Has your gun gotten you busted?

[Superdave70_02]

Not the gun but my scent did. I was sitting with my back against a cedar post in a sand plum thicket when I heard breathing. I turned around to find a very small fawn stiffing my hat. His mom decided to come investigate too and also licked my head. She then decided I didn't taste good and bolted. It was an interesting experience.

 

[spclPatrolGroup]

One year I had a couple yearlings pawing around my stand, it was really fun to watch, a nice doe came out but I passed on her just so I could sit and watch the little guys, eventually when it was time to go I reached out and touched one and said something like, "Boo", they were that close, boy did I scare the bajezus out of that guy, I had a good chuckle about its reaction on the walk back to the truck. On a side note, I know a guy who smokes cigaretts in his stand, he says the deer dont care because its not human scent, he normally gets his deer, but they have never been that impressive, the bigger ones probably wouldnt go anywhere near his stand, but not according to him.

 

[NightSleeper]

The only time I've been 'busted' by a deer is when I don't see them first and then move around to spot them after I hear them in the underbrush. Then they suddenly go galloping off.

Deer are very sensitive to movement (like most animals). They are blind to blaze orange or the color of the gun.

 

[Crashnash]

If a deer got close enough to the barrel of my rifle to smell it, she would not have been "trotting" away LOL

 

[SRH78]

She saw the rifle and sniffed it because she probably smelled your foul smelling human sweat, and thought the rifle was the source, not you!
Scent is the major reason for getting busted out there.

I second the smell. Even with fancy cover scent and all the camo in the world, the fact is that you got excited and started sweating! Not as much as working out, but you released some and they got a whiff as soon as the wind whirled around ya. Deer are instinctive! Not smart! Someone earlier said that if deer were smart enough to know what a gun was, then they'd also know that it takes a human to fire one! Amen to that!

Smell is very often the culprit but not in this case. When she spotted the rifle, she was directly upwind from me and I had approached the spot where I was laying from the downwind side. She definitely hadn't smelled me at that point.

 

[destroyer4570]

Hello all, I am new to this forum but I must say I have read some very interesting posts, I got busted once, but it was more human error than the fault of the rifle. I was hog hunting with a friend of mine when a group of hogs a sow and her piglets came out to feed at the feeder in front of us. A few minutes later a lone boar came out of the brush about 40yrds in front of us between us and the feeding sow and her young. This was the biggest bore I have seen before so I wanted to take it, so I lifted my gun, got the cross hairs settled on the boars head and squeezed the trigger and CLICK......the hammer fell but no bang, I had forgotten to take the safety of my marlin 45-70 guide gun.....needless to say every pig in and around the feeder ran off into the brush living to fight another day....we waited about an hour to see if they or another group of hogs would return after it settled some but nothing returned that night. A week later however, I shot a large sow I was really wanting to see that boat again but we never saw him again......

 

[2damnold4this]

Wow, that has to be a bit frustrating. I'll bet it doesn't happen again.

 

[destroyer4570]

You are correct, I hate that safety. I know it is there for liability reasons but i never liked or used them.....I don't why I used it that day, I never have before. I generally just leave the hammer on half cock and just thumb the hammer back when I'm ready to shoot.

 

[Gunplummer]

Deer pick out more than you think. I always bow hunted on the ground and used to smoke. All it takes is the slightest air movement towards you and a deer can not pick up your scent. I have had deer closer than ten feet many times with a cigarette lit and steaming cup of coffee sitting next to me. A flash off your optics will absolutely alert a deer, but as others stated, it depends on the deer as to what will happen next. I wear glasses and they turn dark in the sun and really get dark when it is cold. Some deer relate what it is right away and take off, others will actually come closer to get a better look. I remember in a heavy snow storm I was leaning against a tree covered with snow and a button buck walked up and looked right at my glasses. You can not see the eyes through the dark lenses and he just kept coming closer. I could have reached out and touched him with my rifle. Deer are like people. They are individuals and react differently. A deer's sense of smell is highly overrated when it comes to hunting, but once the leaves come down and they are spooked, their eyes become the deer's greatest asset.

 

[Shotgun693]

I was sitting with my back against a downed tree. A little Buck walked out and as I was deciding if he was fit for the freezer, a squirrel ran down the tree truck across my shoulders and on down the trunk. Startled the fire out of me. I passed on the Buck.

 

[JACK308]

hey man "I feel your pain!" I did something like that in 08 I was using a 30 30 and I had a bullet in the gun ready to go just pull the hamer back then when the buck ran out I cycled the action again! and the 8 pointer ran away!

 

[destroyer4570]

One time I almost lost a deer to having to pump the action on my Remington 30-06 pump action. On one occasion me and my father were going deer hunting and when we got to our blind we noticed the wind had blown the door off so we had to fix it in a hurry and as quickly as possible and get into the stand, so i load up the magazine and rest the rifle against the blind to help my father get the door back on. We get the door back on, I grab my rifle and we climb up to get settled in the blind before any deer make it out onto the field....well about 30min later a doe comes into the field to feed at the feeder, we wait and watch for awhile to see if a buck or any other deer come in, so after watching her for awhile and are sure nothing else is coming in I decide to take her as we are close to loosing light. I lift my rifle and put it out the shooting window to shoot her and when I have her in my sight and squeeze off the shot click.....I forgot to load on in the chamber, so i quickly retracted the gun barrel into the blind and I try to as quickly and as quitely as poosible rack the pump action slide to load the chamber.......and all during this time the doe either hears the click and,me trying the pump the actio but she was just frantically walking around the feeder nervous as hell......I finally get the gun back out the shooting port and get a bead back on her and she starts to settle down and stop moving just long enough for me to get a shot, BOOM, I drop her with a good ol' fashion neck shot.....after the shot my dad asked if I hit her cause since everything happened so fast and i shot so quickly, he thought I missed. I told him no she is down and that I saw her drop as soon as I shot....I think that was on of the most exciting hunts I've been on with everything that happened and i was still lucky enough to get a good shot off and still cleanly take that doe, I will never forget that hunt with my dad as long as I live.....

 

[the blur]

I got busted, I think by my orange vest and blue sleeves sticking out. orange hat. black pants. no camo.
she saw me and ran. I was sitting on a rock.

time for camo.

 

[JRP2]

I can think of 5 white tails and one mule dear that have seen my rifle. Non of them were lucky enough to learn anything from what they saw.