Study a deer’s body language

Most people know this buck's body language. He's scent-trailing a doe.

Many years ago a book hit the market. It dealt with human body language. Some said that reading it would allow a man or woman to study the opposite sex's body language, and if everything clicked, good things could happen.

The study of body language is of benefit to certain people, and police are good at reading what a person is thinking when stopped for a traffic violation. Employers study the body language of a person being considered for a position with that firm.

Are they nervous, and is it caused by the interview or does it mean something else? People who refuse to look another in the eye seldom get the job because it's thought they are trying to hide something. A person who chatters often is very insecure.

Knowing how to read a deer's body language can mean increased success.

Body language plays another big role with people. Interviewers often stand while the person being interviewed sits, and this position provides greater leverage and an increased sense of superiority in the interviewer. However, the person being interviewed can figure this out pretty easily, and stand up to gain an equal or better leverage.

Sometimes knowing what the interviewer is trying to do, and beating them to the punch, can be an asset. It also can be detrimental in certain cases.

All of this having been said, it's been my practice for many years to study a deer's body language. Reading a deer can help hunters determine when to draw and shoot, and when to wait for a better chance. The clues are there in how the animall behaves.

A calmly feeding deer is at ease and is not suspicious. A deer that constantly looks around senses danger. A doe that stands with her head up, ears swiveling in all directions while sniffing the air, is on red alert. Young bucks follow the lead of a mature doe, and larger bucks often stay far enough behind the does to stay out of trouble.

Body language is easy to read. A doe moves slowly down a trail, and if she has been shot at or has detected human movement in a ground blind or tree stand, she will stop abruptly. Her and her fawns will lower their head, and snap it up to spot movement. if it is late October, and the rut is about to start, and she stops and checks out her back trail, it usually means a buck is trailing behind.

Little things can mean a lot when watching deer react to different stimuli.

Her body language tells you to sit still, don't move or make a sound. This assumes the hunter is downwind of the deer. If the deer can't smell you, and no noise or movement is heard or seen, it's likely the doe will get over her jitters and continue walking. Any buck will follow behind her. It means remaining silent and motionless.

A look from a buck toward another, a hesitation in a step, ears laid back, neck hairs that stand on end, a lowered head and antlers and a certain swaggering and threatening posture can tell hunters which animal is the boss buck of this crew.

Once the head goes down or turns with a hard gaze, smaller and subordinate bucks duck and move away. I've watched slow-thinking smaller bucks get antler tines stuck in their butt, and I've seen them still cowed, wary and limping 60 days later. Slow, dull-witted bucks often are physically injured by larger bucks, and some yearlings die. They learn quick from dominant bucks if they don't pay attention.

So, you ask, how can knowing a whitetail's body language help put venison in your freezer? It's relatively simple. Let's use the above examples.

A few examples of body language and what it means. There are others.

Once a doe decides there is no danger, and quits doing her head fakes, she moves on because she has detected no danger. The unseen buck that has been trailing her saw no movement, heard no sounds and couldn't smell any danger, so he walks down the deer trail past your stand and a quartering-away shot drops him.

A highly agitated deer will flick its tail back and forth while staring intently at a real or imagined threat. Often this tail movement precedes a sudden departure.

A quartet of whitetail bucks move along, and somewhat like young kids, they bump and jostle each other, act like their big brothers and get into mock antler-pushing contests. Hunters may not be interested in the year-and-a-half-old 4-pointers and 6-pointers, but has his eye on a big 8-point with a rack that extends past his ears.

Big bucks usually take casual interest in small bucks. They are more alert than naive basket racks, but if they pass close enough for a shot, and the buck stops, unless the hunter has made a big mistake, the buck may see another animal of comparable size. In every buck of any size, there exists the need to display their dominance. It is what leads to epic battles than can cause the death of another buck during the rut.

Watch that big buck's ears. If they are up and twisting right and left, he is listening to some distant and unheard sound. However, if his ears go back and the neck hairs rise, it usually means another big buck is nearby.

It now becomes a serious decision time. Shoot the buck within range or wait to see if an even larger buck is in the area. If it is the latter, the larger buck may approach for a closer shot or may turn and head the other way as he shags a doe.

The study of deer behavior is a continuous work in progress. It begins when fawns are little, and a doe never seems to lose their innate fear of everything. Studying that fear, and the cautiousness of a big buck or the easy-going attitude of young bucks, can help hunters find a chink in the armor of whitetail deer.

Know what the body language tells you, and use those weaknesses to your advantage. Sometimes killing a buck is nothing more than reading their body language, which in many cases, will tell hunters what they can expect next from the deer.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Second-guessing bucks isn’t always right

Tonight wasn’t a big buck night for anyone I know.

I guessed that deer hunting should be good tonight after a day of cold weather and last night's snow and high winds. It was, but no deer were taken.

My gut instinct told me that with the air temperature at 20 degrees, and light snow falling, that the deer would move. Some did but not many came past me or my neighbors.

Gut reactions, instinct, call it what you will, but hunters have these thoughts or premonitions of what an evening hunt might deliver. Trying to second-guess the influence of weather causes all of us, including the weatherman, to incorrectly predict what will happen.

Another wrong guess on tonight’s deer movements.

Sadly, all of us miss the boat on occasion. I saw a couple deer right at the end of shooting time, but none close enough to shoot, and the deer movement wasn't nearly as intense as my instincts told me it would be.

One man saw a small buck tonight, and not a single doe or doe fawn, and he allowed it to walk on by. Another man and his son sat about 500 yards apart in different tree stands, and both saw deer but not in any numbers or size. It was as if most of the deer were waiting until long after full dark before moving from thick cover.

Another man, a guest, saw two does and fawns but none offered a broadside or quartering-away shot. He didn't shoot.

Tonight was one of those nights, like high-school graduation night, that seem to hold so much promise but then it fizzles out. There wasn't much activity, and everyone was in place by 3:30 p.m., long before the deer moved, but this evening seemed to be the night for few deer.

Some nights, I learned long ago, are best suited for small deer while other nights are key times for big-buck movements. The latter seems to come during the rut when a severe storm blows through, but that doesn't mean that a similar night can't or won't occur sometime during December.

There are big-buck nights and small-deer nights, Tonight was the latter.

I hunt more than most people, and that many people have daytime jobs that start early and end late, and prevent midweek hunting. For those people, it's difficult to see the logic of my next statement.

The more nights a bow hunter is afield, the more likely they are to be present when the big-buck travels take place. I have to be really sick to miss a night of hunting, but there are many nights when I think I'd been better off being inside.

Whitetail hunting is more than just something to do for me. It's a major part of my life, and if none of my friends don't hunt, it doesn't bother me to be out there alone. It gives me the choice of one of about 10 coops and tree stands to choose from, and I go hunting.

There is something about being afield, with bow in hand, that is very meaningful. I enjoy the weather, revel in seeing deer, love to spot a trophy buck I've never seen before, and get a kick out of watching the antics of fawns, and the aloof but hyper attitude of a wary old doe.

I like reading sign in the snow, see a track heading into an area where tracks have never gone before, and that instills within me a spirit of adventure. I want to know where that single track is going and why. Solving whitetail mysteries has become a defining role for me, and answering such questions becomes a meaningful experience.

Just seeing deer is an enjoyable. There’s not many around now.

Above all, the challenge of hunting a single buck to the exclusion of all other bucks is a magnificent thrill. Sometimes I take that buck, and quite often a particular buck will win this matching-wits experience.

Hunting means being afield with bow in hand. It means trying to outwit a deer that is at home in the woods and fields, and learning to solve these hunting puzzles can be a big thrill.

It happens just often enough to keep me coming back for more. Bow hunting for bucks is a challenge, make no mistake about it, and the bucks usually win. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors