I think that blacktail bucks sometimes advertise their presence as they look for a doe to breed. They deliberately move upwind and let the doe smell them, or let her see them, or they make some buck noise. If you pretend to be a doe in heat, sometimes they will advertise themselves to you.
A buck did that to me last week (I think it was a buck, but never saw it). I set up to call a deer at the end of an old road, a slot through thick brush. Wind was angling left flank to right front across the road.
I did a doe in heat call every few minutes. After 35 minutes I did another set of doe bleats and got an instant response. A big animal 25 yards to my left pushed through thick bushes. It was loud and I could hear his antlers bumping limbs. He walked for 6 or 8 steps through the brush, a big animal heading toward the road in front of me. Then no more sound.
I got ready to shoot him when he stepped into the road, but he never came out. I sat there in silence for another 15 minutes, then had to leave. Bummer! I think that the buck was still there, merely being still and listening.
My guess is that the buck deliberately crashed brush in response to my doe in heat bleats. I think that he was announcing his presence to what he assumed was a doe. He had sneaked close without a sound, so he did not need to make the racket. I think he wanted her to know he was a nearby willing buck, and that he wanted her to move down the road to where she could get his scent that was angling in from the left.
I wonder if I had stayed, if he would have eventually come into the road or crossed it in order to get downwind of the doe in heat sound. Will never know.
Am curious if anyone has a different interpretation of what this deer did. What am I missing? I learn to hunt better by analyzing what animals actually did in specific situations. Sometimes I get it wrong until someone explains it to me. :confused: :laf:
That would be interesting to watch :eyebrow:
I cant say what was happening but I feel like there will be a different interpretation for each reply :laf: