Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I think it was bigboreBLR in another thread who mentioned bucks travelling in ditches and/or low spots. I'll relate 2 episodes of mine and then ask what you gents have seen over the years.
When I was about 20 yrs. old, I was archery hunting on a remote mountain powerline, which had service road (of sorts) running along its length. Road was damp and mossy, so easy to be quiet when creeping along. I was trying to get to a spot while walking on that service road. Ahead was a ditch of about 4 ft. deep, small stream flowing down it, with higher dirt piles along the edge I was approaching from. As I crept closer to the ditch (about 10 ft. away at that time), I heard the rocks in the ditch make a slight clacking sound. I thought - coon looking for food - but it happened again, and it sounded like something heavier walking. I crept to the edge of the dirt pile, peeked around into the ditch, bow ready ..... to hear an explosion of water & rocks as a BIG buck roared down the ditch back from where he came, into thick, dark woods. Before he saw me, my scent was carried down that ditch (down-slope in the evening), to send him flying. All I saw was a big body and a wide, BIG rack. If he'd have been "up" on the level of the powerline, he'd have been fully exposed - not out of sight, without the ditch funneling my scent to him. The nose & sinking, cooling air were his tools that evening.
The other time my wife and I were driving sloooowly along a dirt remote mountain road in her Honda (super quiet). It was a dark, rainy, October day, and we were trying to see deer moving about as rut was approaching. Up ahead about 100 yds. further, we saw a huge buck cross the road from higher ground to lower ground on the other side of the road. I mentally marked the spot he crossed, and it was right at a drainage ditch made to keep water from puddling on, or eroding the dirt road. Knowing bucks like to travel in ditches and low spots, I told my wife to drive past where he crossed plus another 100 yds. until I told her to stop ..... then turn off the engine. I started looking back to where he crossed & she asked why. I said big bucks are curious and like to figure out what things are that disturb them, so many times they'll come back in a bit to see what that "something" was and if it's still around. She asked me where I thought he'd come back - if he came back - and I told her if he came back, he'd cross at that same ditch. About 10 minutes later, I saw his rack above the laurel brush coming right up that same ditch. He looked up & down the road, locked eyes on our car, then jumped back across the road to where he came from originally. Wife asked how I knew he'd cross there, and I told her I'd seen a number of times when bucks were using low spots or ditches to stay out of sight / keep low in their travels.
Anyone seen this same tactic by bucks?
When I was about 20 yrs. old, I was archery hunting on a remote mountain powerline, which had service road (of sorts) running along its length. Road was damp and mossy, so easy to be quiet when creeping along. I was trying to get to a spot while walking on that service road. Ahead was a ditch of about 4 ft. deep, small stream flowing down it, with higher dirt piles along the edge I was approaching from. As I crept closer to the ditch (about 10 ft. away at that time), I heard the rocks in the ditch make a slight clacking sound. I thought - coon looking for food - but it happened again, and it sounded like something heavier walking. I crept to the edge of the dirt pile, peeked around into the ditch, bow ready ..... to hear an explosion of water & rocks as a BIG buck roared down the ditch back from where he came, into thick, dark woods. Before he saw me, my scent was carried down that ditch (down-slope in the evening), to send him flying. All I saw was a big body and a wide, BIG rack. If he'd have been "up" on the level of the powerline, he'd have been fully exposed - not out of sight, without the ditch funneling my scent to him. The nose & sinking, cooling air were his tools that evening.
The other time my wife and I were driving sloooowly along a dirt remote mountain road in her Honda (super quiet). It was a dark, rainy, October day, and we were trying to see deer moving about as rut was approaching. Up ahead about 100 yds. further, we saw a huge buck cross the road from higher ground to lower ground on the other side of the road. I mentally marked the spot he crossed, and it was right at a drainage ditch made to keep water from puddling on, or eroding the dirt road. Knowing bucks like to travel in ditches and low spots, I told my wife to drive past where he crossed plus another 100 yds. until I told her to stop ..... then turn off the engine. I started looking back to where he crossed & she asked why. I said big bucks are curious and like to figure out what things are that disturb them, so many times they'll come back in a bit to see what that "something" was and if it's still around. She asked me where I thought he'd come back - if he came back - and I told her if he came back, he'd cross at that same ditch. About 10 minutes later, I saw his rack above the laurel brush coming right up that same ditch. He looked up & down the road, locked eyes on our car, then jumped back across the road to where he came from originally. Wife asked how I knew he'd cross there, and I told her I'd seen a number of times when bucks were using low spots or ditches to stay out of sight / keep low in their travels.
Anyone seen this same tactic by bucks?
