ORIGINAL: djgj200
Well a doe this year picked up my exact location in the tree before I got a chance to even move, as soon as I made the slightest movement to pick up my gun the deer was off into the hemlocks in front of the stand. The wind was blowing in the exact opposite direction from where they were, so it is obvious they didn't wind me. I don't care what studies say, deer can differentiate BO from the regular environment.
A few years ago when my mom was deer hunting, she fell asleep at the base of a tree and was sleeping for a good 3 hours. She was wearing nothing but BO from head to toe. She woke up to two does three feet away from her trying to figure out what she was, the deer were so close that when they snorted at her it was like being sprayed with water. She never moved, therefore the deer didn't spook. I would think if the deer could smell her, they wouldn't be three feet away. So you tell me why the deer would know if she was there if they couldn't pick up on the BO.
I have had many deer withing a few feet of me that could not see me and I wear blaze orange every time I hunt. They can't see orange as their eyes do not have the necessary receptors to see orange. What they can see is an outline that is not natural to the surroundings. That is probably what the doe saw on you when it spooked. Also, if BO spooks a deer, the one that came to your mom would have run away, not come to investigate. Again, it was most likely the outline they saw.
FWIW, I hope that a BO law is passed. It is crazy for anyone to be hunting during gun season without orange on.