piss. She eventually gave up and went back to feeding, working her way back to the fawns and proceeding towards the bean field south of me. If there was ever a moment I should have been winded, it was last night! :smiley_clap:
Needless to say, I'm not worried about spitting or pissing out of the stand any longer! And I have just one more story to share in regards to the power of smoke. I had freshly cleaned clothes on last night, was showered, and my gear had been outside for a few hours prior to the hunt. I did work up a good sweat on my way up the ridge, but it was nothing that wasn't obviously covered by the smoke. The other good thing was my fear that the stand might not be concealed as well as I would normally like. But she walked past my stand at 12 yards in a roughly 270 degree radius of the stand and never once acted like she saw me. When she was completely down wind of me, she was staring up at me for a brief moment, but she quickly went back to staring off in the direction she came from. So it gained a good bit of confidence in that stand TOO...
