I don't understand deer.....

chris4570 · Post by **chris4570** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 8:04 pm

I know I'm always learning. But sometimes the way deer behave just goes against what they are supposed to do.

This morning I got set up on the ground with my back to a tree. As day light approached I had to go, but had forgot my bottle. So I got up and went about fifteen feet behind my tree, downwind of me. No biggie.

I settled back in. Heard some deer moving about out of sight, heading away from me. About an hour after sunrise I hear three footfalls, crunch, crunch, crunch, at my 4 o'clock. I have two trees next to me blocking my view. Then silence. No more. I soon forgot about it.

Running short on time with commitments outside of hunting

, I got up at about 9:30 and checked where I thought I had heard deer moving this morning. Sure enough the deer were there. On the way back to my tree I saw some tracks and followed them. They went right to my tree.

The steps I heard were of a deer checking me out, just hidden by one of the trees to my right. Only ten feet away!! I never saw it.

Oh the two deer also passed directly behind my tree, less than 6 feet, without me knowing they were there. Downwind and through where I had peed not so long ago. I don't understand.

honker · Post by **honker** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 8:07 pm

A wise man once said "patience young grasshoppa..."

I think you're in the right spot. I never take a leak near where I hunt though. More worried about coyotes showing up and marking their territory than deer picking up my scent though.

beretta96D · Post by **beretta96D** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 8:16 pm

I can't figure them out either. You read everywhere about scent control, elevation etc... yet a friend of mine in Ottawa, wears denim pants, a blaze orange jacket year round for yard work and hunting, whatever boots are handy and off he goes, and always fills his tags....on occasion he smokes a bit of a cigar on the way to his stand! It goes against all logic, our logic. I myself do my best to blend in and not be smelled yet he has shot more deer then I have seen.

chris4570 · Post by **chris4570** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 8:20 pm

honker wrote: I never take a leak near where I hunt though..

I don't either. This morning was supposed to be my last hunt of the year, plus with me going downwind it shouldn't have mattered.....and it didnt!!!

crazyfarmer · Post by **crazyfarmer** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 10:09 pm

just think, those were probably doe.. if it was a mature buck you wouldnt have known at all he was there. He wouldnt have gotten close enough for you to notice

hunting can be stressful at times...

btw, im one of those that doesnt bother with the 39405757590430 different scent things you can buy. I just put camo pants on over my blue jeans and hit the woods up a tree. No soaps, wipes, special gun or anything

its all in how you hunt.. not what you use. Its a learning game and you learn more everyyear

Boo · Post by **Boo** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 10:59 pm

If they were predictable they wouldn't have survived so well and they'd all be killed off by now. I don't believe that deer care that much about human urine. I baited the day before yesterday and had a wiz about 15 yards away and covered the spot with snow. Today I saw the tracks on top of the spot I wized on and some of them are huge! They are curious but also difficult to pattern. So the deer probably just wanted to know what made the noise near them. Remember we all just guess at these things.

Boo · Post by **Boo** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 11:25 pm

I thought I should add that if you really understood deer completely hunting would be too easy and this would all get way too boring. It would be called killing not hunting at that point.

fogducker · Post by **fogducker** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 12:05 am

while your busy trying to pattern out a deers habit..
just remember your in there turf..
they are trying to pattern you out also

huntman · Post by **huntman** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 12:25 am

I have said it before and will say it again. YES deer are smart but i think we give them too much credit. After all if they were as smart as we lead them on to be no one would ever harvest a deer. They make the stupidest mistakes.

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:19 am

Boo wrote: I don't believe that deer care that much about human urine.

I don't either. I've seen deer cross over or stand around in areas where I've taken a leak many times ... in spots "contaminated" by fresh, stale, single and multiple leaks. The evidence I've seen just doesn't support any claims that human urine spooks deer.

And we all need to remember that "scent control" has become AN INDUSTRY ... and that it's marketing is more about making money than it is about strict facts. They want your money; of course they tell you it's essential ... same thing goes for those who endorse the products.

Bottom line with scent is wind direction.

It helps to remember that deer were WIPED OUT in many areas long before there was camo, or charcoal lined suits, or any of the latest whiz-bang doo-dads and gadgets that hunters so "depend" upon nowadays!

Stealth is the name of the game, and you can't buy that on a shelf.

A hunter who dresses in street clothes and dabs on cologne but makes like a stump in the woods is better off than someone with all of the trendy "aids" who can't stay still.

pdislow · Post by **pdislow** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:49 am

thats right Grizz you aient gonna see many deer while you are swattin skeeters!

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:10 am

I might add, in keeping with the original context of this post, that (as others have observed) the odd deer will occasionally do EXACTLY what most of them don't do ... just to keep things interesting! While they are largely predictable, they are certainly individuals too!

So ... no doubt someone has seen a deer seize up when getting a whiff of man-pee. Surely someone has seen a deer come in while they were moving around like the "Evolution of Dance" guy. You can bet someone else has had a deer spot them from 500 yards because they wore their faded Mossy Oak jacket over their brand new Realtree pants.

There's always the wild card deer out their, from which someone can make a case for "deer behavior" ... so, never can tell.

BTW ... if you haven't seen the EoD Guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:42 am

planter wrote: Quite a few years back I was standing in my tree stand pants down using a snapple bottle that was filling up rapidly. I looked up and at 20 yards stood a little buck I WAS going to shoot. I put the bottle on the stand platform but continued to urinate as I grabbed my bow. I pivoted slowly toward the deer gracefully knocking the snapple bottle on to it's side. As it's contents went glug glug glug I came to full draw and made a killing shot.

Great story, Planter!

Truth is stranger than fiction!

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:47 am

bstout wrote: If you're wondering if you are a successful archery hunter or not, just take a look in your freezer. This is where the proof is stored.

Gee, Bob ... I've still got some deer from 2006 in the freezer. What's that proof of? That I need to make more jerky?

Some of it's from an old soldier of a buck whose meat compares favorably with blown-out retreads picked up off of the interstate ... honestly, I think a little "Asphalt Alligator" would be about as good.

Tough, tough, TOUGH.

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:07 am

bstout wrote:
Grizzly Adam wrote:A hunter who dresses in street clothes and dabs on cologne but makes like a stump in the woods is better off than someone with all of the trendy "aids" who can't stay still.
I agree 100%.

Folks who successfully take deer every year using archery equipment know things $$$ can't teach you. Success is not something that can be purchased, it has to be learned.

If you're wondering if you are a successful archery hunter or not, just take a look in your freezer. This is where the proof is stored.

Being an archery hunter doesn't come from one's pocket book or brain...it comes from their gut!

I think experience counts for absolutely zilch when it comes to deer hunting. I also think that a successful hunter can harvest deer in whatever clothes he or she decides to wear. My first deer of the year walked to me while I was in jeans, but those times are far and few between, I am one of the guys who likes all the fancy stuff and am just as successful with that.
I don't hunt in trees, and I don't sit still, at all, yet I manage to fill my tags. I for one don't think you have to be 100 years old and hunt with wooden arrows to be considered successful. Deer hunting, like everything else on the planet has evolved, technology and youth are adding a whole new dimension to the sport, it is inevitable.
The mindset is what makes a hunter, not his clothes or his age or experience.