Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Still-hunters & Trackers:Have you ever had deer come to you while rustling through woods?

I can remember my father telling me he was slowly walking his way up a steep hill in thick Northeast woods while there was crispy snow on the ground when a younger buck came and peaked over the edge. He managed to harvest that buck.

Just wondering if you guys have had any similar experiences where a Buck actually came towards you while you where making the usual snaps and crunch noises while walking through the woods? Is this that unusual?

I've had deer alert on my movement, stepped behind cover, pulled out my Quaker Boy Easy Yelper, gave it a couple light hits, then watched the deer settle back down and go about their business, of course never a big buck in those scenarios, plus, if the wind was wrong/quickly changed, it all went to hell, my thinking is if a deer thinks turkeys are in the area, it must be safe.

One afternoon I was still hunting and a deer started snorting at me on the ridge top above me....i immediately snorted back several times while stomping the ground with my foot.

He came charging down the hill i shot him about 30 or 40 yards....it was pretty cool that night so I gutted him planning on going back in the morning to drag him out.

I stopped at a small local store and these two colored fellows I knew offered to help me that night....it was so dark that if they closed their eyes I couldn't see them we got turned around dragging the deer.

Backed up in the brush watching a water hole, for a Whitetail buck, very quiet no wind, this guy walked right up to me, and sniffed my boot. Rio7

I was still hunting up a mountainside early one morning and sat down on a rock, took my pack off, and dug out a pack of crackers to eat to keep my blood sugar up (insulin dependent diabetic). It was COLD and still that morning and the plastic cracker wrapper was crinkling incredibly loud. There was quite a bit of crinkling as I was digging the crackers out of the pack as they were under my outer layer of cloths I stuck in the pack so I wouldn't get hot going up the mountain. When I pull the first cracker out and put it in my mouth I could hear the buck pictured below making a beeline to me. There was a patch of cane immediately to my right and I could hear him coming through it. I turned around to get ready for the shot and he came out coming straight for me with the hair on his neck up....he looked pretty impressive and really ticked off. .358 Win straight front shot through the chest....I still had the first cracker in my mouth. ...Edited to add this was in the prime/peak of the rut....

I can't say for sure he was coming to the crackers but he looked pissed off and was making his way towards something. I have no doubt he could hear me easing up the mountain side before I sat down...I was being as quite as I could, using rocks. The wind was blowing to me from his direction so he couldn't have caught my scent. The crackers were so loud I was cringing when pulling them out and opening them...he had to have heard them.

Yep. Numerous times.

Never had one one come to me while tracking. But I do know of a buck or two that have risen from their beds and started back down a wash over their tracks. They ran into hunters tracking them and were killed.
My very first buck got out of his bed as the sun was setting, worked his way through some heavy brush, and turned toward me as I was still hunting slowly down a private road. He came right at me. At 25 yds., I put a 150 gr. Remington Bronze Point into the center of his chest. E

Yes, I've spotted movement in the distance and froze in place and had deer walk up/past to me on a few occasions.

I know a couple of guys in PENN that still hunt often and they use a method called a J hook and they have had bucks try to sneak passed them as they sat still for a few minutes

I tie a doe in heat drag to one boot while still hunting during the rut and have caught several bucks following g my trail with their nose to the ground.

I’ve had curious deer come in but I can tell you without a doubt most hunters even quietly walking push deer that are 200/250 yards away from them. There are several spots around my area I literally watch this happen.

I think cadence makes a difference, I’ve had deer come towards me a number of times but typically I was motionless at the time of contact.

I’ve also had, and know some others as well, who have had deer come in while we were getting situated in tree stands. My Father in Law in particular has killed a couple bucks just after settling into a climber. He’s convinced the bucks mistake the scraping on bark as another buck. Like JCMCUBIC, these were in the peak of the rut.

I had a doe almost run into me two days ago, while I was operating a Bobcat! Watched that deer coming towards me for over 100 yards, and it nearly hit the bucket of the machine, while it was running and moving. Singularly pre-occupied with something else I guess.

I've not ever had game come specifically to me well I was walking.

I have unexpectedly walked right up to deer, elk, bears, coyotes, and antelope. I definitely do not consider myself a great sneek on foot. My only explanation is even hypersensitive animals are not infallible. Weather, sun glare, and other distractions can draw their attention.

I've also had the above animals walk right into my camp. Even during hunting season. Antelope are particularly curious. Some of best hunting memories are the close up visits where no shot was fired.

A couple of times I’ve been climbing a tree with a climbing stand and had young bucks come in. All I can figure is that they think it’s another buck rubbing on a tree and they want to see who it is.

Never while I was deer hunting, but I almost got trampled by a little spike buck that came barreling down a trail through some brambles I was walking during a squirrel hunt one time.

I did sit down and wait for a doe to walk right up on me once and popped it. We got a really late start that morning, so it was light enough to see a bit going out. I was walking down the treeline toward my stand and saw a group of deer coming toward me from a pasture on the next property over. I sat down on a rock and just waited until the first one hopped the fence onto our property and plugged it from about 60 yards. The rest jumped the fence and ran right past me within 75 yards or so, but I only had one tag, so they all lived to see another day.

Never had them approach me in the daylight, but I did have a deer and a young coyote both come to my small flashlight beam when I was slipping back to the truck after dark. It was a new hunting property and I guess they'd never seen anything like it. The deer came up to maybe 5 yards from my light before backing up and easing away. The coyote wouldn't get quite that close.

