One TV-Hunter Tactic Whitetail Hunters Might Want To Reconsider

He wasn’t the only one to tell me that, and it became clear that Hollywood had inadvertently made archery popular with the youth of our nation. It was one of those moments that showed me that pop culture can influence consumer behavior in a huge way.

While that might seem obvious now, there’s a reality hidden in there that a lot of us probably don’t pay attention to. Consider the hunting industry. How many people do you know who say they can accurately age bucks on the hoof? Maybe you do, too. This came straight from the outdoor television world, where we had to stop shooting “trophy” bucks because the optics of trophy hunting aren’t so great.

We pivoted to “mature” bucks, and suddenly everyone could age deer easily. The vernacular associated with a lot of popular platforms certainly bled through the hunting masses, as well.

And of course, we all now mrrp to stop our bucks before we shoot. That came from folks filming, and it’s pervasive amongst deer hunters. But that doesn’t always make it a good option.

The Speed of Sound

Sound travels at 1125 feet-per-second. Even the fastest crossbows on the market will only hit about a third of that speed. What this means is that the moment you bleat or mrrp to get your buck to stop, you’ve made audio contact with him. Not only does this put him on red alert, but it also primes him to do what deer do very well, which is run away from danger.

The instant that you trigger your release, or maybe touch off a shot with your crossbow, you make audio contact again. But this time, he’s very likely to drop to load his legs and get the hell out of Dodge. Does he have enough time to fully get out of the way? That depends entirely on the shot distance and the speed of your arrow or bolt.

After filming a lot of deer getting shot with both vertical bows and crossbows, I can tell you one thing—they almost all start to drop at the shot. Our brains don’t quite register it on most encounters, but the camera does. Even deer that I don’t stop with some sound, all drop to some extent.

Now, that doesn’t mean they get away every time. They don’t, but it does beg the question: is it a good idea to stop them every time?

No, but not just for the obvious reasons.

Panic Time

Buck fever is simply fight or flight, panic time. You want that deer more than anything, and your brain tells you that you better get it over with before he walks out of your life forever. What ramps up buck fever?

Well, when you go from having a deer completely unaware of your presence to intentionally letting him know something is there. If you watch our 12 in ’26 film from Nebraska last year, watch Steve when he shoots his buck. He mrrps, and almost instantly rushes his shot.

You might think that is a telltale sign of a whitetail newbie, but it’s not so simple. Go out to your backyard range if you get the chance and draw your bow. Aim at your target, and just mouth bleat like you would to stop a buck. You will probably feel an instant change come over you. We have almost conditioned ourselves to at least lightly panic when we make that sound, because we only make that sound in one type of scenario.

Read the Room

A buck that has his head down and is snuffling through the leaf litter for acorns is a buck that probably doesn’t need to be stopped. A buck that is hellbent on finding a girlfriend and is cruising along a fenceline between two woodlots is a different story.

The more encounters you have with deer, the more you start to understand the nuance of the whole thing. If a buck is headed right for a scrape and you’re waiting on him, you know he’s probably going to stop naturally and pose up (all while being distracted). A buck that is grunting his head off and practically running a sidehill trail is a different story.

There is also the reality of calm deer versus keyed-up deer. I shot a buck on that same Nebraska hunt last year that was so rutted up he was almost oblivious. I shot him three times and missed him once, and every time it was like he was just waking from a coma. A few years ago I shot at a different buck that dropped so far on my shot that he left a belly print in the snow (and a sadly clean arrow buried into the ground).

A calm or rutted-up buck is a prime candidate for a mrrp. A deer that has caught a whiff of you or has otherwise shown you he isn’t feeling really comfortable is a buck that will take that audio contact and use it as a reason to flee the scene.

Choose wisely, and remember, you don’t need to stop all of them.