Are bucks wary of roads? Unleashed dogs?

[Clevinger]

In chatting with Dan on another site, watching "Hunting Marsh Bucks," and scouting my own property, I've realized that what I thought I knew about buck bedding was not entirely accurate. I have a couple of questions:

1. The buck I got this year I'm pretty sure, in hindsight, was bedding in a thick area right next to a road. I noticed that on "Hunting Marsh Bucks" there is a buck bedding right by the road too. Are these exceptions or are bucks really just not wary about roads?

2. There is a grove that seems like it would have ideal bedding on the map and looking from a distance (need to directly scout it still), but it is adjacent (across road) to a farmhouse that has two large, unleashed dogs that have fearsome barks. I've never seen the dogs go into this grove on our property, but they are right across the road and there is nothing stopping them. Do you think deer will avoid that grove due to the dogs?

[Stanley]

In my experience dogs will curtail buck movement. I have watched deer stay down wind of dogs in heavy cover and when the dogs pass the deer take off.
I was hunting a farm in 2007 I had a buck patterned bed to corn and it was late October. I hunted the stand site and saw nothing but 4 dogs. The next day I moved to a different location, same farm and saw the same 4 dogs no deer. The next day I went back to the original stand site I was confident I could kill the buck, same 4 dogs showed up. I called the neighbor that owned the dogs and asked him politely if he could keep the dogs out of the timber. He said he would lock them up in the barn. I decided to hunt the original stand site the next day. Killed the buck. This was the the third sit in that stand site. Or was it? Welcome to the Beast.

[Edcyclopedia]

First off Welcome to the Beast!!!

I've had deer pushed by my stand by dogs (not on purpose) and believe they will certainly stay away from them as much as possible... Arrowed a nice Doe this way.

As far as roads, it could or couldn't be an issue depending on traffic, intrusion, etc... but they will know it's a safe spot if no one ever goes in there!

[Clevinger]

First off Welcome to the Beast!!!

I've had deer pushed by my stand by dogs (not on purpose) and believe they will certainly stay away from them as much as possible... Arrowed a nice Doe this way.

As far as roads, it could or couldn't be an issue depending on traffic, intrusion, etc... but they will know it's a safe spot if no one ever goes in there!

Thanks for the warm welcome. I am happy to join. Seems like a very informative sight.

I'm realizing now what loners bucks are. I had assumed they were bedding in the thickest part of the forest/bog, but going through there all you see are tons and tons of doe beds.

After watching "Hunting Marsh Bucks" I am now looking at points where they have their back to a swamp, lone trees in the swamp, and overlooked areas by the roads.

The roads in question here are country roads where a vehicle probably comes by about once an hour.

[Clevinger]

In my experience dogs will curtail buck movement. I have watched deer stay down wind of dogs in heavy cover and when the dogs pass the deer take off.
I was hunting a farm in 2007 I had a buck patterned bed to corn and it was late October. I hunted the stand site and saw nothing but 4 dogs. The next day I moved to a different location, same farm and saw the same 4 dogs no deer. The next day I went back to the original stand site I was confident I could kill the buck, same 4 dogs showed up. I called the neighbor that owned the dogs and asked him politely if he could keep the dogs out of the timber. He said he would lock them up in the barn. I decided to hunt the original stand site the next day. Killed the buck. This was the the third sit in that stand site. Or was it? Welcome to the Beast.

The dogs in question are huge and loud. However, I've never seen them cross onto our property. These are rural farm dogs that seem to puff out their chests and show you how tough they are, but they seem to also know where their property ends.

[Black Squirrel]

I have a piece of property I hunt and the neighbor has hounds that are tied up and bark almost constantly. Now there are some difference here, as oposed to your situation, but after a couple of seasons the deer seemed to ignore the dogs. I have had deer by me when the hounds sounded off and they didn't even look in that direction. If those dogs NEVER cross the road into your property I would think those deer would react similarly to the ones I have seen.

[dan]

Deer hate dogs... Probably more than hunters.
They will not tolerate them within there "safe zone" just as they won't humans... But, with that said, if they stay on there side of the street the deer "might" put up with them... I have the feeling though, that wind blowing from the deer to the dogs would have dogs with no leashes investigating... So, if they are going into the bedding area or across the road... no, they won't tolerate it. But if they are staying put they just might. The only real way to know, is to put the boots on and go in there and find out.

[Clevinger]

I have a piece of property I hunt and the neighbor has hounds that are tied up and bark almost constantly. Now there are some difference here, as oposed to your situation, but after a couple of seasons the deer seemed to ignore the dogs. I have had deer by me when the hounds sounded off and they didn't even look in that direction. If those dogs NEVER cross the road into your property I would think those deer would react similarly to the ones I have seen.

