Stalking bedded deer

[Doc]

Has anyone here been successful at stalking and killing any deer with a bow and arrow? Is it possible?

[mac]

absolutely possible. make sure you have perfect angle and sight of vitals..they can lay different ways and expose the vitals but be 100% sure at close range. plus they tend to be pretty relaxed

[Gthphtm]

I have not but I cannot see why it cannot be done,After a rain or snow with the ground wet and playing the wind.I have walked up on a few sleeping,during rifle season in my 60 years of hunting.

[Doc]

I keep my bow shots down to 25 yards and under. I consider myself a fairly good still-hunter. But I have yet to pull off successful stalk into that close a range on a bedded deer without spooking it before getting in range. And worse yet, the older I get the less "sneak" I have left in me .... lol. It takes good balance and a very light step, both of which are getting harder for me every year. But even in my prime, I could never get within bow range of a bedded deer. So that's why I posted this question. I was curious if there were any people who have ever done this. Now I'm not talking about 50 yard shots. I do that on a regular basis when gun hunting. But closing that last 25 yards with my bow seems to be where I get nailed everytime. I guess they have nothing to do but lay there looking and listening and catching any little back-draft of wind current .... lol. And then of course, if there are more than one of them bedded together, it get exponentially worse.

[BizCT]

I don't bowhunt, but it is definitely possible. I have walked up on many deer bedded down within 20 yards of me during gun season. I usually sit from dark - 10/11am, and then 2-3pm - dark. The middle of the day I walk around. I take 2-3 steps, stop look & listen, then repeat. A normal 10 minute walk should take 30-40minutes like this. Many times I come across deer just standing there as they must have just stood up. Other times they just lay there thinking I don't see them.

[MikeP]

I've tried it many many times. I love a windy damp day in standing corn for that. I have been lucky enough to take 2 like that. Both doe one at 20 and one about 30 yards.

Seen lots of deer that way. And spooked a lot more then I ever had a chance at. Everything has to fall in place perfectly

Most importantly, play the wind and slow and quietly as possible. They like to lay in between the rows. I go row to row looking into the next row on hands and knees. The hard part is trying to get them to stand for a good shot without them spooking too fast.

[covert]

I nearly was once. I actually was close enough to take a shot at a nice 8 but there was a branch about the size of a broom handle that crossed his vitals. Wouldn't you know it I stuck my arrow dead center in it. Couldn't have done it again if I tried.

[Doc]

Most of my hunting is done in open woods, without much cover other than an occasional tree big enough to get behind. That's not a problem when I am out 50 yards or more, but when I am closing in to 20 yards, it sure does seem like I am hanging right out there in plain sight ..... in fact, I am. Not usually a lot of choice in that. I have no problem if I am behind a blind or something and the deer is coming to me. But when I am going to the deer with basically no cover, I have to say that I have never successfully pulled that off.

[HectorBuckBuster]

I was walking on a edge of a soybean field on the second day of bow season many years ago. I was looking in the woods, when something told me to look in the field. There in the field bedding down looking at me was a beautiful 6 point. The area he was in the soybeans seemed darker.He was about a 100 yards away.So i ducked down and started to belly crawl towards him. I get about 80 yards from where I think he was and peek up and don't see him, but I did not see him run. So i looked around and nothing.So I stood up, and next think I know at about 15 yards away his head appears and turns and looks right at me. He stands up and starts to move, I take a shot and it hits him near the back up the rib cage. He continues to run through a hedgerow, and I run to get through the hedgerow and see him stop about 150 yards away in a cut corn field and fall over. He weighed was a 185 lb 6 point. That was one memorable bow hunt for me.