A question that I just can't seem to answer...

quiksilver · 03-20-2008, 07:01 AM

Why is it that the whitetailed deer - intelligent and wily in every possible respect - can't seem to associate danger with cars and roadways?

These are animals that can pattern a hunter in a couple days. They can successfully evade armies of gun hunters, predators, starvation, disease... But they can't get out of the way of a speeding car? Why?
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I have a theory - and it may be flawed, but it's my best guess: Since deer who live in and around roadways see/hear traffic all day everyday - and 99% of the time, that traffic is not an actual threat - they don't view it as a threat, ever.

Compare/Contrast a would-be hunter invading their bedding area, which is a more intrusive event.

But it stands to reason that a deer who witnesses another deer in an auto collision - or sees the dead carcasses along the roadway - it should be able to make the logical connection between motor vehicles and danger, right?

One would just think, from an evolutionary or learned behavioral standpoint - that whitetails would know by now that standing in front of a speeding car is a great way to get themselves killed.

Do you guys think that deer are becoming more "intelligent" with regard to roadways and motor vehicle traffic? Are they progressing at all?

Do you think a wild whitetail is any more "streetwise" now, as compared to a wild whitetail 30 years ago?

brucelanthier · 03-20-2008, 07:05 AM

My opinion - Vehicles move to fast for them to comprehend. Plus, the headlights freeze them.

Same thing could be said about squirrels. They live amongst cars more than deer but, if you ever saw one on the road as you approached (I am sure you have LOL) he seems to go ape**** and forget how to run away. He just runs back and forth trying to figure out what to do til he gets squished.

GR8atta2d · 03-20-2008, 07:07 AM

No, they are animals incapable of reasonable thought, beyond predatory instinct for survival. The car is not ingrained in them. (or rabbits, or possums and apparently coon are wayyyy down on the list!)

kickin_buck · 03-20-2008, 07:09 AM

I think your theory is pretty dead on. Deer learn to associate certain things with danage. A deer in the wild knows that human scent equal bad news, so they avoid that location when that scent is detected. The only curve to this is when you look at deer in a park where hunting is not allowed. However, if hunting is not allowed, then the deer have never had to associate human scent with danager. I know when I used to farm, it was very common to have deer walk right up to you while bailing/mowing/raking hay, combining corn or beans. I guess they don't view the scent of the exhaust as a treat, which would explain why so many of them end up in ditches, or worse yet, in someone's front seat.

BowHuntingFool · 03-20-2008, 07:09 AM

The one time that the car is a serious threat they end up like that picture in your 1st post! I guess they can't live and learn so to speak....

GMMAT · 03-20-2008, 07:09 AM

I get blasted everytime I say this.....but we're not dealing with an animal that can "reason".

I hear how they can discern "hunters" from people walking....and I ask...."Why not just wear a track suit hunting, then?".

When it comes right down to it, Fran.....I think we give these animals WAYYYyyyyy too much credit, sometimes.

Are they hard to kill? Sometimes. Are some of them harder to kill than others? Sure.....there are fewer of them. It's a numbers game.

Do they "react"? I think so. Do they "learn"?Jury's out.

A big mature buck can avoid a hunter who's practically (I siad "practically") scent-free...."Practically" invisible........but he don't know that the thing that killed 12 of his buddies ....the thing with the lights.....will kill him, too?

"Roads" scholars (pun intended).....they're not.

Siman08/OH · 03-20-2008, 07:10 AM

The automobile has only been around for a hundred years or so, and the deer for thousands. Evolution takes awhile so eventually they will be afraid im sure

GMMAT · 03-20-2008, 07:11 AM

KB.....how does a hunted deer associate human scent with danger?.....and the deer in the park smells the same thing and isn't afraid?

Edcyclopedia · 03-20-2008, 07:14 AM

Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get to the other side, just like deer's!
I don't think the deer took a good mathmatics class...

If a train was traveling from Eugene, Oregan @ 75 miles per hour, but made two stops along the way each lasting 15 minutes.
How long would it take the train to reach the Throgs Neck Bridge in New York.

WHAM! Next thing you know you get hit by a vehicle, S.O.B. - now that's a bad day and will probably leave a scar.

GregH · 03-20-2008, 07:15 AM

The odds are against them. There are a lot more deer,k a lot more auto's and less habitat. Put two and two together and you get more deer/auto collisions. I do think that some individual deer can become more street savy. I think if a large culvert were available some of the smarter ones would use it to go under the road.