Does taking a deer in an area disturb it for a while?

[Cove]

My son in law and I bow hunt the same piece of land. Tonight he shot a nice doe. It was alone when he shot it. Typical double lung....

Question: Should I forget about hunting this piece for a few days or not? Any experience out there with getting multiple deer in same general area (say, 10 acre or less) in successive days?

[harvey lee]

I would say if you had to walk all over the woods and scent it up, I would stay out for a day or so.

Now, if it is raining in that area and can wash the scent away, then maybe.

For a 10 acre or less area, personally I would back off for a few days. The does may stay but if you pushed a buck, it could be gone for a day or longer.

If its a breeding area, then they should be back.

many ways to look at it.

[Neighbor_guy]

I guess it depends on the area and the deer in it. I have taken deer on back to back days, less than 5 yards between shot locations. I have also had deer avoid an area like the plague for a week.....

probably doesn't solve your problem, but like I said, I have seen it both ways.

[LOTWSvirgin]

Buddy of mine shot a doe the other day looked like a good shot but missed one of the lungs looked around for couple hours before jumping her again that night after leaveing a buck walked by the same spot he shot it an hour after we left and several more does through the night. Got the doe the next morning 100 yards from his blind she circled back on us. So in this case no harm done that we noticed

[Steve Foss]

A wary mature buck may be put off. Or maybe not if he's really, really horny (well, too early for that just yet). There are stories all over the place of deer walking right by the fresh or relatively fresh gutpiles of their buddies and not even putting their tails up.

One thing that does occur to me is whether there's typically a lot of human activity around the land you're hunting. If there is, I'd reckon those deer wouldn't be spooked at all the next day. If it's a more remote area, it'd be more likely they would be.

[Coach1310]

If you are hunting a "specific buck" it may not be a bad idea to stay out, but you can't shoot anything from your living room chair, so if staying out means you won't hunt at all, then I say go when you can and see how it works out. 95% of the experience is just being out there.... deer or no deer

[Cove]

Thanks for the quick replies, guys.

I do value your opinions and actual experiences.

It is an area where the owner takes a walk through X 3-4 per week, usually accompanied by a couple of dogs. There is a nice buck out there which both my hunting buddy and I have bumped on way out to stands yet keeps hanging around, so I think these deer are relatively accustomed to human activity.

Last year I did shoot a doe, sat and watched it a while to make sure it was "gone" before I risked an approach, and about 20 minutes after it likely expired a doe and 2 fawns passed by. They looked nervous, and the doe stood a ways off and watched for quite a while, but they didn't high tail it out.