Do some deer have that 6th sense??
11-05-2003, 09:05 AM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 3,406
Do some deer have that 6th sense??
I am definitely convinced! It seem at times the deer will see you, hear you or smell you or simply know you' re there! It' s that last part that can get my head shaking. Anyone agree?
11-05-2003, 09:48 AM
#2
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Gouldsboro, PA
Posts: 548
RE: Do some deer have that 6th sence??
Yes, I agree...but keep in mind that you are the intruder into their backyard. Just as you know what happens near you, so do they. When hunters start appearing and their scent is in the woods, the deer know it means trouble and I feel it hightens their senses. Sometimes you get lucky and get one and sometimes they get away, sometimes they bolt and other times they stand there looking at you, thinking what are you doing here? One year, there was this 8 pointer running around and everytime I was working, he was in my backyard. When I was off looking for him, he was behind me laughing. I do know that somebody shot him eventually but it wasn' t me.
Tomster
Tomster
11-05-2003, 10:13 AM
#3
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Posts: 133
RE: Do some deer have that 6th sense??
I go to Louisville Ky on a regular basis and there is one area on I-71 that when it is not hunting season you will se plenty of deer just standing along the road. When hunting season starts I think someone must run thru the woods with a sign that say' s " Hide...it' s hunting season" becasue now you don' t see any along the road! 
I think they have a sixth sence!!!
I think they have a sixth sence!!!
11-05-2003, 10:36 AM
#4
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location:
Posts: 51
RE: Do some deer have that 6th sense??
A wild prey animal will seem to have a 6th sense, but what it mainly is, is a supremely keen ability to locate predators. If they don' t pick them out they die. It is genetic programming and natural survival instinct at work.
WE are the predators and THEY are the prey if they don' t notice something about us we kill them. The ones who do look for/see us get away, and learn from that.
Deer learn by experiences. If some other hunter was in a stand and took a shot at that deer, missed, and it ran away the next time it gets into a similar situation, it will be more cautious therefore looking harder (and yes even looking UP).
Deer are keen on picking up on movement in their environment (whether bush or dense forrest). Once they identify the source of the movement they then rely on their experience to govern how they react. A deer that has been shot at from a stand will look for stands, and run once they locate movement in it.
They are getting smarter in that they adapt to predatory pressures, WHEN, and HOW the predators get there (in our cases vehicles). And the ones who don' t learn are either shot or hit on the road. But the ones that jave learned are the ones that seem to have a sixth sense.
Not being by the road once hunting season starts is simply over the last " X" number of years, when hunting season starts, they experience shots fired, vehicles more frequently. Eventually they avoid the roads at a particular time of year, to due more " predators" , and bad experiences near the roads. If they didn' t learn that then those are to ones that are generally killed from the road. Thereby selecting out the ones who haven' t learned yet. If they escape then they learned, and adapt appropriately!
Adapt or die (simple evolution)
WE are the predators and THEY are the prey if they don' t notice something about us we kill them. The ones who do look for/see us get away, and learn from that.
Deer learn by experiences. If some other hunter was in a stand and took a shot at that deer, missed, and it ran away the next time it gets into a similar situation, it will be more cautious therefore looking harder (and yes even looking UP).
Deer are keen on picking up on movement in their environment (whether bush or dense forrest). Once they identify the source of the movement they then rely on their experience to govern how they react. A deer that has been shot at from a stand will look for stands, and run once they locate movement in it.
They are getting smarter in that they adapt to predatory pressures, WHEN, and HOW the predators get there (in our cases vehicles). And the ones who don' t learn are either shot or hit on the road. But the ones that jave learned are the ones that seem to have a sixth sense.
Not being by the road once hunting season starts is simply over the last " X" number of years, when hunting season starts, they experience shots fired, vehicles more frequently. Eventually they avoid the roads at a particular time of year, to due more " predators" , and bad experiences near the roads. If they didn' t learn that then those are to ones that are generally killed from the road. Thereby selecting out the ones who haven' t learned yet. If they escape then they learned, and adapt appropriately!
Adapt or die (simple evolution)
11-05-2003, 02:40 PM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 3,406
RE: Do some deer have that 6th sense??
I' m honestly not trying to be specific and ask for some scientific answer..I' m just making a point that there has been times when I know the deer didn' t see me, hear me or smell me, but he just knew I was there....Almost magical...makes you wonder.
11-05-2003, 04:14 PM
#9
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Little Rock,ARK USA
Posts: 249
RE: Do some deer have that 6th sense??
Heck, some of them even have a 7th " sense" called pure dumb luck. More than once over the years I' ve lost an easy shot at a buck because of his luck. One happened to choose the ONLY path--out of thousands of options--that put a stick, or a few leaves over his vitals at just the wrong moments. Hard to imagine a buck could walk by at 40 yards without ever offering a shot, but he did. I also lost one once because a breeze rocked my tree just enough to make my stand creak at THE MOMENT I was about to pull the trigger.