GPS Deer React To Hunters

[grundsow]

Penn State University produces this blog of some interesting collared-deer studies in progress right now on Pennsylvania State Forest land. They even produce little videos plotting locations of the daily movements of individual deer before and during hunting season.

The 2-week rifle season this year ran from Dec 1 to 13. Enjoy.

http://ecosystems.psu.edu/research/projects/deer

 

[BSK]

I have witnessed the very thing the researcher was describing: when the wind would blow down a particular dead-end point, you could jump an older buck off the tip of that point every time. The buck was using the wind blowing down the point to cover his backside, and using his eyes out at the end of the point to cover all access coming up the point. Absolutely no way to approach the buck without him seeing or smelling you.

I'm a HUGE believer that those bucks that will or do survive to older ages either naturally have excellent human hunter avoidance skills, or they learn human hunter avoidance skills. And this doesn't mean just human avoidance skills, but human HUNTER avoidance skills. Older deer quickly learn the difference between "normal" everyday human activity, and that human activity associated with predatory (hunting) behavior. The hunter that learns how to "play" this deer behavior is going to be the hunter that kills the most mature bucks.

 

[Mike Belt]

I've seen it and posted about it a few times. This is a prime example of deer using their "other" senses as well as their noses. There's only 2 ways to kill a buck like that and that's to beat him there...if you can pin point where there is or to place a hunter below him with another hunter pushing him from the top.

It'll be interesting to find out about the terrain type features below the points in their study but in most cases that I've observed the area below these points has been fairly open.