Should You Stop a Deer With a Bleat Before The Shot
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Stopping a moving deer with a bleat or grunt just before the shot is really easy to do and a good idea especially if the deer is moving through cover.
Opening morning Oct 1st 2021 in southern MI, a friend of mine is in a pin oak tree with his tree saddle overlooking a heavy deer trail that crosses a railroad track.
Even though the temperature was above normal, he decided to hunt this morning because this has always been a great early season spot.
It didn’t take long after daybreak, he had deer under the oak trees sucking up the acorns. After several minutes they started crossing the tracks heading back to bedding. There was a tall 8 pt, a wide 8 and some young bucks.
Since last hunting season, some of his shooting lanes got smaller due the summer growth, and he just wasn’t able to get off a clear shot.
So after all the deer moved off to bed, he got down and grabbed his pole saw to open up his shooting lanes.
Later that afternoon he returned to the big oak with his tree saddle to catch these bucks coming back across the tracks from bedding. Even though the temps were warm, it’s a short easy walk to the tree and the wind was still in his favor.
With about a half hour of daylight left, he saw them coming down the same trail to the tracks. He got his camera moved into place for the shot
A small buck led the way, like they normally do. Behind him came the tall 8 pt.
Before the buck entered the shooting lane, he was already at full draw. He settled on the bucks vitals as he walked through the opening and touched off the arrow.
The first thing he saw was the spark from the 250gr single bevel Cutthroat broadhead hitting the stone on the railroad bed. He was sure it was a clean miss.
Meanwhile a smaller 8 pt on the other side of the tracks just stood there wondering what just happened. My friend has one of the quietest bows I‘ve ever heard. It doesn’t sound like it in the video because it’s only a foot away from the camera.
Once all the deer just walked off, he got down to look for the arrow and found the fletchings covered in blood. So now he’s not sure what happened.
He went home to review the footage on his laptop but he’s still not sure where the arrow hit the deer. So the next morning we go out with another hunting buddy to review the crime scene and look for a blood trail.
About 30 yds down the trail we find some blood and it’s pretty consistent for about 80 yards. Then it peters out to where he laid down but there wasn’t much blood in the bed. And that’s the last blood we found. No blood trail leaving the bed after searching with 3 guys for over an hour.
So if we go back to the shot the night before, you’ll notice that my buddy did not stop the buck with a bleat. He simply followed the buck with his top pin on the buck’s vitals and touched off the trigger. I was really surprised he made a bad hit like that at close range because he’s always been a great shot out to 30+ yards.
So while slowing the footage down to watch the arrow, we noticed it hit a bare branch. You can see the branch flicker at the sound of the bow going off. That caused the arrow to deflect down to the buck’s leg.
My buddy admitted he should have stopped him with a simple bleat. Because when you’re trying to shoot a moving deer though a shooting lane, you run the risk of not seeing the backside of the shot window because you’re focusing on keeping the pin on the vitals, and then you run out of room for the arrow to get through.
Now if the buck is already on high alert, then stopping him with a bleat can be risky especially if it’s a long shot over 30 yards. He might jump the string or take off running, causing another bad hit. But if he’s on high alert at close range, you have to be quick with your bleat/shot sequence.
I find that’s more common on public land as the season moves along and bucks become more pressured. But in this case, it was opening day and the bucks had no clue hunters were in the woods yet, so a simple bleat would have done the trick.
If you haven’t tried it yet, just practice making a bleat at full draw while shooting at your archery targets.
One other thing my buddy decided to do was go out and get a set of lighted nocks. They can really help you know where you hit an animal which will help to let you know how long you have to wait before taking up the blood trail.
So good hunting out there this season, give this video a thumbs up if you got anything out of it, subscribe for more content coming up, and I’ll see you with the next video.
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Randy VanderVeen
616-560-7488
randy@seemorebucks.com
Randy, Great advice as always, I messed up a shot on a huge buck last year by not stopping an unalarmed deer. Around the rut most of their movement is a fast walk. Good luck this season!!
I got lighted nocks on all my arrows this year. It's nice having the visual feedback even on targets. Good advice on practicing the bleat at full draw. I'll implement that to my practice tonight.
I definitely agree with the lighted knocks!
Great advice Randy, I am incorporating an appropriate grunt into my practice sessions since that fateful day
always situational for sure, that was a nice buck. its early maybe he'll get another chance.
First I want to say I know all of you guys personally and have had one of you out to my land. I’ve killed a Gob of bucks and they fill my home :-) that said stopping a deer past 30 yds with a bow I’d kinda foolish. They duck… and I never ever stop a deer at all unless they are walking that fast. A slow walk you simply don’t need to stop the deer if your a good shot. Good video
We just had an argument at hunting camp and I was surprised that I was the only one that doesn't stop deer. I have shot all my bucks without stopping one. Like you said a slow walk you don't need to stop them. There's just so many reason I don't like to stop them, jumping the string, I've seen bucks just take off hearing the noise and also if you miss after stopping him chances are very slim you get another shot.
@Steve Smith I agree1000 percent man . I truly do
Yes but don't grunt, make a kiss or hiss noise works better for me! That's just me
Do you mean you say "kiss" ? Interesting.
I've had mixed reactions on the bleats. Went to stop a massive buck one year bleated at full draw. He never missed a beat he went wide open throttle second he heard that bleat.
So did he not recover? Can a tracking dog be used?
That deer didn't die in my opinion. Looks like he was shot in the leg, and even if the leg is broken it's unlikely you'd find him dead.
@@715outdoors2 maybe. But as ethical hunters we exhaust ALL means available before calling it quits. If a dog could have been used it should have.
@@tankandlaci The video gives us the evidence that it was not a mortal wound. Let the deer go and lick it's wounds and it will likely heal up and be fine, or the coyotes catch up and finish him off. A dog only introduces odors that will spook deer for future hunts. If Randy didn't see the need for a dog based on the video evidence, I trust that.
@@715outdoors2 disagree. The video shows that it may not have been mortal. But it could have been. Seen deer hit in the front leg that were found dead a mile away. Dog tracked to death site. My point is exhaust all means. The video doesn’t show that happening.
@@tankandlaci Your anecdotal evidence doesn't trump the slow motion footage we all saw with our own eyes. Your opinion is worth exactly what I paid for it.
Tree stands and running dogs are not hunting. Stalking and concealment are.