Guest Blog: Decoy Placement for Midwest Bucks
Posted By
Bill Winke
at
7/9/2009 12:00:00 AM
Filed under:
journal
This blog is from one of the Missouri pro staffers for 2009, Dean Gericke. Dean lives in Michigan, hunts Michigan some and hunts Ohio some, but since he owns land in Missouri, that is where he does the bulk of his hunting. The following words are Dean's.
Using a deer decoy to dupe a nice buck in the fall is a widely known practice for deer hunters. Some have had success with this practice, while others have not. I fall in the prior category. For some reason, decoys have worked very effectively for me in the past. I believe this is because there is a balanced buck to doe ratio, and the bucks are not pressured where I hunt.
Many articles have been written about how to position the decoy relative to the treestand, wind direction and which way to position it for that quartering away shot on the buck. I will not cover those aspects again, but would like to address a subtle yet very important lesson I learned in positioning the decoy relative to cover.
Last year, I set up my decoy in a foodplot on an inside corner. I have used this field effectively in the past to decoy bucks in. This was the first time I had used this particular corner of the plot.
After a rattling sequence a buck showed himself on the opposite end of the food plot. Once he saw the decoy, he came in on a string with a little coaxing. Here is where the problem came. Once he got close enough to the decoy, he wanted to circle down wind of the decoy so he could scent check him. Problem was I had my decoy too close to the woods (< 5 yds.). That meant he had to go inside the woods to get downwind of the decoy and still keep his distance. He started to come into the woods but hung up just along the edge. He stood there for a minute or so surveying the situation and then left from where he had come. He never did get downwind of the decoy or ever gave me a good shot opportunity. Fortunately for me he was not a shooter buck. I am pretty confident if the decoy was placed another 10 yds. out into the food plot, he would have skirted the edge of the woods and been straight downwind of the decoy. At this point he would have been right in my wheelhouse with full focus on the decoy. The ideal setup for a harvest.
So the lesson I learned on this particular hunt is that bucks want to keep an unobstructed eye on their adversary (decoy) when they are coming in to check things out. I think the buck feels less secure when they get in position that jeopardizes their advantage of seeing the decoy clearly and not having the wind to their advantage.
So when you position your decoy this fall, remember:
1) Place the decoy in the right direction such that the buck will come in and challenge the decoy and present you with a good quartering away shot.
2) Place the decoy upwind of your tree stand.
3) Use a good cover scent on the decoy or a good buck lure.
4) Allow an unobstructed path for the buck to get downwind of your decoy yet allow him keep his distance from it.
