Do you stop them?

[nybuckboy]

Do most of you stop them and then make your shot?  I have never stopped a deer while bow hunting.  In fact I have never killed a doe with my bow, only bucks. If the deer stops on it's own, I take the shot.  If it's just walking I tend to draw the bow and wait for it come in to my opening or follow it with my pin on it into my opening and release.  

[nyslowhand]

Absolutely, stop 'em before taking the shot with a bow. You only have to screw-up once with a shot too far back on a walking deer before you learn your lesson. Since you generally only get one shot, make it count! Little different hunting with long guns when you have more than one shot opportunity and at greater distances! BUT ... Do NOT get into the mindset of thinking about follow-up shots and not making 1st bullet, slug, sabot count! More lead does NOT equal more deer!

[Doc]

Deer frequently stop on their own. It is all part of their defensive gait. The problem is that they may not stop at the right spot. Just a drop of deer urine on the trail will almost certainly catch their attention without alarming them. That allows you to pick the spot where they will stop. I do not like the idea of making sounds to stop them as it almost always snaps their head around with a direct gaze in your direction. Not exactly the best thing for those drawing a bow. It also puts them on "set", ready to "jump the string" when you release. That drop or two of urine is a more natural way of stopping them, that does not raise their alarm system.

[growalot]

Depends...you have to know what to do at the moment and your abilities. I've shot many a deer on a slow gate forward. Most have taken a jump stopped to look around and dropped. This is because they had no idea what had hit them. They get hit by branches all the time and hear strange noises. Doc is right an alert deer will often set the drop and not only that but run like hell at the hit. Running in our area is a bad thing.

Edited September 11, 2017 by growalot

[GreeneHunter]

One year when I was tagged out ( usually never happens! ) I was in my tree stand trying to call coyote's and I whistle'd at a couple of Deer ... just messing with them . They panicked and ran under my tree stand not knowing where I was !

[BowmanMike]

I also prefer a non alert deer to shoot at. Not that they are not alert to begin with.

They can move fast enough without giving them a heads up. 

[Buckmaster7600]

Of the 30+ deer I have shot with my bow I have stopped 1 he was on a dead run chasing a doe and I had nothing to lose. I yelled as loud as I could after I drew and the second he skidded to a stop he an arrow though him.

Other than a nothing to lose situation I will never stop a deer. I avoid shooting at alerted deer at all cost, why the hell would I alert them? If theyre walking at normal eastern archery range a proper lead is very small.


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[genesee_mohican]

I try to stop them in a shooting lane with a grunt for a bow shot.... like they do on the "Monster Bucks" videos. 

[stubborn1VT]

I think you have to read the situation.  I've waited for deer to stop on their own, and I've stopped them by bleating at them.  Never had a deer get too spooked by a bleat.  That said, I shot a buck at a slow walk because I didn't dare try to stop him.  If you spend enough time watching deer, you learn to read body language.  I have confidence in stopping deer by bleating at them because I have done it, year round, for as long as I can remember.  I do it just to see how they will react, or I do it just to get a better look.  To each his own, but I don't practice on a moving target with my bow, so I'd rather not shoot at a moving deer.

[Daveboone]

just a simple tongue click usually will get them to slow or stop without spooking them.

[turkeyfeathers]

Don't bow hunt   Don't shoot at moving deer as I don't or haven't practiced that. Primarily use ML so one shot and gotta make that count. Few years ago I had 11-12 deer bust out of the dark pines below me. Hauling azz. They could have ran any direction but to my dismay they ran straight up hill  towards my stand. It happened so fast. With dmp I simply picked out the biggest body , no reaction time to search for horns. Within a split second they're under me. Not even thinking I let out a " baaaaa". The big doe I was locked in on put the brakes on directly under me at no more than 15 feet from base of stand. Quickly shouldered the ML like a shotgun to get in area of front shoulder. Quick acknowledgement I was on it , confirmed and squeezed trigger. She went about 5' and fell over. I think I remember saying aloud.  " that baaa worked ". 

Side note : I've killed a decent amount of deer over the years . Not as many as a lot of you folks but something struck me yesterday. I can't recall one single deer ever facing right to left. Everyone has been facing to the right or slightly quartering right . Purely coincidental I know but odd. 

[Death From Above]

I stop every deer that I shoot, unless it happens to stop on its own before I do.  My only fear of stopping one with a grunt, or by my preferred lousy squirrel imitation, is that the deer might bolt and run off, but this has not happened to me so far.   My fear is not of putting that deer on alert.  Sure, I would rather shoot a deer that doesn’t have its head up in an alert fashion, but I can promise you that I have had deer duck an arrow that were calmly feeding and completely unaware that I was at full draw on them.  I will compensate by aiming low at the heart at most distances, whether they are alert or not. Rarely will I ever attempt a shot at a walking deer. 

I want a complete pass through if possible, and avoiding the shoulder on entry or exit is important IMO.  I’m not sure that I realized for many years how important the positioning of the near side leg is when shooting at a deer.  If that leg is far back in the deer’s stride, it covers a larger portion of the vitals with bone and scapula than many think, and placing an arrow several inches behind that leg can mean liver or guts.  I am 100% sure that I have made a couple shots like this over the years that lead to long recoveries or pushed deer that I should have let lie for a while.  I prefer a stopped deer so that I can focus on where my arrow is both aimed for entry and thereby positioned for exit.  I have stopped deer before to find that leg and shoulder covering more than I would like of the vitals and simply waited for a better shot.  More than likely I will get one, as typically the deer will then stand at attention and position its legs side by side giving me the site picture I was hoping for.

