What busts more hunters?

[TheLBLman]

Sometimes it's hard to find what you want WITHOUT VELCRO.

I purchased a new Cabela's MT050 parka last year, and first thing I did was take a pair of scissors to it.

Velcro and serious deer hunting do not mix.

 

[Scioto]

I agree. Big thumbs down to velcro. I have a pair of cold weather gloves and I'll always have to take one off while on stand but that means velcro and that TEARING, RIPPING sound. Also, I don't like a shooting rail. It's ok on my climber, but not on a ladder stand. Just one more thing for me to clang getting into the seat or adjusting my sit.

 

[TheLBLman]

Rivers West gear uses magnets . . . .

Although magnets aren't nearly as bad as velcro, I don't like them either, and they also get the scissors. They're bad about separating, then "popping" back together, making a noise any deer within bow range will likely hear. And it's an unnatural noise that spooks deer & turkey.

Soft rubber buttons work best for anything needing held together or adjusted (in terms of being quiet).

 

[Hunter 257W]

Honestly I think wiggling around trying to ease achescaused from long spells of sitting is my major cause of getting busted by deer. I try to keep scent under control and always try to chose my stand for the day based on the wind. But I start getting stiff after an hour or so and have to shift around and I know deer are spotting me that I never know about. They simply slip away. I sit on the ground most of the time too which makes me that much more easily spotted.

OHVATN, you might put some pipe insulation on that shooting rail to keep it quiet. That's what I did to mine and also the foot rest so it doesn't ring like a bell when you accidentally kick it and make it fall forward.

 

[backroads]

I've worked on some Deep South hunting clubs where hunters drive their ATVs right up to their shooting houses overlooking food plots. Some of these houses even have parking spots for an ATV underneath. I've been watching deer feeding casually in a plot when someone starts up an ATV back at camp more than a mile away. Every deer in the plot bolts.

On the other hand, in areas where hunters do not hunt from ATVs, I've seen deer completely ignore an ATV, even allowing them to drive past fairly close.

It all comes down to what deer learn to associate with danger. If ATVs and being hunted go hand in hand, deer learn to fear ATVs. If ATVs are never associated with being hunted, deer ignore them just like they learn to ignore a farmer's tractor.

This is something I have wondered about. This will the first year I have hunted our new property and I have to take the ATV to the top so I'm not a sweating pig when I get up there (or have a heart attack). I've only used the ATV to haul corn in and check my camera. I know I have run deer off doing this by looking at the time on the pictures. I'm sure they hear me way before I start up the hill.
My plan for Saturday is drive to the top and park. Then walk the ~300 yards back to my ladder stand. So for now the ATV sound is not associated with hunting, but is associated with me going back there.

 

[TheLBLman]

Just keep in mind that older deer usually gravitate to the areas they are disturbed least by humans. In areas where they hear atv's and/or other human disturbances daily year-round, they may not be too alarmed. But when it's more periodic and inconsistent, AND they can easily gravitate to nearby areas that don't contain such disturbances, there they go.

I've seen older deer bed regularly within 40 yards of a busy highway --- but those highways were busy year round. I've seen older deer graze near the target at the rifle range, but the shooting is year round, and no deer is harmed by it. Deer can get acclimated to many unnatural sounds and disturbances, but older deer will usually choose to avoid it if they can easily do so.

What I'm talking about is not getting "busted" but rather having the spot your going to be "avoided" before you even get there. The older deer just learn to avoid the places you frequent, and they can do this by queuing in to the noises you make coming and going.

 

[Outdoor Enthusiast]

Rivers West gear uses magnets . . . .

Although magnets aren't nearly as bad as velcro, I don't like them either, and they also get the scissors. They're bad about separating, then "popping" back together, making a noise any deer within bow range will likely hear. And it's an unnatural noise that spooks deer & turkey.

Soft rubber buttons work best for anything needing held together or adjusted (in terms of being quiet).

Wes - I agree with you. The tiniest, faintest metallic sound has spooked deer multiple times while I was hunting. Particularly my climber in the dark. One slip or mistake can create a sound that seems to echo for miles.

I also once bought gloves with magnets that on occasion "snapped" together unexpectedly causing a sound loud enough to spook a deer within earshot.

 

[deerhunter10]

I agree. Big thumbs down to velcro. I have a pair of cold weather gloves and I'll always have to take one off while on stand but that means velcro and that TEARING, RIPPING sound. Also, I don't like a shooting rail. It's ok on my climber, but not on a ladder stand. Just one more thing for me to clang getting into the seat or adjusting my sit.

the best thing I have found and seen and have used it getting one of those swimming noodles and cutting it open and putting it around very quite the only bad thing is can be a touch loud when wet but once they get broke in the quietest thing I have seen on a shooting rail.

 

[Winchester]

I think scent gets way more hunters caught than anything else. You wont even know when many of the deer smell you and avoid you as they do so before you can even see them!

 

[Snake]

Scent with movement next .

 

[missalot]

scent

 

[Bottom Hunter]

scent, no doubt.

 

[Bottom Hunter]

I think that many hunters get busted without knowing it....sometimes after they are gone.

Deer are individuals and imo when they hear or smell something "not natural" some will walk away, others will stand and blow while others will come to see what it is.....

I have no doubt that no hunter sees every deer that was headed their way before sensing them. Either by sight, smell or sound, many deer simply turn and walk back the way they came without even being seen.

Predicting how an individual deer will react is futile, imo. I have seen many different reactions to the same stimuli.