Studying Deer Can Teach Valuable Lessons

Whitetail deer continue to astound me. Over my lengthy life with much of it spent hunting these animals, I've watched thousands of deer being hunted and during the off-season.

Each one can teach a hunter something new if only they intently study the animals. The really good deer hunters do more than study deer; they watch them, learn their movements, determine what scares them and what doesn't, and each little nuance of whitetail lore hunters learn should be stored away for possible use at some future date.

Many people just study the bucks, which is fine as far as it goes. The real secret is to also read and learn the body language of the does and their fawns. Each group (bucks, does and fawns) have mannerisms and subtle movements than can teach an observant hunter some lessons.

Everything a deer does is done for a specific reason. Sometimes a movement is made to better determine what animal is approaching from heavy cover. Some movements mean more during the rut than before or after the breeding period has ended.

Study deer and learn from them.

I continue to study deer, and my advice for novice deer hunters is to learn something new every day about them. The same principle also applies to advanced hunters with many seasons under their belt.

What piques my interest are those deer that do something at a time when we expect a totally different reaction to the stimulus. Two weeks ago when the rut was winding down, I watched a small button-buck unexpectedly move toward an area in heavy cover where big bucks often travel.

This button-buck seemed fearless, and stood at the edge of the cover and out walked a decent eight-point. I expected the little guy to get pushed around, but they touched noses and hung around together. Who knows why the antlered buck tolerated the little guy, but perhaps they had the same mother and had traveled together during the summer.

Some time ago I watched two little bucks act like the big boys. They put their heads together, pushed and shoved and worked up a sweat while a large, mature buck stood by and watched their juvenile antics. Perhaps, in some subtle way, he was coaching the little twerps on how to handle themselves in future years.

Even fawns can teach hunters something.

Sometimes deer do the unexpected. Deer in many Michigan areas move from west to east in the evening, and from east to west in the morning. This flies in the face of what old-time deer hunters have told us when they said that deer always travel into the wind.

That's just not true. They often travel downwind, and may switch and go crosswind if they wish, and occasionally will travel into the wind. Those that turn and go into the wind are usually suspicious of something. Deer that always travel into the wind may have been shot at or was spooked by a hunter sometime in the past. Deer travel how and where they want if undisturbed by hunters.

Deer have an extraordinary sense of smell, excellent vision and hearing, but sometimes they act as if one of their three primary senses are not required. We give them credit for being crafty, and perhaps that it true, but I'm more inclined to believe that deer have learned to pattern many hunters. They stay away from an area until after dark, and move through it once the hunters leave the field.

Is this a learned reaction to possible danger or a matter of instinct? If the latter, what stimuli made the deer react in such a way?

Deer react instinctively to most dangers.

I believe that deer learn instinctively to avoid certain situations or areas, and they stay alive to grow huge antlers. A buck was seen a few days ago that no one had seen before, and it was a good buck. Where that old boy spends his time, and when he travels, is a mystery several of us hope to solve.

All any hunter can do is try not to make any mistakes, which can be difficult during the Decenber hunts. We need to be downwind of where deer travel, make each shot count, and try to learn as much about the animals as is possible. Even then, if a buck lives for four or five years without being seen, he is either lucky or possesses great instincts, or a combination of the two.

Frankly, I believe it is the latter. A buck may have had a close call with a hunter, and has learned to sit tight until long after dark. Such deer are surrounded by mystery, and luck seldom plays a role in them being taken by a hunter.

If the hunter is in the right place at the right time, and doesn't make a mistake while the big buck does make one, then the chance of shooting that animal tips slightly in the hunter's favor. Such good fortune is not something the average hunter can count on happening on a regular basis.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors