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How To Stop a Moving Buck Deer

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When my black lab gets on a squirrel (or other animal in the woods) her ears turn off, or so it seems. I have had mixed results with bleats, grunts, whistles, "hey," etc. on stopping bucks. If they are literally chasing a hot doe I've had low success at getting them to stop. Like my lab, I think their mind is so focused on the "task at hand" that it's much harder to get them to stop. Occasionally I have had the doe finally stop to look, which stopped the buck.

But I also agree with CaptainKirk....if you are confident on moving targets with your rifle and it's a clear shot, a round ball through the vitals will stop them permanently! The buck below was on a hot doe trail and was on a fast trot nose-to-the-ground 65 yards down a steep hill from my stand. He would not stop, so I tracked him with my sights and when he hit the next opening the .530 round ball did it's work and he went down within 30 yards. The second one was actually chasing a hot doe. He even SAW me at about 20 yards stopping behind some brush I didn't want to shoot through, then continued after the hot doe that had run right in front of me. He wouldn't stop again as he was trying to catch up to the doe, so was taken as he quickly tried to get back on her.

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When my black lab gets on a squirrel (or other animal in the woods) her ears turn off, or so it seems. I have had mixed results with bleats, grunts, whistles, "hey," etc. on stopping bucks. If they are literally chasing a hot doe I've had low success at getting them to stop. Like my lab, I think their mind is so focused on the "task at hand" that it's much harder to get them to stop. Occasionally I have had the doe finally stop to look, which stopped the buck.

But I also agree with CaptainKirk....if you are confident on moving targets with your rifle and it's a clear shot, a round ball through the vitals will stop them permanently! The buck below was on a hot doe trail and was on a fast trot nose-to-the-ground 65 yards down a steep hill from my stand. He would not stop, so I tracked him with my sights and when he hit the next opening the .530 round ball did it's work and he went down within 30 yards. The second one was actually on a hot doe. He even SAW me at about 20 yards stopping behind some brush I didn't want to shoot through, then continued after the hot doe that had run right in front of me. He wouldn't stop again as he was trying to catch up to the doe, so was taken as he quickly tried to catch up to her.

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That is a nice buck! And dog, too, I might add!
 
I'll add that sometimes there is a case for NOT trying to stop a deer. In my neck of the woods, things are pretty thick. Not southern swamp thick, but lots of brush and trees. I've tried to stop deer in an opening only to have them move just far enough forward to get through the opening and into brush or their body obscured by a tree, then stop and look right at me, see the danger, and run off. So depending on the situation, it may be better to take a makeable/ethical shot on a moving deer than try to stop it and get no shot at all.
 
I normally just whistle but I'd say any loud noise would work, the whole reason they stop is that they don't know where the sound came from and they don't want to run into danger. I've jumped deer before and if they haven't winded me often they stop about 30-50 yards out and turn around to have a look.
 
I've never tried to top a moving deer with anything other than the rifle. I've killed quite a few that were moving, from a walk all the way up to a couple actually running. In the deep South one doesn't find all that much in the way of "clearings" in the woods; mostly you either shoot fast or not at all. Thanks to rifles that fit me perfectly I through them up and fire almost in one motion; at least I've always done this in the past and never lost one. But I can't swear I could do that now. Thing is they were mostly quite close and definitely well under 50 yards. The ones farther out than those were standing still.
 
For some reason I always forget to go "Baaa" when the season opens. After the first deer gets away in bow season, I do it from then on.
 
I mean, a .54 roundball stops them pretty dead...actually, seriously though...i have tried to stop bucks when they're trailing a doe so close i could hear his tending grunts as he made them...he ignored every grunt and bleat i made. I have heard to use a snort wheeze as a last resort, and i think it would work. Its a pretty loud and aggressive sound and they know what it means...on a smaller buck that has spent the rut getting the tar kicked out of him, i could see it making him bolt, especially if there is a larger buck that you don't know about in the same area...but i say if its a mature buck that you really want, then do it. It will grab his attention; and you really don't have much to lose at that point.
 
Distance definitely plays a roll. A deer under 20 yards away is not nearly as willing to cooperate as one that is 50 yards or more away. Outside of 50 yards, I don't think deer even hear the click of the hammer being pulled back. Inside of 20, they sometimes all but backflip at that click. Thankfully they also often only spook so far, and stop. With stopping them, I've had much less luck. When they are out there a ways, it's great. I bleat, and they almost stop on que. Sometimes I have to do it a couple times till I'm loud enough to hear. Up close though, it's not so certain. I even had one buck trotting at about 15-20 yards that I bleated at, that then turned in a wide arc, and put on the afterburners. He never saw me, and I doubt he smelled me, as he was going to trot past anyway. In that case, a 54 caliber ball ended the run.
 
About 30 yrs. ago , My hunting buddy put me up in a tree to hunt deer in a thick place , next to a heavily used deer trail. Mid morning 5 deer were feeding along the trail. There was a shooter buck in the bunch , and he fed right to the base of the tree where we had dumped apple scent , and actually looked directly at me. He and the rest bolted. I spoke a loud MAAAAA. It was if someone turned the motors off inside all five , and They all froze in place. The buck went home with me................oldwood
 
Assuming it's October-December and the running or walking buck has not been spooked, he can be stopped by making the doe sound: BAaaaaaaaaaaa . He hears it as: "Hi big fellow". It's worked for me many times.
I've stopped many that way.
Assuming it's October-December and the running or walking buck has not been spooked, he can be stopped by making the doe sound: BAaaaaaaaaaaa . He hears it as: "Hi big fellow". It's worked for me many times.
Assuming it's October-December and the running or walking buck has not been spooked, he can be stopped by making the doe sound: BAaaaaaaaaaaa . He hears it as: "Hi big fellow". It's worked for me many times.
About 30 yrs. ago , My hunting buddy put me up in a tree to hunt deer in a thick place , next to a heavily used deer trail. Mid morning 5 deer were feeding along the trail. There was a shooter buck in the bunch , and he fed right to the base of the tree where we had dumped apple scent , and actually looked directly at me. He and the rest bolted. I spoke a loud MAAAAA. It was if someone turned the motors off inside all five , and They all froze in place. The buck went home with me................oldwood
yes , I've stopped many that way. my dad did that as well way back in the 1960 were I learned many tricks of hunting. had to show what I found when looking for my 8 pointer I shot with a bow.
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When I started deer hunting the people I hunted with used dogs which I do not care to do now. I shot several deer hunting with these people. I knew how much to lead a running deer with a substained lead. At fifty yards I could hold flush with his chest and the bullet would be in the kill zone. If the deer was running away from me at fifty yards or a hundred yards. I held just about center of the head.I used a 30 06 back then.The reason I mentioned this is when I got into B.P rifles I had one hard learning curve. The lead is quite a bit more when a bullet is traveling fourteen hundred feet a second opposed to twenty eight hundred feet a second. I wouldn't shoot a deer running wide open with my B.P. rifle now. If the deer is walking or in a slow trot that is different.
 
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