I’m not sure I can know where my arrow would land when I shoot at a walking deer with a bow.  I know that the probability of hitting bone is a lot higher if that deer is moving and I cannot aim at a spot clear of the leg/shoulder.  Yes, I know I could probably kill a deer most of the time that way, but I guess I want to stack the odds in my favor as much as possible before taking the shot.  Follow through is vital when shooting a moving target with the gun, I get that, but I don’t practice that same type of follow through on a shot with my bow.  I hope if someone does take a lot of moving shots on animals they practice that way in the pre-season as well. 

Now Doc, your deer urine idea is intriguing, but I try to avoid putting any human scent around the trails that I hope deer show up on, and in most of my stands they seem to have the habit of showing up from many directions.  I try to take the cleanest entry and exit from my stands and avoid the deer trails as much as possible for that hunt and future ones.  So…if someone would invent a paintball gun that shoots scented paint balls full of deer urine, then I am buying that. 

[Doc]

I don't really mess around the area that I deposit the urine. It is simply squirt a drop or two and retreat to the stand. Even does cannot continue walking without stopping to scent-check the trail. I have never had any deer bolt from any of my scent that may linger. It really works quite flawlessly and gives them something to stop for other than something that draws their attention directly to me.

I have experimented with other "stopping items" on the trail, and have found that even items like a Kleenex or even something that has my scent on it will draw a curiosity response that will stop them in their tracks. However, deer urine keeps them at ease more than items that contain human scent.

And if I carefully choose the spot, I can arrange it so when the deer drops its head to sniff the urine or whatever the item may be, it's vision is screened behind some item of ground-clutter (grass, shrub, log, etc.) with the vitals still exposed.

[sodfather]

Never stopped a deer save that doe bleat sound for the tv guys 

[stubborn1VT]

It may be Sodfather, but me and my buddies have been stopping deer that way for 20+ years with good results.  Maybe I should be a star!

[G-Man]

My stands are set so deer come from behind and always give a 1/4 away or broadside shot.. A slow moving deer at 20 yards will not move enough to move my.point of aim.. (my friends hate my stand sets by the way they want to see them coming..they also get buck fever) I simple listen look over the shoulders.. A.d pick which side to get ready on ..they step in lane and if it's one I want I shoot..if not I just  let them.walk by..

If you want a deer to stop by you..just rub some peanut butter or bannana or limburger cheese on a tree 3 to 4 foot off ground They will walk up and sniff it every time..

[dbHunterNY]

i try not to stop the deer unless i absolutely have to.  usually it's bucks on doe and she's not feeling it when i have to try.

[dbHunterNY]

1 hour ago, G-Man said:

My stands are set so deer come from behind and always give a 1/4 away or broadside shot.. A slow moving deer at 20 yards will not move enough to move my.point of aim.. (my friends hate my stand sets by the way they want to see them coming..they also get buck fever) I simple listen look over the shoulders.. A.d pick which side to get ready on ..they step in lane and if it's one I want I shoot..if not I just  let them.walk by..

If you want a deer to stop by you..just rub some peanut butter or bannana or limburger cheese on a tree 3 to 4 foot off ground They will walk up and sniff it every time..

i try not to walk and cross trails i'm hunting over from the stand.  low hanging licking branches work at the trail, even if they don't have an active scrape at them. if i have to cross the trail i usually take whatever scents i had left over mix them up and squirt that on something natural on the far side of the trail.

[moog5050]

I prefer shooting them when they stop naturally, but I have stopped them and even called my buck two years ago back to me as I was cursing while he was trotting away from me at 70yds.  Game time decision but I have yet to have any deer bolt from a quiet baaaaaaa.  That said, I will already be drawn before I bleat if its needed.  Forcing a deer to stop and look around is probably not good if you still need to move to draw.  Just my experience.

Edited September 12, 2017 by moog5050

[WNYBuckHunter]

I always try to stop them. Never had them immediately take off when I made a sound. They always stop and look. Sometimes during gun season they are far enough away that they don't hear it, but I always try. It's not just a TV thing, I did it long before I saw it on TV, as some of the older guys I hunted with when I first started taught me to do it. I don't always use the bleat noise, sometimes it's a little lip squeak or a clicking sound depending on how close they are. 

[Hock3y24]

I've done both stopping them is much better. Generally you have 10 seconds after that to shoot plus or minus.

[Cabin Fever]

If they don't stop on their own, I always give them a bleat with my mouth. They usually stop right on the spot, but aren't on alarm or anything. More curiosity, I guess. I'm a whole lot more confident with my shot when the target isn't moving!

[ncountry]

I usually put out some scent in shooting lanes to get them to stop on their own.. Rarely   I will grunt to stop them..Every deer I have ever shot that was still walking was hit too far back..

A few years back grunting at one backfired though.. a nice 2.5+ year old deer was walking through quickly. I grunted to stop him. You would have thought i had shot a starters pistol..lol.. 

He was gone!..

[nyslowhand]

Doe bleats, soft at 1st and louder each time until they hear it & stop An initial loud bleat or grunt will definitely startle a deer. Never tried scents in a shooting lane, but sounds reasonable if that's where they end up walking thru.

[Nomad]

Bow I generally stop them , if they haven't on their own , or they're on a trot for sure .

im at full draw at the time .There  is quite a divide on this umoung hunters on here that I respect the most , interesting .