Does deer blowing always = busted?

[bueller]

Will deer blow at bobcats or other predators, or did I get busted? While on stand around 8am Saturday morning I heard a deer blow, take off, blow again, and take off for good. The deer was out of sight in the thick woods and was never near downwind of me or the path I took to the stand. Trail camera in the area shows a bobcat right where I heard the deer about 10 minutes prior to the deer blowing. I can admit when I'm busted, we've all been there, but I can't imagine how this deer could've smelled, seen, or heard me.

 

[H20fwler]

Sometimes they blow because they don’t know what you are or they are agitated.
I’ve had them hang around blowing for five to ten minutes circling trying to find out what is in their home turf. Seems like I’ve seen/heard it the most when it is darker out.
Have also seen them blow and stomp at each other.

 

[Bill]

I’ve watched them blow at each other (mostly young bucks pestering them). Also saw a doe blowing at a place where a coyote had walked earlier. I think they blow more then we think.

 

[Mortenson]

Other than a gun shot closeby, probably the worst sound in the deer woods.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Will deer blow at bobcats or other predators, or did I get busted? While on stand around 8am Saturday morning I heard a deer blow, take off, blow again, and take off for good. The deer was out of sight in the thick woods and was never near downwind of me or the path I took to the stand. Trail camera in the area shows a bobcat right where I heard the deer about 10 minutes prior to the deer blowing. I can admit when I'm busted, we've all been there, but I can't imagine how this deer could've smelled, seen, or heard me.

Been there many times. I live in an area with a very high density of black bears. I've watched deer feeding on apples below my stand or out in a small food plot 100% unbothered and/or unaware of my presence and suddenly get jittery and jumpy. Sometimes I will see the bear before they do. But yes, they will blow and off they go.

On the other hand, I've watched a group of does feeding not 30 yards from a female bear and her 2 cubs in the same wild apple grove...both groups aware of and tolerant of the other's presence. So I think it all depends. But yes, deer will blow at other predators besides us.

 

[Telemark]

They seem to blow when they are uncertain. I've heard of people calming them in various ways, but never seen it done. One guy said he blows back. Another carried a deer tail and wagged it side to side.

I once got a lucky break when I got out of my blind to relieve myself. A deer behind the blind blew, and luckily one in front of the blind blew back. I did what I needed to do and crawled back into the blind silently. Never saw the deer behind the blind, but the one in front of the blind walked around eating in the foodplot for a while. This was red deer, not whitetails.

 

[bueller]

Interesting responses. Definitely a horrible sound to the ears. Fingers crossed the bobcat or something else freaked this deer out. Can't afford to get busted hunting in a low density/ high pressure area.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Interesting thread. The one sit i've done on my land this year there was a straight west wind and I sat on the straight east end of my foodplot. There were does blowing intermittently 20-40 yards to my west in the food plot for at least 45 minutes without leaving. I assumed the wind must have swirled for a second or two to leave just a hint of my stink in the food plot but it very well could have been something else. The 1 and 2 YO bucks that were also in the plot barely reacted.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I have found when a deer blows, they will be skittish and looking for something in the area the next few times they go there. Unless you are expecting a big buck, I would give it a rest a few days.

 

[Bszweda]

yes they blow at bob cats... I had a similar thing happen. I got a video of the Bob cat coming in after a few minutes of the deer blowing. It eventually winds me.

 

[PatinPA]

I get blown at all of the time. I have destination commercial ag on 3 of 4 sides of me and bedding on 3 of 4 sides as well. There's just no getting around it. The deer come from different directions all of the time. There isn't really any consistency to it. Fortunately the deer are used to intrusion and it doesn't take them long to calm back down.

I think you're fine though. I've seen deer snort at all kinds of things. They really hate domestic cats around me, passing cars, other deer, squirrels. They can be pretty excitable.

 

[chummer]

I was hunting with Chainsaw and we had deer all over. One blew at a fisher and cleared the woods.

 

[Nightvision]

I watched many does blow while being chased by a buck. Don’t know if it’s necessarily scaring other deer but they’re definitely blowing because of something they’re not fond of.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I was hunting with Chainsaw and we had deer all over. One blew at a fisher and cleared the woods.

How is Chainsaw doing? I havent seen him post recently.

 

[bueller]

Never seen a buck blow, only old doe. I assume the deer Saturday morning was an old doe I've been trying to get. She is so visible all summer and then goes underground when bow season opens. I want her worse than a big buck the past couple years.

 

[Buckly]

How is Chainsaw doing? I havent seen him post recently.

I was wondering that also. Went through Ellisburg on Saturday and then overnighted in Watertown And got me thinking about him Up there.
Anyway, I’ve seen deer blow at most anything. Sometimes they blow and take off and other times they blow and hang around for a half hour. That’s annoying. LOL. I’ve also seen other deer in the area not even take much notice about it and other times it clears the area. I think if other deer see the perpetrator blow and take off , they will too, otherwise they just look up and then continue on if they don’t see movement. I’ve also had deer blow right at me and then calm down and hang around. No rhyme or reason to it I guess.

 

[Native Hunter]

Last year I saw a doe in a food plot get all tore up stomping and blowing. In a few seconds, a bobcat entered the plot. It was going in a fast walk away from the doe. The doe took off after it like she was going to attack it, but the bobcat went into the tall grass, and I couldn't tell what happened. This was in November and her fawn was not with her.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

Never seen a buck blow, only old doe. I assume the deer Saturday morning was an old doe I've been trying to get. She is so visible all summer and then goes underground when bow season opens. I want her worse than a big buck the past couple years.

Bucks definitely blow. I've found they typically won't in pressured situations but in unpressured situations they are more likely to do it. I also think younger bucks will blow but older bucks just try and duck out without anything noticing.

I've seen does with fawns get down wind of me and blow, and then come back 15-20 minutes to try and get an eye on what she smelled. It might be based on their personality too. Regardless, I think the order of ruined hunts goes like this:
They hear you but don't see or smell you, you are probably fine.
If they hear and see you, but don't smell you, they might leave and you may or may not see them again.
If they see and/or hear you and smell you, you are probably screwed with that deer for that sit and maybe even some length of time.

 

[blueKYstream]

This past weekend, I had two does behind my stand. I'm thinking one maybe caught the slightest bit of my movement. One blew and they ran into a very narrow strip of timber. Meanwhile, does about 100 yards away watched her. The does still in the field went back to feeding after they didn't see the problem. 10 minutes later, the doe that blew came back out with the other doe. A bit skittish, they fed around and eventually calmed down. At some point, the larger doe that initially blew left without the other realizing it. That slightly smaller doe ran circles around me panicking trying to figure out where she went.

That evening, I hunted the same stand. 6 does were feeding. All 6 heard something in the woods. One doe in particular stood on high alert. A fox strolled out of the woods and that doe snorted and a few took off. I couldn't see how far they went with a small rise in elevation obstructing my sight. 2 of the does stood there and watched the fox walk past them. I believe the does that took off came back to where they were only a minute later.

Bucks will snort at times - I found that out when I shot at one with a muzzleloader during a snow storm several years ago. Apparently, my blackpowder got wet and I didn't know. When the primer went off, I then heard a sound similar to when I used to use a spit ball gun. I don't think the bullet made it to him. He ran to the edge of the field and blew several times.

From what I've seen over the years, a doe snorting puts other deer on alert but doesn't necessarily ruin a hunt or clear all deer from an area.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Interesting thread. The one sit i've done on my land this year there was a straight west wind and I sat on the straight east end of my foodplot. There were does blowing intermittently 20-40 yards to my west in the food plot for at least 45 minutes without leaving. I assumed the wind must have swirled for a second or two to leave just a hint of my stink in the food plot but it very well could have been something else. The 1 and 2 YO bucks that were also in the plot barely reacted.

Adding to this, I heard it mentioned on a podcast that a treeline perpendicular to the wind can create eddies in the airflow. So in my situation, it's very possible that the wind coming straight from the west hit the north/south treeline and some of the air flow hitting the trees got pushed down and back towards the field due to the trees obstructing airflow.