Shawnee
member
As a kid I read that some of the "old time" (pre-WWII) deer hunters had a theory about deer behavior that, in my subsequent observation, seems to have some considerable merit, at least under some conditions.
Deer use their senses of sight, hearing, and smell to detect danger of course. But how do deer react to the messages sent by their senses ?
The old theory I read of claims that - under many, if not most, conditions - a deer will not flee from an area until it has received "danger messages" from at least two of its' senses... in other words, it (usually) will require a sort of confirmation of the danger message. Possibly a second "message" from the same sense as the first would do too.
Part of the logic of the theory is that when the deer is first alerted to potential danger it must determine and decide the extent of the danger and which direction is a safe route of escape. That would seem logical but,at least in some cases, that information might be carried by the first danger message, ie. hearing voices above it on a ridge.
Another part of the logic is that the deer will wait to see IF it should flee or if it should lay low in cover and simply let the danger go by... which obviously requires subsequent messages much of the time.
A good example of the "confirming sense" theory is when a deer suddenly sees a motionless hunter on a stand. The deer may see him plainly but as long as there is no motion, and no "confirmation" by sound or smell... the deer may very well "freeze" while looking at the hunter. It may also suddenly stamp its' foot to see if the hunter (out-of-place object) gives itself away by moving. The deer may also snort suddenly to see if the object moves. However, the "snort" is often when the deer has decided the danger is real and uses it to warn other deer nearby. Another thing deer do sometimes is appear to look away from the object only to quickly look back to it - as if feigning disinterest hoping to catch the object making some telltale movement.
Logic would seem to decree that this theory is more applicable in environments where the deer's senses have more difficulty in detecting/pinpointing danger (eg. thick woods, perhaps scrubby sub-desert, etc.
Another possible example this theory coming into play is a situation fairly common in mixed farmland and woods. A couple of the beanfields that I and my farmer neighbor have cropped deer from are a good illustration.
There is a long narrow beanfield - about 125yds. wide by 420yds. long - that is surrounded on three sides by thick woods and many deer feed on the bean plants there.
But the west end of the field is bordered by the tall grasses/plants of a CRP plot and is the highest point in the field. We set up to hunt this beanfield in the evening so we have tall plants and the sun at our back (in the deer's eyes if they look our way).
Several times when there were a half-dozen or more deer in the field we have shot a deer and the rest of the deer, though alert and looking around, quickly resumed feeding as if nothing had happened. In fact, we have shot as many as four deer in the space of perhaps 10 minutes this way and the remaining deer did not leave the field until we stood up and moved toward the field.
Even though the deer heard the shot(s) - they had no "confirming message" from their sight or smell.
Along with that, the wall of trees on three sides of the beanfield acts as sort of reverberating mechanism and the deer always seem confused about which direction the noise came from - and thus they don't flee immediately because they haven't determined a safe direction in which to flee.
We have used that to our advantage in that it often enables us to cause a moving deer to stop in its' tracks to reassess the direction of the danger. If a deer is moving and we are in the right spot, we can shout (sharply) to cause an echo and many, many times the deer will hit the brakes, at least long enough for a shot. This has worked so many times for us the shooter will get set then give the Ok for the shouter to yell. If the deer freezes for more than a couple seconds it's likely on its' way to Heaven. This ruse works for lone hunters too. The key is being in an area where the sound will bounce around and thus cause the deer to hesitate.
So, with all that, it's nothing but some hunting lore passed along. Not sayin' it's Gospel and not sayin' it ain't. Next time you're deer hunting maybe see if you can tell if it's on the money or just some old yesteryear woodsmoke.
Deer use their senses of sight, hearing, and smell to detect danger of course. But how do deer react to the messages sent by their senses ?
The old theory I read of claims that - under many, if not most, conditions - a deer will not flee from an area until it has received "danger messages" from at least two of its' senses... in other words, it (usually) will require a sort of confirmation of the danger message. Possibly a second "message" from the same sense as the first would do too.
Part of the logic of the theory is that when the deer is first alerted to potential danger it must determine and decide the extent of the danger and which direction is a safe route of escape. That would seem logical but,at least in some cases, that information might be carried by the first danger message, ie. hearing voices above it on a ridge.
Another part of the logic is that the deer will wait to see IF it should flee or if it should lay low in cover and simply let the danger go by... which obviously requires subsequent messages much of the time.
A good example of the "confirming sense" theory is when a deer suddenly sees a motionless hunter on a stand. The deer may see him plainly but as long as there is no motion, and no "confirmation" by sound or smell... the deer may very well "freeze" while looking at the hunter. It may also suddenly stamp its' foot to see if the hunter (out-of-place object) gives itself away by moving. The deer may also snort suddenly to see if the object moves. However, the "snort" is often when the deer has decided the danger is real and uses it to warn other deer nearby. Another thing deer do sometimes is appear to look away from the object only to quickly look back to it - as if feigning disinterest hoping to catch the object making some telltale movement.
Logic would seem to decree that this theory is more applicable in environments where the deer's senses have more difficulty in detecting/pinpointing danger (eg. thick woods, perhaps scrubby sub-desert, etc.
Another possible example this theory coming into play is a situation fairly common in mixed farmland and woods. A couple of the beanfields that I and my farmer neighbor have cropped deer from are a good illustration.
There is a long narrow beanfield - about 125yds. wide by 420yds. long - that is surrounded on three sides by thick woods and many deer feed on the bean plants there.
But the west end of the field is bordered by the tall grasses/plants of a CRP plot and is the highest point in the field. We set up to hunt this beanfield in the evening so we have tall plants and the sun at our back (in the deer's eyes if they look our way).
Several times when there were a half-dozen or more deer in the field we have shot a deer and the rest of the deer, though alert and looking around, quickly resumed feeding as if nothing had happened. In fact, we have shot as many as four deer in the space of perhaps 10 minutes this way and the remaining deer did not leave the field until we stood up and moved toward the field.
Even though the deer heard the shot(s) - they had no "confirming message" from their sight or smell.
Along with that, the wall of trees on three sides of the beanfield acts as sort of reverberating mechanism and the deer always seem confused about which direction the noise came from - and thus they don't flee immediately because they haven't determined a safe direction in which to flee.
We have used that to our advantage in that it often enables us to cause a moving deer to stop in its' tracks to reassess the direction of the danger. If a deer is moving and we are in the right spot, we can shout (sharply) to cause an echo and many, many times the deer will hit the brakes, at least long enough for a shot. This has worked so many times for us the shooter will get set then give the Ok for the shouter to yell. If the deer freezes for more than a couple seconds it's likely on its' way to Heaven. This ruse works for lone hunters too. The key is being in an area where the sound will bounce around and thus cause the deer to hesitate.
So, with all that, it's nothing but some hunting lore passed along. Not sayin' it's Gospel and not sayin' it ain't. Next time you're deer hunting maybe see if you can tell if it's on the money or just some old yesteryear woodsmoke.
Last edited:
