The Bump & Dump

The number of hunting strategies that you can adopt and ultimately attempt is effectively unlimited. With all of the different types of stands, attractants, baits, calls, coverups, and whitetail hunting accessories available, the number of different combinations is astronomical. Even through all of that, there are a few strategies that continue to repeat over time. You hear about them on podcasts, see them on youtube videos, and you may be even reading about them in a whitetail blog. One of those strategies is the Bump & Dump. I will admit right at the beginning, I have never successfully executed this approach. But, I have the first part down solid, probably one of the best in the world. I have bumped so many deer attempting to utilize this tactic. Through all of those failures I hope to, at the very least, elevate those attempting it above and beyond all the rookie mistakes I made in the past and maybe provide a new perspective to those just looking to sharpen up their existing strategy.

What exactly is the bump & dump? This strategy sounds extremely simple, but like most things whitetail hunting, there is a lot that goes into it if you want to pull it off successfully. The bump and dump is bumping or pushing a deer, usually a buck, out of their bed then setting up or accessing an existing tree stand in range of its bed with the intention of shooting him when he returns to his bed (or getting back out of it if you had started early morning before legal shooting light). It is a high risk high reward approach. The circumstances should be calling for the implementation. You certainly could attempt it just to attempt it. But, considering you are purposely pressuring and disturbing what is likely your target buck, it can prove detrimental if not done properly. Ultimately, the bump and dump is a tool in your arsenal. There are situations for it and there are certainly situations where it should be avoided.

As stated, due to the high risk high reward nature of this tactic, the situation should be calling for it more than anything. Here are a few of them. This obviously does not cover every scenario, but it covers some of the major ones.

Accidental bump and dump -This could happen on a property that you have had permission on, but would most likely occur on a new property. Say you get permission after hunting season has started and you're going in for the first time ever. If you push a deer up out of its bed and you can visually confirm that it is a deer that you would or likely would take, throw that stand up. I recommend having that stand with you that first time, especially if it is in season and to hang it in this situation. You don't want to be running in and out of the woods after scouting to find a spot and creating all that disruption. You probably don't want to continue pushing that deer and possibly more chasing a better set up location. This is going to be a lower success rate version, but as stated if the season has already started and you are pushing into the woods, at that point what do you have to lose. This is very much a “in the situation” event. There are a lot of assumptions built into this scenario, so just being ready for it provides you that option if you want to take it.

Public Land -Most public land laws state that you cannot leave your stand up, and even if you can you probably don't want to anyway. The bump and dump is a good strategy to take if you’re on public land. This can be deployed on new public land, or a spot that you have some history with. If you're not leaving your stand and you don't already have a sure-fire spot that you're going in on, the bump and dump may be a legitimate consideration. The biggest challenge you would have on public land with the bump and dump is due to the general pressure public lands see from all outdoor enthusiasts, it's unlikely the deer would return to that bed that day, but that's not to say it's impossible. There are more factors that would need to be considered to come to a comprehensive conclusion.

Tactical Necessity - This approach is the highest likelihood for success and is ultimately the scenario requiring the method for success on a particular deer. This may be because a buck beds on your property through the morning and once he gets up in shooting light he moves to neighboring properties, not to return until the night. An attempt to get on him may be to get in exceptionally early, hours before legal shooting light. Soft bump him off his bed in the hopes that he comes back to that bed until shooting light rolls around at which time you can get on him getting out of bed. Maybe a buck comes into a midday bed and your personal schedule doesn't allow you to hunt mornings. In the evening hunts he is already gone or when you bumped him in the past and he just didn't return as it was already late enough in the day for him to feel comfortable leaving that area. In this case you can get in shortly after he’s bedded, lightly bump him out, and set up for him to return to that bed or area.

To this point, what the bump and dump is has been dissected and discussed. Possibly scenarios that may call for it and some approaches that could be taken to pull it off successfully. What is just as important, or even arguably more important, the entire other half of the conversation, the deer behind the reason for the bump and dump. You could have the greatest strategy in the world, move in with stealth and precision, and execute all the set up perfectly. But, if you don't know the deer it could all be for nothing. The following discusses many of the extra factors that could be easily overlooked when attempting the bump and dump method.

