A Deers greatest sense:Sound or Smell ?

[Northcountryman]

So I’m reading the ancient Van Dyke tome “ Still Hunting” (1883) and I was rather surprised that he posits that A deers sense of hearing is actually A more impt defense mechanism than smell ! In all fairness , he stresses that both senses are vitally impt , but believes hearing Trumps smell-why ? He cites observations of bedded deer being kicked up in great haste while he padded their he brush nearby softly , feet clad in leather moccasins designed for such skulking thru the woods . I tend to agree with the notion that they may exhibit a more alarmed response when hearing danger approach as opposed to smelling them , because if the latter is true , they’re more likely to just sneak away as opposed to run away in haste - therefore the hunter might never even know they even kicked up a deer in the first place . What do you think ? 

[Just Lucky]

I think sight, hearing, and smell.  One of 3 makes a deer curious,  2 of 3 and the deer is gone. Just my opinion,  I am not an expert 

[land 1]

for still hunting hearing , sight, smell because if your doing it correctly your going into wind,,, stand hunt smell hearing sight again u should set up down wind but deer swirling wind deer coming from not intended direction etc... wind seems to get me busted most in stand

[Gobbler Chaser]

They seem to trust their noses the most. Once winded it's usually game over. They see you or see you move and sometimes they'll let it pass after giving you a good stare down. I shut my eyes. 

[Gobbler Chaser]

Seems like two out of three and your busted. Hear a click and pick up your scent and off they go. See you and catch a wiff, adios. Depends how close also

[phade]

Smell - deer actually hear almost exactly the same as humans with the only difference being that they can more directionally locate the sound based on their ears acting like satellite dishes. Also a little more higher frequency, but for the most part, if a person can hear it, so can a deer and vice versa.

Smell is their weapon of survival.

Edited November 2, 2021 by phade

[Jeremy K]

Smell 100 percent , they can't see or hear your trail to your stand but they damn sure can smell it. I don't think people realize how many deer encounters they have lost and don't even realize it. 

[Swamp_bucks]

Smell all day. You can sometimes get away with noise. If they get your wind your usually toast. I would say smell,sound,sight

[Nytracker]

Smell . I have a buddy that doesn't follow scent protocols.  And I have seen deer sneak around him and back track to avoid him . I actual  have set up on escape trails  using him as a blocker and have had great success.  He always says he shootds deer  so he is doing something  right. I remind him its not about the does and young bucks .. its about the big mature bucks you don't see.

My biggest  buck off of my property  actually  snuck through the brush by me  not giving me a shot. He was headed  to my friend .  When no shot came I started scanning.  I caught  him backtracking a parallel course and he gave me a 40 yard shot.  My buddy had never seen him or heard him . I have trail cam pics of him coming and going 2 minutes apart only 40 yds from his stand .

[ncountry]

Smell may be there strongest sense.  I think depending upon the hunting technique or area it isn't necessarily the hardest one to circumnavigate.

When trying to sneak up on a deer in cover it isn't too difficult to come in from down wind. It's  difficult to close the distance to archery range though..

[ny hunter]

I am gonna say smell also........

[DirtTime]

If it's smell I hope the thread about farting in the woods doesn't go underestimated.

 

I want to say smell, but it's tricky. I know deer have winded me more then they have seen me or heard me while sitting. But at the same time the camp I have on some land up north must be the exception. For the past 4 years with a camp fire going and talking with my buddy deer bed down within 100 yards of the camp in the mornings when the sun is hitting the side of the small valley. On the same land last year I had a doe come in from behind me while I was having a coffee. She blew, stomped her foot, and peeked at me from behind a tree. Then she just walked off up a ridge and stopped to look at me again from the top. She could smell me, but she couldn't actually make out if I was a threat or not. She watched me from behind the tree long enough for me to get out my phone and film her.

[Northcountryman]

I think It’s situational , too . I mean , if you’re hunting in suburbia where human scent is all around them then , perhaps They become accustomed to human smell and don’t rely on that sense As much as a deep woods buck would ; rather , they may just worry about sneaky , furtive noises and movement in order to decide whether to high tail it or not . Otherwise , if they’re running every time they smell a human , they’d be running everyt which way all day !! 

[grampy]

Hands down........SMELL !

A deer may just stick around, if it see's, or hears, something a bit out of the ordinary. Even movement. It will stomp and head bob, trying to get you to move again.

It even sometimes will try to circle downwind, to confirm whatever it is seeing or hearing. But once it detects danger from it's nose, the vast majority of the time, that deer is gone!!!

[dbHunterNY]

A deer can't see or hear me hundreds of yards away but they can smell me.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

[Northcountryman]

9 hours ago, grampy said:

Hands down........SMELL !

A deer may just stick around, if it see's, or hears, something a bit out of the ordinary. Even movement. It will stomp and head bob, trying to get you to move again.

It even sometimes will try to circle downwind, to confirm whatever it is seeing or hearing. But once it detects danger from it's nose, the vast majority of the time, that deer is gone!!!

But how does it necessarily know that what they’re smelling falls in the danger category ? 

[Lucky118]

Sight. 

