How does a deer know its being hunted??

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mheichelbech
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How does a deer know its being hunted??

Unread postby mheichelbech » Sun Mar 30, 2014 8:26 am

This may sound like a stupid question but thinking about my post on the scouting board...I got to wondering...I know there are many small parks around that have large, mature bucks and they have people walking, hiking through their woods and intruding on them, yet the bucks seem use to this and accept it. Obviously they somehow have a sense of not being hunted and feel safe despite all the human intrusion. If a buck has never been shot or really hasn't encountered hunters much on a particular property...how does it ever know it's being hunted...

And why do they tolerate human intrusion in the non-hunted parks but not in areas that say are bow hunt only? Is it because the human usually follow predictable, defined trails and they get used to this?


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Milk Weed Seed
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Re: How does a deer know its being hunted??

Unread postby Milk Weed Seed » Sun Mar 30, 2014 8:37 am

They know where those people go in the parks. Most people will not venture off the tails or paths in those parks and the deer expect their scent on them. Hunters will go " in the woods" and leave scent where the deer do not expect it.
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Re: How does a deer know its being hunted??

Unread postby mheichelbech » Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:10 am

Is that the main thing...scent where isn't usually is or "should be"...
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Re: How does a deer know its being hunted??

Unread postby FRH » Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:24 am

I think scent is a big part of it and where it should or shouldn't be. Also just human intrusion in general I think deer accept it to some point. A farmer can drive through a field with deer feeding in it and the most they do is lift their heads up. Other days they might bolt before he even sees them.

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Milk Weed Seed
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Re: How does a deer know its being hunted??

Unread postby Milk Weed Seed » Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:26 am

I hunt a lot of state parks and suburbs and seem to think so. In the back yards deer walk between the yards and smell the people on the lawns and around the houses. They walk past BBQ's and pool parties with no fear, go sit in a tree 100 yards from the house and they get nervous.
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Re: How does a deer know its being hunted??

Unread postby semperfidelis » Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:32 am

Animals survive on instinct. Deer certainly notice humans taking notice of them. Think of how nervous deer get when they are feeding near a road and the car abrubtly stops. The wise deer move along quickly. They instinctively are aware of potential danger.

Deer have had to tolerate human presence as the population continues to increase and the concrete jungle grows. I believe it is the deviation from the normal or increase to the normal of human presence that alert deer they are being hunted. Most hunters don't hunt and scout year round. This provides deer with 8-9 months of respite. Deer may not know what day of the week it is but I believe they know colder temperatures coincide with increased danger from humans. Add increased human scent and observations of hunters in the field and they instinctively realize they are threatened.

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Re: How does a deer know its being hunted??

Unread postby mheichelbech » Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:14 am

That makes a lot of sense...what I am most curious about is it possible to scout a spot too much in the Spring...i.e., is it possible to run a buck or bucks out of an area if you are going through there several times or if they tend to tolerate it and forget by Fall...or maybe some bucks do and some don't.
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Re: How does a deer know its being hunted??

Unread postby Milk Weed Seed » Sun Mar 30, 2014 11:56 am

They should settle down by fall, as long as there is still a reason to be bedding there (food). But I wouldn't go around harassing them. To me one scouting trip is good enough to gather the "intel". Then move on to another spot.
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Re: How does a deer know its being hunted??

Unread postby dan » Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:44 am

Scent where it shouldn't be might be part of it... But, stupid bucks die in hunting situations or get real smart real quick. Where I hunt a lot of the deer I shoot have bullets and broadheads inside of them... Thats one way of getting smart.

Does teach there fawns to beware human scent based on there encounters too.

There is a big difference between people walking around and people sneaking up on deer, tracking them, etc... I would know I was being hunted.
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Re: How does a deer know its being hunted??

Unread postby Black Squirrel » Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:54 am

Deer get conditioned to elements in thier environment. If you lived in the same woods with a deer year around, and never chased it or harrased it, it would eventually see you as a nonthreat. In other words, I believe you could conditon a deer to accept you. The problem is Deer are scared of humans because in the grand scheme of things a person and their scent are not part of their daily routine. The deer learn to know where humans belong and where they don't. In urban settings, they will bed in the backyards of homes. I see this in the edge of Green bay quite often. These are subdivisons that have a wooded ravine or some type of cover, not just in the open, in the center of the city. But most of the time these deer are not botherd by the occosinal car or walker as long as they stay where they belong. Just the other day I drove to the end of a dead end street, that ended with a circle of houses in the woods. They was a doe and two fawns bedded behind a guys wood pile. Maybe 60 yards from me. They watched me very carefully, but never got up to flee. As long as I stayed in my care they were ok. I bet if I got out they would have bolted in a heart beat.
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Re: How does a deer know its being hunted??

Unread postby wmahunter » Tue Apr 01, 2014 4:36 am

down here pressure means to many vehicles and too many people walking where they normally are not and the deer are constantly being bumped from one place to another.

Then deer start constantly looking up in the trees for something that does not belong.


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