by Mark Jost
It was 7 am. November 21st, I was set up on a ridge overlooking a picked bean field with standing corn fields to my north and south. I had my decoy setup in front of me on the edge of the picked beans, a standing doe and buck. I saw a buck cutting across the bean field heading toward the standing corn about 200 yards out, I put my binoculars on him, it was a 130 class 5×5, not what I was after but I decided to try and get him into my setup and get some video footage.
I rattled and before I finished the sequence he was on a dead run to me. He stopped about 50 yards out and stood there looking around, it was then he noticed the decoys and commited to come in the rest of the way. I was getting my video camera turned on and focused when I heard crash crash behind me and closing in fast!
I looked over my left shoulder and saw a massive 5×5 almost under my tree. I slowly slipped my camcorder into my pocket and lifted my bow off the hook, he now had seen my decoys and was standing in front of my stand 8 yards away. I slowly pulled back and let the arrow go. At impact he jumped forward then just walked out into the bean field toward the smaller 5×5. He swung his head toward the smaller buck and faced off with him, the smaller buck turned and started walking away, as the other buck was walking away the big guy swung his head toward my buck decoy like “your next”, I was confident I had a great hit but this buck was acting like nothing was wrong. My worries immediately went away as I saw his back legs start to get wobbly, he turned back away from the decoys and went about 15 yards and dropped. The 160’s class buck had no idea he been shot until the moment he dropped.
This is the buck taken in the setup described above, a nice 160’s class buck that was so wound up about the decoys he had no idea he had been shot.
The fall had been a tough one, we had one of the warmest and wettest falls I can remember. It was November 21st and because of all the wet weather, most of the farmers were not able to get their corn out yet, providing a “jungle” of cover for the deer. The problem was that if you relied on just sitting on trails or funnels the action was very limited at best because there was literally thousands of acres of standing corn all around me for the deer to hold up in. Most of the hunters I talked to were having a tough time, complaining about the conditions and not seeing much at all. I for one, was loving it though, the standing corn was providing a lot of cover in an otherwise very open area. I was having one of my best years ever, basically I was playing “offense,” instead of just sitting there and hoping a good buck would walk by, I was bringing them to me.
Starting early in October, I started and maintained over a dozen mock scrape lines. I started by picking spots that were good stand locations and old areas that I have had success in the past. With my stands in place I would make my scrape lines leading from areas like bedding areas, to my stand location with the last scrape the biggest and with the most urine added to this one. This last scrape is placed in a location from my stand that afforded me the best shot with cover and the most likely wind considered. Most of my scrapes would be taken over by bucks within a few days and when the wind and time was right I would start hunting these stands. Regular freshening of my scrapes, always at times later in the morning or afternoon would kind of “train” the bucks to try and hone in on when the intruder ( me ) was in the area, helping to force a nocturnal buck out in shooting light. On good days it was a consistent parade of bucks checking the scrape lines. The fall of 2009 provided me with some of the best “mock scrape line” hunting I have ever had, I was able to video over a dozen different Pope and Young class bucks as I waited for a real “bruiser.”
This is a trail cam photo of the buck I shot taken two days prior as he was working the mock scrape I made earlier in the season.
As the rut moved ahead and the scrape activity subsided, I moved into more open areas where I could decoy. Decoying bucks is my passion and I will take every oppourtunity to use this method to hunt them. My stand sites are areas where a buck could see my setup from as far away as possible while still giving me enough cover for my stand. The scenario at the start of this article was a decoying paradise. I had a huge picked bean field which is where my decoys would go, as you know a picked bean field has about as much cover as a parking lot, so bucks would be able to see my setup from a long way. The bean field was also a huge bowl shaped field surrounded by ridges on both sides and standing corn fields on each end. When rattling, any buck that was on either ridge or corn field would have a great chance on seeing my setup and coming in, even if I did not see them. I would mostly use a single buck decoy, but once in awhile I would put a doe with the buck, this is a very deadly setup and almost any buck seeing it will not stand for it and come in to check it out.
It would probably amaze you to know how many bucks have actually responded to your rattling or grunt calls and did not come all the way in because they did not see anything. Decoying itself can be complicated with scent control and setup, and it is not easy hauling around and setting up full bodied decoys which is what I prefer, but the rewardscan be great and the experiences are comical, hear pounding, and as exciting as anything I have ever done. I will stash my decoys a short distance from my stand sites to lessen the noise and contamination of setting up one ore more decoys. I leave them put together laid down with a camo net over them, yes I may have one stolen at some point but that hasen’t happened yet. Without decoys I highly doubt that I would have been able to put my camera away and grab my bow to shoot the buck at the start of this article, their attention is focused on the decoy, or decoys and you can get by with murder in your stand.
I rarely ever just sit on stand anymore, I am always playing some type of “offense” to try and swing the odds ever so slightly in my favor.