[Greg van Splunder]

Hearing you far   , they can hear a door slam a mile away , smell has to hit them to be used against you.  You can control smell by using wind hunting down wind , parallel with wind  simply playing thermals....   sound is 360..   and those radar ears lock on immediately 

[Greg van Splunder]

5 hours ago, dbHunterNY said:

A deer can't see or hear me hundreds of yards away but they can smell me.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk
 

Deer can hear you over a mile away easily mature bucks keep an area under survalence  over 1/3  of a mile .. sound is 360 , scent isn't  can make a deer miss you simply by hunting down wind.. 

[G-Man]

Hearing is more important , if a deer hears you it can simply avoid you or it will then circle down wind to identify you with nose or eyes by blowing and stomping to get you to move for verification. Mature deer will simply track your noise to avoid detection by you, they never need to smell you. . They let you simply walk by keeping track of you with ears. While looking with eyes , your scent can be blowing dead away or towards them and they will lay motionless or  double back during a drive once they know you have past them.. 

Have watched huge mature deer snap up their head at the sound of an atv starting up over a mile away.. and not move from a Hunters scent 300 yards away blowing same direction .  Sound is 360..

like a deer most successful hunters hear a deer long before they see them. 

Sitting in a tree remaining motenless may lessen your effect of sound but a squeaky seat, cam click of a gun safe will put a deer on alert in any direction , sound  is 360..  rustling fabric , squeaks, metallic sounds, will bust you more than scent especially if your downwind.  Make a sound and now they look for movement where they heard a sound..  that's what's gets you busted  more often then not.. 

[Northcountryman]

9 hours ago, Greg van Splunder said:

Deer can hear you over a mile away easily mature bucks keep an area under survalence  over 1/3  of a mile .. sound is 360 , scent isn't  can make a deer miss you simply by hunting down wind.. 

But again, it depends upon the nature of the sound, its distance from the buck and how they react to it, right? 

[G-Man]

5 hours ago, Northcountryman said:

But again, it depends upon the nature of the sound, its distance from the buck and how they react to it, right? 

It depends on maturity of deer, a fawn attention bubble is maybe 25 ft  a young deer doesn't need to go far to feel safe maybe 50 yards, a older deer may need 100 yards a mature deer will have an attention bubble of 1/4 mile or more where it keeps tract of every sound. It will move well before it sees or smells you.. it's why you can ride up on a young deer on an atv,but a mature deer will dissappear at 1st sound it's uncomfortable with. 

Deer will come to  grunt or bleat from hundreds of yards away , but need to be down wind for nose to be of any use..  as for original author deer will flee from sounds of dogs running before they see or smell then. As driving deer with dogs was common back then. 

[dbHunterNY]

I agree with sound being 360 and sure if you make a sound loud enough and unnatural enough a deer will be alerted to it. At the same time I've gotten away with much more in terms of sound then scent with mature deer encounters. Just my personal experience. I've stalked or tracked mature deer I've shot in their beds. Some heard me coming but it seems like when the wind shifts and hits the back of my neck they're gone before I get there.

I have and I've watched shows like hunting public that are talking quietly in the stand and had a mature deer sneak in and catch them by surprise. Paying no attention wind shifts and as soon as they cut it turn and gone.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

[Northcountryman]

What do you guys think of the sneakiness factor in terms of sound? I know Ive mentioned this before, but being right before the opener for rifle, thoguht I'd resurrect again.  A guy who taught me alot about deer hunting about 10 yrs ago- my Guru, if you will- told me once that when you are going into your stand in the aearly am in the dark, dont try to "sneak" too much, as it puts the deer on high alert.  Dont try to be noisy either, he said, just walk normal, like a hiker, cuz if you try to be quiet, it scares the bejesus out of em.  And since your walking in the dark, you cant really be THAT  quiet anyway, you might as well just get there ASAP the best you can.  What do you think of that assessment?

[dbHunterNY]

What do you guys think of the sneakiness factor in terms of sound? I know Ive mentioned this before, but being right before the opener for rifle, thoguht I'd resurrect again.  A guy who taught me alot about deer hunting about 10 yrs ago- my Guru, if you will- told me once that when you are going into your stand in the aearly am in the dark, dont try to "sneak" too much, as it puts the deer on high alert.  Dont try to be noisy either, he said, just walk normal, like a hiker, cuz if you try to be quiet, it scares the bejesus out of em.  And since your walking in the dark, you cant really be THAT  quiet anyway, you might as well just get there ASAP the best you can.  What do you think of that assessment?

It's all relative to what would seem normal to them? No matter how you step you sound different than deer but you can sound close to them at times. Where do you expect deer versus not really. A hiker where I hunt would be off anywhere. Hikers on public land I hunt show up after daylight or on private property aren't there. I wear a headlamp with red led. Let's me see where I'm stepping to be quiet as possible. If it's hopeless to be quiet and I think deer might not be there I just get there. Still try to be reasonably not loud but also don't walk nonstop. Think about how a deer might move through there. They rarely step right on sticks and snap them. Each step is also short sound not a rolling from heal to ball of your feet rustle or double tap. Rolling heal to ball is only good for painfully slow still hunting imo. Oak stand moving not fast and stopping sporadically for acorns. Always stop at tree if you can, it serves as cover and something to stabilize your shot should you come across deer (during legal light).

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk