Deer Behavior is Changing

[wildfire]

My nephew always would pheasant hunt in a bedding area. I told him not to hunt pheasants until after gun season. Much be just luck, last 3 years he harvested 3 bucks.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

They CALL it a hunting camp, but treat it very differently. The wheelers get ridden from the cabin to the tractor shed about 150 ft. away !! All during the fall, trails to stands get cleared, chainsaws running, stands being moved, scouting off the wheelers (?), and just riding around to look at the ground. Those few of us that archery hunt see plenty of deer usually, but we travel on foot - quietly. That's why I rifle hunt on a piece of leased ground where no motorized vehicles are permitted, or on remote state land.

The curious thing is that the shooting they DO hear is from the immediate surrounding camps. Our guys are driving the deer off our land & onto the neighbors' camps and THEY shoot the deer !!! We have some of the thickest cover and great food - but the sound of 12 to 15 4-wheelers just before daylight going in all directions sends the deer hot-footing it out of there. It's as plain as day to me - and the other 4 archery hunters in the camp - but some of the members can't recognize the pattern change from archery season to the rifle season.

I can tell by what some of you guys post that you have a game plan for your hunts and have your access routes planned well in advance. You have self-imposed restrictions that you adhere to on your land as far as causing a ruckus and alerting deer. THAT'S why I wanted multiple inputs from you guys. I can show these responses to a couple of the more reasonable guys in the crew and maybe the tide will turn. I see plenty of deer myself - but I archery hunt ( when only 5 of us are there hunting ) and do all of my traveling on foot.
Sneak in - sneak out, dark to dark hunting in rifle season. I see deer.

 

[SD51555]

If they dig in their heels, tell them to just try no-wheelers for one season post-labor day and see how it goes. If there is no difference, let the rippin and roarin continue.

 

[sandbur]

My best hunting for big buck occurred when I did not leave my yard from Aug. 1 until the opener of the rifle season in Nov.

Now I spend some time in the back field, trapping gophers who seem to hit my crab apple trees every fall. Young trees need watering during dry august weather, etc.

I still do not enter the woods until rifle season except for one windy day to check access trails.

 

[sandbur]

You're hitting on something I've been paying a lot more attention to in the last 10 years or so, Art. I don't pretend to have learned enough to fully understand it, but there is no doubt in my mind that deer density impacts deer behavior a ton more than we realize.

One of the big things I've noticed is that deer activity increases as deer densities increase. When you have stupid high deer numbers, you see a significantly higher % of all age classes and dominance levels moving during daylight. My belief is that the more subordinate bucks and family groups are forced to move earlier and earlier to get their crack at the better food and water sources for the doe groups and any chance of breeding for the bucks. It may sound cheesy, but I believe the higher level groups of deer and bucks then see the lower doing this and assume it's safe for them, as well. It sort of becomes a snowball rolling down a mountain after a while.

Obviously, how safe the deer do and don't feel on a property impacts all of this, as well. That said, one of the stupid big pieces of ground I manage had deer entering plots at all hours of the day when numbers were ridiculously high, but dropped off to about normal when numbers were decimated by disease, and pressure was actually a bit less on the low deer numbers years. Now that numbers are climbing again the deer are entering the wide open earlier and earlier along with the numbers increases. I've noticed this link on a handful of different properties over the last 10 years or so. I'm sure there is more to it that I just described, but equally sure that's a major factor in it.

Steve-I suspect a whole new generation of deer needs to get booted out by their mothers as yearlings and not shot at for deer behavior to change-at least with our low numbers. These days of 5, 6, 7, or 8 doe permits put every deer on edge. A one shot kill does not educate the dead deer. But shooting at every deer that is seen because you have a pocket full of permits really educates them quickly.

Steve- Do you think the old doe that has been nocturnal will go back to daylight feeding with higher deer numbers?

The answer is all deer are individuals, I know.....

 

[West Branch]

Last friday when I drove up north I saw more deer on the roads I take than I saw the last two years in the summers. This was along MN state highways 24, 25, 95 and some county roads. Just anecdotal evidence but seemed like a noticeable difference to me.

 

[bat man]

We are on foot on our place almost exclusively. From time to time we'll have a wheeler out there doing stuff, but it's in and out, and at slow speeds. A.

You don't want to surprise your deer. Senses are sight, smell, and sound.

Sometimes its best to let the deer hear you on a machine and let them get out of your way vs surprise them with your presence. If you are not careful when you walk the deer can smell you for hours after you pass by. That means a wheeler may be the way to go.

Stealth has its place but noisy machines can be part of a good plan.

 

[sandbur]

You don't want to surprise your deer. Senses are sight, smell, and sound.

Sometimes its best to let the deer hear you on a machine and let them get out of your way vs surprise them with your presence. If you are not careful when you walk the deer can smell you for hours after you pass by. That means a wheeler may be the way to go.

Stealth has its place but noisy machines can be part of a good plan.

I have thought about a bicycle. Quiet, little ground scent, and you might just move fast enough that a deer just watches you.

 

[bat man]

I have thought about a bicycle. Quiet, little ground scent, and you might just move fast enough that a deer just watches you.

Bike is good where sound and smell are the issue. Surprise their eyes on a bike and its just as bad as them smelling or hearing you unless its an every day event in suburbia.

If they can see, hear or smell you coming or going, and its not their 'normal', the sightings are going downhill fast.

 

[sandbur]

I read some books by Dr. Ken Nordberg where he discusses how hunter behavior causes deer to spook. Act like a predator and they spook. Move right along at a steady pace and many are not bothered.

He said to walk along at a steady pace, do not look left or right, and do not stop or slow down.

He was referring to deer on the edge of the BWCA and noticed how deer react to wolves moving through an area. Deer spooked from wolves showing hunting behavior, but not from wolves just moving through.

 

[wklman]

I don't think the behavior has changed much in my area. The deer pretty much only move in the early mornings and late in the evenings. Even with decent numbers in the area hunting pressure has conditioned them to only come out at "safe" times. I do get pics of deer at my mineral lick at different times of the day but it's in the densest part of my woods near my best bedding areas.

 

[huthut]

You don't want to surprise your deer. Senses are sight, smell, and sound.

Sometimes its best to let the deer hear you on a machine and let them get out of your way vs surprise them with your presence. If you are not careful when you walk the deer can smell you for hours after you pass by. That means a wheeler may be the way to go.

Stealth has its place but noisy machines can be part of a good plan.

Batman -- has an excellent point. It all depends on how accustom your deer are to atv's, human scent, golf carts, tractors..etc

Our deer stand and watch us drive by in the summer with golf carts and atvs. However by the end of August Atv routes are limited to property edge trails. Golf carts are also limited and used almost exclusively during hunting season. Golf carts are used to get hunters during rifle season to strategic non-impact stands. Hunters walking in and out of stands leave scent trails in most cases == particularly during rifle season. We have eliminated most hunter movement by foot as to control scent.

All that being said, noise and scent are used stategically in as part of a plan during rifle season


it all comes down to whether your land is more recreation land or you want to focus on hunting.

 

[bat man]

I read some books by Dr. Ken Nordberg where he discusses how hunter behavior causes deer to spook. Act like a predator and they spook. Move right along at a steady pace and many are not bothered.

I buy that. But I always feel like you need to fool the deer into knowing you are not there. If they see, hear or smell you twice, they assume that is your turf and are not comfy there. I like them comfy where I expect them to be.

 

[BuckSutherland]

The curious thing is that the shooting they DO hear is from the immediate surrounding camps. Our guys are driving the deer off our land & onto the neighbors' camps and THEY shoot the deer !!!

Fun story.

Few years ago I was sitting on a stand looking south out into a clear cut. I hear a 4 wheeler start up on some private land to the east of me. He heads west towards me and I can see he kicks a couple does into the clear cut and I watch them get out towards the middle and kinda disappear into some slash.

About 5 mins later a deer is headed straight for me from that general area. It is far off and I cant notice much, but if it comes close I am going to shoot it. Its hunters choice and back then we had lots of doe around. As its coming close I can see that she turns into a he. He quickly turns into a very large deer making his way through the slash. He is heading straight for me.

When I can finally see just how big he is I am nearly pissing my pants. I am hunting in the world's shittiest ladder stand and still a little blurry from the previous night. It has no sides, no padded seat and a really small platform. I have to stand up and turn my body to try and make a shot. I am shaking so damn hard that the pins holding the stand together are making noise and my breath looks like the cooling tower of a nuclear reactor. He is about 75 yards out and stares right at me for a minute while I have my gun drawn. Lucky for me he puts his nose back to the ground to go and see about his lady friends. He keeps walking and I pick my spot. He gets almost all the way there and starts heading away. OH SHIT!! I rush a shot and miss and I am still shaking like a queer eating a hotdog. I hurry cause he is just standing there and launch another one. He does like a 360 and moves like 20 feet. WHAT??!! I missed again. I chamber another one and he is standing broadside behind a tree now (Yes, the only F***ing tree they didnt take down in the entire clear cut) and the only shot is his head. Now he is nervous and on ultra high alert. I have the gun up pointed right at the tree and he is ready to bolt. He takes one step and I drill him right in the bread basket.

So he spins around runs in a circle, and I can see the hole I blew in him. Takes off running and I hear a mighty crash. I sit down for the next fifteen minutes and relive the most intense 5-7 mins I may have ever had. I get down and go get my girlfriends dad. I tell him I have a monster down and he doesnt believe me. It has been about 30 mins since I shot til I get to his stand 150 yards away. He is north of me and as we head back south to look we hear some deer running followed quickly by a shot. My heart sank. These guys will never believe me I tell myself. I tell him someone just shot my flippin deer. He lights a smoke, and turns around and there he is. Buried under a pile of branches from when they logged and barely visible.

Moral of the story....

Thanks to the guy that drove his 4 wheeler to the stand at 8 am and help kicked this guy to me. I get to look at him everyday and relive those very awesome few mins. And let me tell you, one of the funnest things I ever did was prop his head up in the back of the truck for the ride home. I nearly caused some accidents with people trying to get a glimpse of him.

I wont be taking a wheeler to the stand anytime soon.

 

[Riggsgwp->]

I am on my 40 acres walking around driving tractors and occasionally atv during spring-summer and it doesn't seem to impact the deer much. If the deer want to be there they will tolerate it. I checked my cams tonight and have pics of 5-6 bucks that are 1 1/2 to possibly 3yr old and about the same number of adult does. The last few seasons have changed my property and deer seem to be responding very well.

 

[foggy]

We drive by deer on our golf cart regularly. Also on a wheeler......but it does seem that any erratic moves will spook the deer - and moreso on the wheeler than the electric cart. I don't think they know the cart is moving.....it's so quiet and un-obtrusive. I "deliver" our hunters to the stand on our cart....if at all possible. It's much faster.....and keeps the scent and human footsteps and noise to a minimum.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I think in the autumn when all the leaves are off the trees its a whole different ballgame than the summer when it can be hard for them to see you in the canopy. Dont like the stink of exhaust on my hunting clothes either.

 

[sandbur]

I buy that. But I always feel like you need to fool the deer into knowing you are not there. If they see, hear or smell you twice, they assume that is your turf and are not comfy there. I like them comfy where I expect them to be.

And those deer at the edge of the BWCA probably react differently than our deer.

 

[sandbur]

We drive by deer on our golf cart regularly. Also on a wheeler......but it does seem that any erratic moves will spook the deer - and moreso on the wheeler than the electric cart. I don't think they know the cart is moving.....it's so quiet and un-obtrusive. I "deliver" our hunters to the stand on our cart....if at all possible. It's much faster.....and keeps the scent and human footsteps and noise to a minimum.

Two or three years ago, we just would not see a deer in the daylight, period. Practically year around. Up to 8 doe tags, open country, and rifle zone.

 

[biglakeba$$]

Thats because there were no deer to see though.

Remember, just a few years ago, Beau flew your zone and counted what??? 3 or 4 dpsm?

I dont believe you are seeing habit changes. You are seeing deer because you might have deer now.