Intersting hunt tonight

[summit090706]

I was out tonight for a few hours. I got on my stand around 4:30 pm and didn't even have my bow up and had a young doe come out and feed infront of me. I used my fawn bleat and soon another little bigger doe come out. All in all I saw 6 does, nothing real big.

I do have a question, I used my rattling bag and as soon as I hit it I heard what sounded like a deer blowing through his nose. The deer sounded big. Every time I hit the bag this deer did the same thing. I never saw it, it stayed in the thick brush. Question is would you think that this was a buck?

Well another nice night out on the stand. Have a great weekend.

[FISHINGURU]

i don't think it was a buck imo...well it could of been i guess since you didn't see it but i don't think it was responding to your rattling..the bucks aren't agressive right now and wouldn't respond like that...i'd guess it was the old snort foot stomp because the deer heard rattling but didn't see the deer making the noise and thought something was fishy...they wouldn't like if you were rattling hard either because that isn't whats goin on out there right now.

[Wanderer]

Its great you had action! Not a doe shooter?

I think you are a solid month away from rattling time though. The snorting you heard was not helping your cause.

[chris63]

I'm not being a wise guy but is it possible it was another hunter blowing/snorting at you.(you said every time you rattled the snort was shot back)sounds like it just maybe mistaken identity.jmtcc63

[shorebird]

I was suprised last night. I saw a doe with a buck following her every move.

It should be way to early.............but

[harvey lee]

It could have been a deer of either sex trying to wind you as they could not figure out where the sound was coming from or a doe was warning her fawns of danger.

[summit090706]

Thanks for all of the thoughts. I know that it was not another hunter. I have seen 2 other does this year already blow out their nose. I am hunting a lot of CRP/Weeds/Grass so lots of stuff floating around. My idea that it might have been a buck was that compared to the other times I have seen/heard this the sound was a bit wimpy, this was not a small snort by any means. Thanks alot everyone..

[tunrevir]

It isn't too early to rattle right now you just have to mimic a sparring match with lighter clicks rather then an all out war Imo. Practice lighter sparring when you have smaller bucks around to see what their reaction is. You may be surprised at the results.

Tunrevir~

[96trigger]

Light contact sparring a couple of young buck grunts, could bring in a buck right now. Also had a student come in last week and say they saw a nice buck, nose to tail on a doe. Might be some first estrus does out there right now. If some does go late, might be some that go early.

In my experience it is more likely that it was a BIG doe, that didn't like what it was hearing, and not seeing. But you never know, it could have been the big guy also. I've actually never had a buck blow at me, they don't seem to warn anything else, like a doe will her fawns. They sneak in, and sneak out.

[summit090706]

Actually Tunrevir, that is what I was trying to do was mimic a sparring match with some softer/lighter rolls in the rattling bag. I had read that on one of the posts here and thought I would give it a try. I normally don't start to rattle until early to mid Oct. The land that I hunt has a lot of deer on it both does and bucks. By this time last year I had spotted 5 young bucks and 2 nice mature bucks, this year all I have seen so far are Big does, yearlings, and fawns....Still fun though