Conditioned deer..

[BHC]

Thinkin about how were told deer can be conditioned. I've heard take dirty laundry and mix it with bait, and deer will not associate your scent with danger over time....
But what what are some ways deer are naturally conditioned. Ways that hunters can use to help " pattern" deer or decide when to hunt?..
One thing I've thought about is on cold days when it's about a 40% chance of rain, and maybe even scattered thunder showers. Regardless of what ppl claim very few hunters go in those conditions... And many times on those days it's just a light steady rain all day.. I know deer hunker down in an all out down pour, but maybe in a light rain such as this they have been conditioned to move..
Over yrs deer may have never in countered a human during rainy conditions. Also predators hunt with their nose and with all scent left on the ground being washed away, may choose to move less. So deer encounter predators of all types less in rainy weather... Maybe hunting during light- moderate rain is one of the best times... Your thoughts?
What are some others...?

 

[Boll Weevil]

Agree BHC, especially with old deer who have learned over time when or where it might be a little safer to move. Rain, wind, farm equipment, people's backyards...I've had countless encounters with deer when and where they weren't supposed to be.

The last few years my grandaddy was able to hunt he couldn't get around very well so built a little box blind on the back of his tractor. He'd drive to his intended spot, climb in the box, and more often than not...BOOM. Even while parked in plain sight along a wide open field or hedgerow, they never paid that tractor any attention whatsoever. They were used to seeing, hearing, and smelling it nearly every day.

 

[BSK]

For deer that are heavily hunted, doing anything different than what most other hunters do is a good bet. Hunting at different times (midday), in different ways, and certainly in different places can all be productive. But those examples are more about using deer avoidance behavior to your advantage. As for actually using "conditioning" to your advantage, the only thing I can think of would be hunting areas where daily encounters with human scent are normal, such as around homes or farming activity, or even near food plots that are worked regularly.

Although I strongly suspect that because I check and adjust trail-cameras on a weekly basis, for 6 months out of the year, and the vast majority of the time those encounters with my scent cause deer no harm, I can probably get away with deer catching my scent while I'm hunting more often than other hunters in my group. Deer have become somewhat conditioned to my scent, although that doesn't mean they wont bolt if they walk 15 yards down wind of me. However, they probably react less negatively when they smell where I've walked recently.

 

[woodsman87]

Light rains and about 40 degrees all day are my favorite days. I bet my kill percent on rainy, cool days, during the first week of December is considerably high. I don't have the stuff with me to look it up at the moment though.

 

[Big Pop]

X2

 

[stik]

we are in and out of our property at any and all times. i WANT the deer to know i have been there in a nonthreatening manner.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Ok so riddle me this: Is it better to have deer conditioned to human activity so perhaps they are less spooky vs. totally minimizing human activity so they are less spooky?

Not a trick question, just curious as to what folks think.

 

[stik]

in my case, it is better to have them used to human activity.

 

[BHC]

It is best to have them used to non threatening human activity... The more times deer encounter humans, and have no negative experiences the better. I think shooting a lot of does is the quickest way to make deer extremely weary of humans... They raise their young to be that way, and also during the rut bucks are gunna be where does are.. So ya don't want does laid up avoiding you...

 

[Rockhound]

It is best to have them used to non threatening human activity... The more times deer encounter humans, and have no negative experiences the better. I think shooting a lot of does is the quickest way to make deer extremely weary of humans... They raise their young to be that way, and also during the rut bucks are gunna be where does are.. So ya don't want does laid up avoiding you...

Yup

 

[landman]

I got a TC up on a small county gravel road at one of my cable gates and you would be surprised how many deer walk by that cable and across the road every day...all day long.

What surprises me is the bobcat cat that goes out the same way in the middle of the day, but it doesn't get much traffic, everyone once in a while a new truck or suv shows up

 

[BSK]

Ok so riddle me this: Is it better to have deer conditioned to human activity so perhaps they are less spooky vs. totally minimizing human activity so they are less spooky?

Not a trick question, just curious as to what folks think.

In my opinion, it is a very bad idea to leave a property completely alone until deer season. That produces deer that are highly sensitive to the slightest human interaction. I'm still a huge fan of having pockets of a property that NEVER see human intrusion (sanctuaries), but I think it is much better to have areas outside those sanctuaries that experience regular human traffic. This allows deer access to pockets of "safety." The deer then must travel between these pockets of safety through areas of regular human traffic, and that is where they can be hunted most effectively--in the gaps between the pockets of safety.

 

[BSK]

I think shooting a lot of does is the quickest way to make deer extremely weary of humans...

I will be the first to say that there is a HUGE difference between hunting pressure and harvest pressure. Humans can get away with far more hunting pressure than they can harvest pressure.

I would also agree that killing a bunch of deer in an area you want to buck hunt during the rut is a not a good idea. However, many hunters/managers have found that they can successfully harvest does from a property and still experience excellent buck hunting during the rut as long as they kill the does away from where they plan to rut hunt.

...and also during the rut bucks are gunna be where does are.. So ya don't want does laid up avoiding you...

That depends on the size of the area you are talking about. Yes, bucks are going to be looking for does during the rut. But does may be covering a couple of hundred acres per day, and bucks may be covering twice that area per day. So it all comes down to choosing where in those large travels you are going to hunt bucks during the rut. Does may be avoiding areas where they are experiencing harvest pressure during daylight, but they're going to travel somewhere. The same for bucks. So the key is having areas to hunt where both sexes have not yet experienced much harvest pressure.

 

[BHC]

Since 2005 we have killed 103 bucks, and 201 does... I really feel that killing that many does has affected overall deer sightings. And greatly reduced doe sightings. Some hunters claim to see more bucks than does now. However I think it has intensified our rut.. So there may be a fine balance there.. We may have made our bucks a little more weary, but in doing so forced them to compete more for breeding rights...

I wonder if by using bait spurratically throughout the yr, and each time you do u put a camera over it. Could u condition deer to rarely or never show negative reactions to cameras?.. Especially after 2-3 yrs, where deer experienced cameras from birth- 2+ yrs old..
Which leads to another question. Should u leave as much scent as possible on your camera in situations like this? I always try to keep my cams scent free and even spray them down once I get them up..
Should I store them in a bin with dirty scent filled clothing, and rub my hands all over them when placing them. Or should I do this through the summer? Then try to reduce it during the season?...

 

[BSK]

Since 2005 we have killed 103 bucks, and 201 does... I really feel that killing that many does has affected overall deer sightings. And greatly reduced doe sightings. Some hunters claim to see more bucks than does now. However I think it has intensified our rut.. So there may be a fine balance there.. We may have made our bucks a little more weary, but in doing so forced them to compete more for breeding rights...

First, great post BHC.

Second, I think what you're seeing is the reality most hunter-managers end up facing when it comes to killing does, and also the primary reason I've really changed my does harvest policy recommendations over the years. I can't think of a group of hunters I've worked with that, at first, didn't believed they would do ANYTHING to make their buck hunting better. Knowing that a more balanced sex ratio would produce more competition between bucks, hence more daylight activity by bucks, almost every group of hunters believes they would be willing to give up doe sightings to get more buck sightings. For that reason, they are almost always willing to pound away at the does to produce a more balanced sex ratio. That is, until they experience the results over a few years. Yes, buck sightings do increase, and rutting activity increases, but eventually the hunters become disheartened by the reduction in total deer sightings caused by the greatly reduced doe sightings a high doe harvest produces. Most would not have believed at the beginning how important just "seeing deer" is to them.

For that reason, I no longer recommend hunters manage for a balanced sex ratio. The amount of doe killing required to achieve and maintain a truly balanced 1:1 sex ratio absolutely WILL drive doe sightings down dramatically. And whether the believe it or not at the beginning, significantly lower doe sightings will make the vast majority of hunters unhappy. For this reason, I now recommend aiming for an actual adult sex ratio of 1.5 does per buck. This is balanced enough to still maintain good breeding dynamics, but requires much lower harvest pressure on does to achieve and maintain. This reduces harvest pressure enough that does will be more active during daylight, keeping hunter sightings high.

I wonder if by using bait spurratically throughout the yr, and each time you do u put a camera over it. Could u condition deer to rarely or never show negative reactions to cameras?.. Especially after 2-3 yrs, where deer experienced cameras from birth- 2+ yrs old..
Which leads to another question. Should u leave as much scent as possible on your camera in situations like this? I always try to keep my cams scent free and even spray them down once I get them up..
Should I store them in a bin with dirty scent filled clothing, and rub my hands all over them when placing them. Or should I do this through the summer? Then try to reduce it during the season?...

The "conditioning" of deer to human scent isn't an all or nothing type proposition. Yes, you can "condition" deer to human activity to a certain extent, but not completely, unless you don't hunt the deer at all. Yes, bait in front of camera, even a white or red-flash camera, will increase deer activity in front of the camera. Deer will learn to "put up" with the camera to have access to the bait. But not completely. Switching from a visible flash camera to a black-flash camera over that same bait will still produce a huge surge in use of the bait. And I'm sure switching to no camera at all would dramatically increase use of that bait even further. So when it comes to "conditioning," unless you stop hunting the deer altogether, each type of conditioning simply means a small incremental improvement, not a complete ignoring of human actions.

Although I've been running a high density of cameras on my property for 15 years, for six months of every year, and every deer that lives on my property during those six months has learned my smell (which the vast majority of the time does them no harm), I still get much better camera results when I use great caution in how much scent I leave around the cameras. I have no doubt I can get better camera results than many others who have just started using cameras simply because my local deer are somewhat conditioned to my personal scent. However, trying not to leave my scent still produces dramatically better results.