Decoys Really Work

Who say decoys don't work on big bucks.

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

The decoy won the wrestling match.

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

The shots.

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

The trophy pic.

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Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

DANDY RACK!

All of life is six-to-five against, just enough to keep you interested. (Damon Runyan)

Gravity makes all the important decisions ... (John R. Powers)

NRA, REMF, PF, NAHC-L, NAFC-L, KC, NPPA

I agree!  Huge Deer!  I've got some guys that I work with that swear by decoys.  I am definately using one this fall.

Shoot Straight........Shoot Often

Damn, that buck is a dandy. I use decoys, pre rut I use the atachable antlers, during the rut I take them off to use as a doe. When I use mine as a doe, I attach a cloth tail to it and put esterous scent on it. I use a drag line with the same scent on it and pull that around the area leading up to the doe decoy. Works well. Again, tahat is a real trophy, congrats to the guy that stuck that one.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

Looks like from the buildings in the background of that one photo that he wasn't living out in nowheresville either!!!  Hell of a buck!!!!!!!!!!

Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

What did he do, shoot that deer in his front yard? Those look suspiciouly like lawn ornaments instead of decoys. Although they look real enough to work. That is one dandy buck.

Tx, Is that a Wis. buck?

If I had to venture a guess -- and it's only a guess -- but I believe I'm pretty much right on the money...
 
1. It was the rut.
 
2. The decoy was a heavy, made-out-of-cement lawn ornament.
 
3. The real deer mistakenly thought the lawn ornament was a real deer and attacked it, causing the cement "deer" to either knock the real buck completely out -- or incapacitating the buck with a severe injury -- pinning him helplessly to the ground.
 
4. The smiling dude in the picture walked up, shot the buck twice and killed him.  From the picture it doesn't appear that the arrow got very good penetration, which means the buck was shot from extremely close range and the arrows didn't generate much momentum to penetrate deeply.
 
5. All of the blood -- which in my opinion should have been washed off before picture taking -- is laying in the exact spot the deer was laying in as if the fake deer was lying on top of the real buck when the real buck was was shot.
 
6. That's a great buck and if it was killed that way, it's a shame.  On the other hand, if the guy was simply putting the deer out of his misery from being injured by the lawn ornament I can understand that, but then you use a gun and not a bow, and I personally, wouldn't have anything to smile about.
 
7. Just a guess and my two cents.
 
Take care and Good Hunting!
 
Best Afield,
 
Steve  

I believe it was a lawn ornament also Steve. The one thing that SHOULD have happened if the deer was still alive, was to get the ornament off of the deer and see what happens. If the deer was really our of it afterwards, then do the right thing. Looking at the arrow impacts, I would have to agree with Steve also, no penetration,means no distance for KE to come into play.  I have had my 3D targets in my yard get torn up and destroyed by bucks during the rut. Not very often but it has happened. It would be a farse if that deer were able to be entered anywhere into any books for the size. MPO

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

Hey, I new way to get your deer!!! Put out a bunch of 200 pound deer ornaments in your yard, then just check your yard every morning to see if you have a dead deer on your lawn..... a laaaaaazzzzzyyyyyy way of hunting for sure.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

I have seen that in a e-mail about a year ago and thought the same thing that the deer was trapped under the lawn deer IMHO thats not a decoy if it is I sure would hate to carry it any were far.

I really didn't want to say anything because I didn't know if it was a friend of one oo our members or what.  I have to agree with what Steve posted, especially the bloody mess and arrows still sticking out of the deer.  It looks like the guy almost walked up and stuck the deer with the arrows, rather than shooting it.

Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

Truly a sad thing for our image....When are these guys going to wake up and realize that "trophy-itis" and all that goes with it is killing our sport of tradition and heritage........Pictures should never been taken like that, no matter what the circumstances were....That magnificent buck was shamed almost as much as the idiot pictured with him......A man like that should not be considered a member of the hunting community because he is providing fuel for the anti-hunters....THESE PHOTOS ARE A PORTRAIT OF THE MAN'S EGO....
Randy

Hunt safe and courteous for a rewarding hunt.
Hunter Education Instructor since 1984

I wasn't going to say anything since two of the pictures have that big buck pinned under the "decoy". Seems like the opinion I gathered was what others have said. I also must admit to washing the blood off before the pictures.

"It is better to rule than serve"

Hey Guys,
Please don't shoot the messenger.  I just posted the pic's and if you read my earleir post, I agree with you all.  Won't happen again. I also wonder why the guy got dressed in Camo? The deer wasn't going anywhere, and it's not like he had alot of cover around anyways to blend in with. Must be like stated earlier, an ego thing. Me great white hunter huh?  LOL

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

Not at all sir seen tons of e-mails take them all with a grain of salt like others have said he could of at least moved the deer so blood was not all over it and the ground

NOT diagreein' with the sentiment of "questionable" as to Fair Chase and other thots ...

HOWever ... we had a situation last fall that would've been (imho) OK ... if it had werked ...

It wuz the day before the rifle opener, and Son #1 and I were @ our "old" home back where we all grew up and spent most of our lives ... it's a REALLY small town, on the edge of a lake, which, with the surrounding area, becomes the traditional wintering grounds (100 years, at least) for deer, once the snow get serious about bein' winter ...

Fairly major blizzard goin' on ... Son looked out the picture window, and there wuz a 4X4 buck (mebbe a 120-130 class?) in the middle of the street ... merely standin' there ... (there's usually three or four times as many deer in and very close around town as there are people in town, in even a mild winter) ...

So ... we had our bows (to hunt prior to rifle opener, but it wuz WAY too nasty!) and if he could've gone into the garage and pushed the button and opened the overhead door and the deer would've stood there while that happened ... he'd have had about a 25-yard shot ...

He din't ... and the buck merely strolled away across the street and thru a neighbor's garden and on thru town ... not an unusual happenin', really ...

Now ... huntin' deer by waiting or standing in their natural habitat ... in this case, "town" ... is that Fair Chase? We din't get a chance to make a choice, but ... I really dunno whut sorta decision we'd've made, if he'd've stood there and looked at us when we opened the garage door ... (more than once, when we lived there, My Bride would open the door to go to werk, and a doe or several would be standin' in the driveway, 20 feet or less away, simply starin' @ her ... )

(Ignore the fact that many towns have ordinances against any projectile-type device bein' used ... the mayor told me "as long as it's quiet" wuz OK ... they merely don't think firin' off a .300 Win Mag (or ANY firearm) in town is acceptable behavior ... )

And ... NO, we do NOT have any concrete lawn ornaments of any kind, including Gnomes, in our yard ...

(I hope y'all realize I'm not totally serious about all this ... it wuz a fun thing, to see a nice buck simply standin' in front of the house ... )

All of life is six-to-five against, just enough to keep you interested. (Damon Runyan)

Gravity makes all the important decisions ... (John R. Powers)

NRA, REMF, PF, NAHC-L, NAFC-L, KC, NPPA