Walk on by..

[JACK]

A couple of years I was watching a small buck feeding in a clearing then all of the sudden he got all stiff and was looking up hill so i started glassing above him

and their was a guy walking right at him . The buck just stood there and watched

him for a minute or so then layed down, curled up and layed there and that guy walked through the same clearing a few yards from that deer and he never saw the deer and the deer never moved. The guy was gone for a few minutes then the buck stood up and started feeding again like nothing happened! I wonder how many times that has happened to guys?

[az4life]

PLENTY! is my guess.

 

Lots of times in hiking to my spots, I have jumped deer out just as I was about to step on them! They know how to sit tight! I think they invented it!

[wklman]

I missed the biggest buck of my lifetime at 10 yds when he and 2 does jumped up in front of me. It still stings to talk about it now. A monster 4x4 that had everything(tall,wide and heavy). I've watched a spike buck feeding with javelina kick one in the head that got too close to it's back leg.

 

Wade

[DesertBull]

I too missed my biggest buck when I almost stepped on him. It was about 5 years ago down in the Rincons in unit 33.

[Guest Ernesto C]

Plenty of times,that's a defensive (of several) reaction that deer have. On one ocasion I saw a doe and a fawn walking about 100 yards from me,they bed down on some tall grass,I started to walk towards them,I could not see them but I knew they were there,when I got about 15 yards of them the doe jumped and ran but the fawn never got up,the dow was noving on a zig-zag motion trying to get my attention,I look hard for the fawn and she was with her head "stuck" to the ground thinking probably that I could not see her;I keep walking by and the fawn never got up.

Good topic Jack,we can learn a lot every time we go out to the beatifull outdoors.

 

Ernesto C

[bcoover]

I have seen this in the snow. The only difference was the whole time I could see the deer. I don't think they know the difference between dirt and snow. Poor bastard didn't even know what hit him.

[BASS]

That's great! I knew that the fawns would lay down and "hide" but never thought that a grown buck would do the same thing. It makes sense now that I think about it. I would have loved to catch that on film to show that guy later.

[firstcoueswas80]

i have seen a doe and a fawn dang near lay on top of each other. my dad also missed a 90-95" that jumped up a foot in front of him, like shootin a big butt quail!

[25-06]

Great topic Jack, One of the biggest bucks I ever seen layed in a bush only about 12 feet away from me and my brother. We were just sitting there glassin and I heard some noise to our right, it was another hunter laying on his belly with his rifle almost pointing right at us He did'nt know that we were there, but after a few words with him we agreed that if he missed this monster of a buck with his first shot then I could have 2'nd shot. His 3'rd shot looked like he hit him, so we all went up the hill to find him and that is when I seen him there in the middle of a bush only about 12 feet away. My first thought was he was wounded so I aimed my rifle at him to finish him off and thats when my brother stopped me saying " dude thats not your deer" I thought ya this other hunter needs to shoot it again. Anyways when this other hunter pulled the trigger nothing happened cuz he was out of ammo, and the deer jumped up and ran off This deer was never wounded it just knew how to hide real good.

[billrquimby]

Holding tight is a common defensive tactic with all the whitetails races I've hunted, and a few individual mule deer. I can't remember how many times I've walked within a few steps of a whitetail, or jumped a buck I hadn't seen on my way to a buck I'd just shot.

 

In my mind I've always compared whitetails with cottontails and mule deer with jackrabbits when it comes to holding tight .

 

The late and great whitetail hunter John Doyle claimed that we should avoid eye contact at all costs when stalking a buck that thinks it hasn't been seen. Sometimes he even hummed and whistled softly when he approached a buck from an angle (never directly) that he'd glassed up. John knew what he talked about when it came to desert whitetails.

 

Usually I don't see them until they jump up but I have walked up to within a few FEET of whitetails (and two different mule deer) that were laying flat with their chins on the ground. The minute I spotted them I could see panic in their eyes... they were up and away in an instant.

 

Bill

[az4life]

You say how you have seen the panic in thier eyes. I agree with you 100%

 

I can recall the image of a buck on one of my first coues hunts. The buck jumped up from along side a boulder within 10 feet of me and bolted downhill past me within 4-5 feet or so. I still remember that look I got at him as he flew past. I have seen it a few times since in other bucks too!

[grizzly]

My brother has video of a deer he shot and while they were checking it out, counting horns,and slapping fives, they noticed two bucks in a bush about 15 yards away and videod them for about a minute just laying there under the bush thinking they were undetected.

[stanley]

Sounds like any of us who have spent a few hours chasing deer have had this happen. This same kind of thing happened to me while on a carp hunt in central Utah many years ago.....

 

I was working my way through some scrub-oak, and I noticed a doe laying as flat as possible about 15 feet away. As I walked around the brush to get a better look at her, she 'belly crawled' around to keep the bush inbetween me and her. I had never seen that before (nor since...), and got quite a laugh out of it.

 

S.

 

[Blue Elk]

I had the same experiences. It seems to me that the deer have figured out that are sense of smell are not that strong.

[az4life]

Welcome to the site, Blue Elk.

 

I agree, that the deer probably think we are blind and have no sense of smell. Some days they can sit so tight you have to step on them to get um up and moving.