'09 Heads Up Decoy-What not to do #2

Saw a shooter buck today. I was by myself. The wind, on initial check was out of the WSW. I hunted a new area this morning, Nov 1st. None of the milo or corn in the area was cut due to the wet weather pattern we seem to be in. The morning was cool and the wind was about 5-10mph. I took the whitetail doe and mule deer doe Heads Up Decoy with me not know what I might find.

I also took the video camera...big mistake. It was a pain and may have cost me a close encounter.

I saw my first deer running through the pasture towards the timber. I saw that it was a doe. I was suprised that nothing was chasing her based on her actions. Shortly thereafter, I saw what I thought was a shooter whitetail buck. I jockeyed the video camera and my decoy around only to find that I had a snowball's chance in hell of getting the footage I was after. I crawled through the grass and presented the decoy to the buck that was probably about 150-200 yards away. He acknowledged the decoy and immediately headed in my general direction.

My first mistake was taking the video camera. My second mistake was not getting in better positon to draw the deer to me. He was easily able to get downwind of me and the hunt was over. He did manage to come within 60 yards.

Morale of the story, don't try to video on the ground unless you have help. Secondly, get yourself in a favorable position so the deer cannot easily get downwind of you.

However, I was pleased that the buck responded to the decoy.