Buck C
It's that magic window of opportunity, just before peak breeding has arrived but when bucks are beginning to cruise--creating scrapes and nosing does to find that first willing mate. You've nailed down the area code of a dandy buck and decide to capitalize on his rising testosterone by rattling from a tree stand near one of his favorite bedding areas.

You're in the midst of a heated mock battle when you hear a twig snap behind you. That boss buck is standing there, staring at you like you're some freakish Christmas ornament. When you reach for your gun or bow, he departs at Mach 6.

Analysis
This stand is on life-support, at least for this buck. Since the rut isn't popping yet, he was in his home core area and won't forget your fracas--or its location--anytime soon. It's time to relocate to another ambush site near his core area. Check out rub lines, scrapes and doe feeding/bedding areas and keep bringing the fight to this buck--right away. You've got only a short window of opportunity to kill him before he abandons his normal haunts to chase does far and wide.

On the bright side, you know this buck is vulnerable to the horns, and that's a very good thing. Some bucks are pansies and reluctant to approach rattling, afraid that they'll encounter a bigger buck wanting to fight. This dude obviously isn't such a deer and is anxious to prove his mettle with other whitetails.

Once you've found some other ambush spots, don't be afraid to talk to the buck using antlers and calls. But be picky about your setups; the key to any good calling situation is to have some steering mechanism that prevents a buck from circling downwind.

Keep a field, a fence line, a steep cliff, even a river or creek bottom on your downwind side. That way, if Mr. Big comes creeping in--rather than charging in--he'll be forced to follow the funnel into your effective range.

The other positive thing to gain from this bumping is that you read the terrain correctly to put the buck in your lap. This means that when other nice bucks leave their home ranges and begin seeking does in unfamiliar territory, you could have a buck cruise through there that's never had a bad experience. So don't abandon the spot entirely; just recognize it as temporarily out of order for killing the original buck.

Perhaps the greatest lesson to learn from any bumping is this: Except in rare circumstances, you can repair the damage and have another chance. After all, whitetails are not like elk, which will put miles behind them after being spooked--effectively ending your chances with an individual bull.

Whitetails are animals with vastly smaller territories. And though they might make a subtle shift in where they conduct business within that area, your chances for finding--and hunting--a buck you've booted remain from fair to good, depending on how you conduct yourself.

As for me and Picket Fence, I quickly regrouped after botching that oh-so-close encounter. With two days left in the season, I decided to still-hunt his bedding area one drizzly morning. After two hours of slipping through a prickly-ash and cedar quagmire, I spotted the faint outline of a bedded doe not 30 yards away. Directly behind her was Picket, his sleepy head bobbing as he dozed.

I knelt slowly, looking for a shooting lane, and the motion alerted the doe. She rose and slipped through the brush, Picket following her out of blind obedience. When the pair popped out on a logging road, I shot just over his back. Picket ran to the neighboring farm, where an 18-year-old kid ended the buck's breeding season forever. Picket scored 173. I couldn't help but feel that playing hooky had spoiled any karma I had with that deer.