I just decoyed in my first buck of the year and what a good feeling it was! I teamed up with my good friend Cody Warne at Warne Ranches. I was hunting a standing sunflower field and situated near a small reservoir in the middle of the field. At dusk a young buck sauntered in and started toward the buck decoy in an aggressive fashion. He fell for the ruse and in seconds he was within 12 yards, and giving me a hard question to answer. Should I shoot or pass?
He was young so I passed, but I felt good about another bigger buck taking the bait later in the hunt. If you're up for a decoy hunt, here are a few tips I've found to be helpful:
First, get a lifelike decoy. Montana Decoys are very lifelike since they are photos, plus they are lightweight. I also like full-body decoys and my favorite is the Flambeau Boss Buck. It looks real and deer fall for it.
Next, spay your decoy down to get rid of scent. Douse it with Scent-A-Way spray from Hunter's Specialties. Then add some deer scent nearby to fool any downwind arrivals.
Now, set it close. I usually set my decoy up right under my stand to avoid having a wary buck circle too far out. I had several opportunities the other night to shoot the buck from 12 to 20 yards.
Finally, use your deer calls to draw attention to the decoy. I grunted softly to get the buck to look in the direction of the decoy. The buck responded with multiple snort wheezes. It was cool and now I hope to tag a brute in the same manner.
You smell great. Now do your stuff