Mule Deer Habits - Return to Area After a Miss??

[Bushman]

Tonight I had a failed attempt on a nice buck. I know I missed as the buck jumped at the sound of the bow string and the arrow went sailing passed him. I of course confirmed I'd missed by recovering the arrow (with a now damaged broad head and veins from skipping in the ground, and no blood, hair, etc.).

My question is: Will the buck return to the area? I've seen him there a few times before. He didn't bolt off but rather trotted into the brush after the arrow zinged by him.

Has anybody had any good experiences with missing a buck and seeing it in the same area later on?

Going to give the area a few days to relax regardless.

 

[Twabbis]

I'll bet he'll be back, I hit a buck in the front shoulder once and didn't do much damage and I thought I'd blown my chance at him until he showed up on my trail camera again a week later, and I got him in the same spot where I hit him the first time.

 

[fullthrottle]

Very good chance he will come back. I believe the majority of mature bucks rarely leave an area unless intensively pressured. Seems like they just lay low and go nocturnal.

 

[fatrooster]

I agree with the above posts. He will be back. fatrooster.

 

[elkfromabove]

He'll be back! Especially, if he doesn't know what happened. Mule deer are indeed creatures of habit. (A whitetail is also a creature of habit, but will change quickly and more permanently if he has a bad experience. A mule deer, not so much.)

 

[Bushman]

Thank you everybody that replied. I'll keep hoping he comes back and that I can spot him!

 

[eelgrass]

All my experience has been with blacktails. I usually get two chances. If I blow him out or miss him twice, he will move on and game over.

Eel

Guns are like parachutes. If you need one and don't have one you probably will never need one again.

 

[BrowningRage]

I have seen it first hand. Several years ago I located a great looking 4x5 bedded in some ponderosas. I snuck around behind him and got to about 35 yards. Unfortunately, I spooked a 2-point that I never saw and they both took off out of there. The following day, I found the 4x5 within a quarter mile of where I had stalked him the day before. I attempted to get close again, but he kind of moved off as I "dogged him" for a while. He never really spooked, but he vanished into the woods and I figured that time I had lost him for good.

I killed a buck that evening so I wasn't hunting anymore, but I wanted to see if I could find the 4x5 again. The next morning, sure enough, he was back within only a few hundred yards of where I saw him the day before. And he couldn't have cared less that I was there this time. Its like he knew I was tagged out or something.

So, I'd say your buck will be back, and maybe sooner than you think.

"Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!" 2 Ne. 28: 24

 

[ForkWest]

The fact that you just zingged one past him is far better than him getting a nose full of you and busting out of there. You have a pretty good chance of him coming back.

I have experience, though, if you're hunting high and early season, that when bumped they drop down to thick cover in the general vicinity but never come back up to the wide open basins.