It's a shame if they do avoid them here because it is easily accessible, overlooked, ideal habitat for a buck--aside from the dogs.

The farm with dogs is on the North side of the road, directly across from the grove in question. I'll look more closely. I wonder if, the wind direction was okay, if they would tolerate the dogs.

[Clevinger]

Deer hate dogs... Probably more than hunters.
They will not tolerate them within there "safe zone" just as they won't humans... But, with that said, if they stay on there side of the street the deer "might" put up with them... I have the feeling though, that wind blowing from the deer to the dogs would have dogs with no leashes investigating... So, if they are going into the bedding area or across the road... no, they won't tolerate it. But if they are staying put they just might. The only real way to know, is to put the boots on and go in there and find out.

Thanks for the input. Will scout next week. I spent a lot of time on the property last week and learned a ton.

Are the roadside beds, like in your video, an exception or something that's more commonplace?

[bblefty]

I almost made a post about this the last week. My last bowhunt of the year, I hiked way back (1.5 miles) with two bedding areas on two sides of a trail. Right before dark when I expected deer movement. A golden retriever just comes hopping along and digs right under my tree. Private property and houses are nearby but still a half mile away. This is the second hunt completely blown by dogs in this really great public area.

Is there anything that can be done if something is said to DNR about dogs running around all over public ground?

Is it worth talking to their owners??

[Scot]

I have never fared well when there has been the presence of dogs in the area I was hunting. Especially so with dogs barking loudly.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Clevinger]

I almost made a post about this the last week. My last bowhunt of the year, I hiked way back (1.5 miles) with two bedding areas on two sides of a trail. Right before dark when I expected deer movement. A golden retriever just comes hopping along and digs right under my tree. Private property and houses are nearby but still a half mile away. This is the second hunt completely blown by dogs in this really great public area.

Is there anything that can be done if something is said to DNR about dogs running around all over public ground?

Is it worth talking to their owners??

Just my two cents, but I intend to use the dogs in the sense that, if they are driving deer away from the potential bed in question, it actually narrows my search for buck bedding locations.

As far as the owners, my guess is that unless you know the owners and have a relationship with them, asking them to restrain their dogs probably won't be well received as a suggestion. In rural Minnesota where I hunt I'd guess about half the farms (if not more) have unleashed dogs that roam the property.

[rudy78]

Dogs running around will ruin a hunt/spot or if you are lucky push the deer past you. Dogs that always bark & stay by the house don't have much affect on the deer, even smelling them if they are used to them and not being harassed by them. It's kind of like deer bedding near houses, they can do it as long as they feel safe because the people don't harass them.
I think the same sort of mindset is with roads, deer can tolerate them as long as people aren't coming off the roads harassing them. It all has to do with them feeling comfortable.
I will never forget 2 experiences years ago by roads
-First is when we were doing a deer drive, me and another guy were coming off a fairly busy road. We drove down the road fairly slowly went to a driveway turned around, parked and as soon as we opened the doors a really nice buck stands up 30 yards away (only 30 feet of the road) in some cattails and takes off across the road. He was fined being bedded there until we stopped and opened the doors(we didn't know he was there til he hoped up).
-Second I was walking down a dirt road to walk into my hunting spot. I noticed a group of does bedded about 50 yards off the road and just kept walking at a good pace. They just laid there and looked at me, not flinching at all. I walked down the road a little ways and decided to come back and see if I could get a shot at one of those does. Again they just froze looking at me as I walked as soon as I stopped and looked their direction they all took off running away.
These and many other situations taught me deer don't care about roads or cars as long as they don't feel threatened by them. There are even times when they will seek out places by roads because most hunters will overlook these areas so they are safe from hunters.

[rudy78]

A quick & funny dog story. Went on an early season hunt. I get out the stand and the farmers dog decided to follow us. He goes into a grass field and is going crazy howling(hound dog). After about 20 minutes of this I get down go get the dog and bring him back to the house. Not really what I wanted to do on an 85 degree day, but knew I didn't stand a chance if he stayed around. I got back in the tree figuring I wouldn't see anything since it's early season so any buck bedded by us would have heard that dog and wouldn't come out before dark. About a half hour before dark a really nice buck showed up and I killed him!!! So he wasn't very affected by the dog being around barking an hour before.

[Clevinger]

There are even times when they will seek out places by roads because most hunters will overlook these areas so they are safe from hunters.

Great post/input. Thanks.

The situation I quoted from you above I think fits what was in the "Hunting Marsh Bucks" video on public land. Ditto for the one I got this year. It just never occurred to me to look right by the road.