I had that once. Was spotlighting for pigs and a doe ran up to about 5 yards from the light and stopped

A couple of times. The first time I was brushing up a tree for a stand and a small 8 point came running up to right under the tree. The next time it was full rut and I came upon a fresh scrape. I figured that was as good a place as any so I climbed up into a nearby spruce tree and snapped a few branches doing so. Maybe 5 minutes after I settled in, a nice 8 point came trotting out toward the scrape and he came home with me. Deer make noise walking too and make a lot of noise fighting or chasing does. If you don't sound like a human, I don't think that they can tell what you are.
It works in reverse too for small woodlots. One of my more accomplished small farmland deer hunting buddies walks along the edge of a woods up wind if possible making lots of walking and some talking noise. Then he quickly and quietly goes to the other side of the woods to set up. People don't seem to realize how far just talking carries in a quiet woods.

Had a doe and fawn come up to me this morning, from 100 yards to under 50.

I was a still hunter in Northern California and hunted the Cascade Mountains for blacktail. I shot dozens and all were taken on the ground while walking or sitting. The first thing is to know the wind, second move slow, if you think your moving too slow, slow down some more. Third, never walk with a rhythm. Forth move tree to tree and bush to bush and don't stay upright. Practice scent control, use what is local. We had Bay Trees in the area so I carried a spray bottle with Bay Tea and had bay leaves to rub myself down. Finally keep a squirrel call where you can get to it. Those little sucker will rat you out and get to make all the noise they want in the woods. Let me move a leaf and everything is looking at me. That call gets everything in the woods to relax thinking "It just a damm squirrel". I can't tell you the number of times the call has saved my hunt.

That squirrel call deal is very interesting, can’t wait to try it out.

Thanks

There is another advantage to the squirrel call. If you hunting with someone else or a group it's a great location spotter. You can say I'm over here on the radio all you want but where is that? You you sure don't shout "Hay Bubba". Hit your squirrel can and you know where each other is.

My son swore by those fancy GPS map things. One day out hunting I asked where he was, he said two hundred yards above you. I knew that wasn't right but he insisted. Finally he hit the squirrel call, he was two hundred yards below me! Probably was holding the damm thing upside down.

Gps doesn't work well when moving slowly in cover. You can stay in one spot a long while or move at a run.

My uncles were hanging some stands a week before then WI about 20 years ago. One was strapping the stand in and the other was whacking limbs off tress with a machete and 2 bucks came in looking for the buck making the rub.

When Dad was running a bulldozer for a neighbor's excavating business, he told me deer would often come out and watch him work, digging a pond or whatever needed doing. The deer seemed fascinated by the machinery, and maybe they liked the smell of freshly turned dirt. Or, maybe, they were just curious.

I have had to stop shooting on public rifle ranges, to let deer move across the range, same deal with groundhogs and other small game.

Noise isn't necessarily a deal-breaker, deer get used to farm equipment and it's noises and smells, and apparently gunfire doesn't bother them too much as long as it's not aimed at them in particular. Sometimes the best stand you can sit in, is an old combine that broke down and was never moved from it's spot.

At least, that's how it works in farm country. I'd imagine it is different in "the big woods", but we don't have any big woods in N/C Missouri.

My uncle was building a treestand with another guy, cutting oak saplings with a chainsaw and nailing them together aloft. A very nice buck came in to see what was up. His shotgun was on the ground and the other guy couldn’t see the deer. You know the rest.

I and others have had bull moose come to the rustling of a poly tarp.

One year, on the day after season, I was chopping down a birch tree that was interfering with a shooting lane view. "Junior", a 5 year old bull came and stood watching me from about 40 yards away. Jr. was just under 50", with 2 X2 brow tines, making him sub legal.

I did not hunt the next year and someone else got him I guess, as I never saw him again. I'd watched him from a calf. Bummer.

Agree - mine were moose which are basically magnum whitetail

I've heard of pairs still hunting together, on a known route, about 80 yards in-trail, first guy typically moves the deer and as they tuck back in behind him the second gets the shot......


Off hand there ain't but one guy that I would even consider hunting with in that scenario...................

I said CONSIDER!!!

I only know one guy who would be hunting with me in tandem. I did shoot a doe one year during deer and squirrel season. We were squirrel hunting and going down a trail in thick brush. We made as little noise as possible and up the hill came the doe. Well the Ruger Old Army came out of the crossdraw holster and I stomped to alert her. She just came faster. One shot at the top of the white patch and she hit the ground before the white cloud dissipated from the black powder. Thought somehow I had missed until the cloud left. It took a while as the trail was the only way to the bottoms from that thick brush. Oh, the RB went up the spine somehow. Thought it would go out or down. Be Well, RZ.

I often hunt hoofed game in the bush by easing along, making as little noise as practical, and when I move I try to move like a deer/elk/moose would. Uneven footsteps, short pauses, looking and listening in-between. I can't walk silently, so I try to sound like another critter. I sometimes call like the game I'm after, using communication calls not breeding challenges. I've had many animals come check me out while doing this. It's one of my favourite ways to hunt. I used the method successfully again last whitetail season. A little fork horn buck sneaked in and was peering at me from 30 meters and I had a nice easy open shot at a standing animal.

Always figured I was doing well if I spotted animals walking up behind me.

I still hunt alone. Various calls, squirrel, deer can be used to put deer at ease, but yeah, I have walked up a number of deer, and have had deer approach me while hunting.

I believe Ren50 mentioned a few that tried to run him over.