Deer temperament - number one on the list by far. Simply put, if the deer isn't going to tolerate it then there's no point in trying. This can be difficult to really nail down, effectively impossible without historical data. Deer do have “personalities” and they have their safeguards that have kept them alive. While one buck may allow you to push him 2,3, maybe 4 times out of his bed, another may not tolerate it even one time. To take that even further, the buck that won't tolerate it may make slight adjustments and just not come back to that specific area or he may be gone forever. Utilizing historical data from your own experiences paired with what you see on trail cameras, you can get a feel for individual deer temperament and create a plan around that. That plan may include the bump and dump as an option, or it may suggest tossing it out all together.

Time of day/year/conditions - This has somewhat been touched on in an example above, but the deer needs to not only be in the bed, but want to come back. You may bump a deer moving into a morning spot and he may not be spooked or concerned, he's just not coming back since it's almost that time of day anyway that he'd be moving on from his bed. Maybe the wind was right when he initially bedded but has now changed and may not be particularly right for him to want to come back to that bed. This also pairs with the temperament and safeguards discussed above. If you are not tying together the hunting approach with the buck with the conditions, then you could be missing that one piece that is keeping you from getting on him. One final example is simply time of year. In Ohio, the season starts the last weekend of september. Sometimes that may be when they have just finished rubbing off their velvet and are still somewhat in bachelor groups and sometimes that's a week later when they’ve started breaking apart. On one of my properties I may be able to successfully pull off a bump and dump when that last weekend comes on the 23rd-24th, but if it is a year like this year where the last weekend is literally the last day of the month, it makes it significantly harder. The deer are starting to break apart and adjust their “bedding circuits” so all the summer trail camera data I have is effectively shot for that particular strategy when season comes in at that particular time. If I were to pull off the bump and dump at this later season opening, it would be more by chance encounter than an actual plan.

Overall pressure - This has a lot of similarities and ties into deer temperament, but really knowing the overall pressure of the property will help determine the likelihood of pulling this off. If you have a good sized chunk of woods to yourself, the opportunity is there. If the land owner lets every Tom, Dick, and Harry hunt you could be doing everything right and the deer overall just might not tolerate it. The other hunters could even be unsuccessful, rarely ever taking deer. The deer just don’t tolerate it because they get bumped so much. More so, it's possible they don't tolerate it in one area because that's where everyone walks in, but in a different area they are more forgiving because there is significantly less pressure. Pressure can very much be a deciding factor in the application and success of the bump and dump.

Property suitability - The property and how the deer use it just needs to be suitable for the strategy. I hunted a property in the past that was more a pass through than anything else. It was a small body of woods wedged between two large bodies of agg with larger woods on each side. The deer really never stayed in my piece, they just passed through it as they made their way from one body of woods or agg to another. If they were bedded, when they were bumped they just ran out into the agg and over to one of the larger bodies of woods. It is very possible your property and deer present the prime opportunity for a morning bump and dump but it happens to be relatively close to the property line. You may go in hours before sunrise, give the slightest push that just nudges the buck up perfectly, he strolls off not spooked or concerned and you get set up. You hear him work his way back in and bed down so now all you need is that legal shooting light. Then the neighbor stomps by with his flood light 15 minutes before legal light and spooks the deer off to the next county.

Overall, as suggested in the beginning, the bump and dump should be a tool in your toolbox. Know about it, know its application, risk reward factor, and more. There is so much that goes into it, it's practically impossible to lay out a general step by step plan of how to do it successfully. All of the information above and likely more need to be taken into consideration when deciding on whether or not to attempt the bump and dump strategy, or any strategy for that matter. This is not and should not be the one all be all resource. Take the information here and compare it to the podcast you're listening to and the youtube videos you watch. At the end of the day just make a plan and go for it. Whether it be a success in the sense that you took a deer, or not, you still hopefully learned and can implement that new knowledge into your plan for next time.