How far can deer see?

[fadetoblack188]

Do you think a deer can see you rattling up in a tree 160 yards away? 
 

did I bust myself or there is no way they can point that out? 
 

I mean I can barely see the deer that distance without binos and there daytime sight is worse I believe 

[land 1]

not if you are perfectlty still, but if you dont have a good back ground and they pick up you moving

[fadetoblack188]

But if your rattling they can see you rattling at 160 yards ? 

[land 1]

well your moving when rattling i would guess and drawing there attention right towards you/source of sound so i would say yes

[fadetoblack188]

Alright didn’t think they would be able to make our a human from so far away

[G-Man]

If you can see them they can see you 2x as far and 2x as clear.  160 yards making noise in a tree where they can Pin point you by sound and sight , you may as well be holding a here i am.neon arrow.  Rattle.from good cover if your going to do it some place where you can only alert one of their senses like hearing, light up another like scent or sight and they will never come in. 

[Swamp_bucks]

I agree with gman if you can see them and your are moving they can see you.  Not only that they can pin point almost to the tree even if you rattle blind and not see them.  I've had some come running in within 10 yards of me.  

[Kmartinson]

I'm not sure on the science, I have seen them walk into the woods and look exactly where I'm rattling from. Been busted at 200yds moving for sure, also have snuck up behind them into bow range. I agree with everyone. Yes probably.

[fadetoblack188]

I guess that stand is done for the season. I guess I’ll try ground hunting for a few days 

[Swamp_bucks]

1 minute ago, fadetoblack188 said:

I guess that stand is done for the season. I guess I’ll try ground hunting for a few days 

I wouldn't say it's done for the season.  Give it a week or 2 if hes looking for a doe.  I doubt they will remember he saw you.  He will be to busy looking for a gf.

[46rkl]

I don’t think that it is the rattling so much as the movement. Deer are particularly good at seeing movement. Couple that with honing in on the sound and yes, they can certainly bust you at 200+ yards. I have been busted and snorted at from well over 200 yards while sneaking along about 30 yards in from a cut corn field with a bunch of doe in it.

[Kmartinson]

47 minutes ago, fadetoblack188 said:

I guess that stand is done for the season. I guess I’ll try ground hunting for a few days 

He doesn't know its a human.... he does know deer don't fight in trees. Also I feel like I need many options including the ground. However in many situations its hard to kill a buck on the ground.

[fadetoblack188]

Alright at 9pm my shooter walked right out under the stand. Maybe he wasn’t phased 

[G-Man]

9 hours ago, fadetoblack188 said:

I guess that stand is done for the season. I guess I’ll try ground hunting for a few days 

3 to 5 day of rest and give it a go again.. deer arent elephants...

[GreeneHunter]

10 hours ago, fadetoblack188 said:

I guess that stand is done for the season. I guess I’ll try ground hunting for a few days 

I've said this before on another thread ... I've taken a Deer on a Saturday and another one on the next day -Sunday- from the same stand ! If your worried about it just give it a couple days  rest at that particular and then go for it again ! But ground hunt away from that stand !

[jpastor1759]

Agree, it's the movement that they see no matter what you doing.

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[Northcountryman]

On 11/4/2020 at 8:22 AM, jpastor1759 said:

Agree, it's the movement that they see no matter what you doing.

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Yup , I agree . I’ve had deer almost walk right over me when I was motionless but, turn your head ever so slightly , they’re gone!! 

[50calpeephole]

I don't think this is a matter of "how far they can see" but a matter of what they think the sphere of influence is and *if* they see you.  

  

Think of it like us, assuming normal vision, we can see a really decent ways, but we don't need all that information, generally we're paying attention to things a lot closer to us. I think deer are like this too, when it comes to stuff thats going to influence their behavior, I'm guessing they make decisions much closer to them than what they actually see.  

  

With that said, I think deer might have a hard time discriminating human hunting behaviors, and at least in this region, I'm not convinced they look up. By discriminating hunting behaviors, its pretty obvious deer don't give a shit about you in a car driving along, but stop the car and they take notice but continue to do what they do. Open the door and present yourself they tend to bolt. There might be a learned behavior there, but its my feeling that they don't consider you as being a piece of your vehicle, as such, I think when they see a hunter in say, a treestand- especially one with a cover, it might not trip their pattern recognition.  

  

Why then do some deer avoid me in my treestand? Well I'm going with human scent, or I'm going with they're not avoiding you in the treestand, they're avoiding the stand. They may have learned that that stand makes loud noises and is scary, or get spooked by the presence of your stand from prior hunts and learn to avoid.

 

As far as being busted and avoiding a stand, this is probably a cost:reward mechanism. A doe might bust a hunter in a stand and never have an issue, whereas a buck might bust a hunter in a stand and get shot and and get skinned or miss (especially when you count in the archers). The bucks are going to learn quicker stand = bad if they survive their encounter. Getting busted by a buck with experience is going to be far more detrimental to you (as in the buck is more likely to avoid) than perhaps getting busted by a spike or a doe.