Personally I don't think the flash bothers them to the point that they will completely change their patterns.

I talked to a wildlife biologist about this issue and he told me about a couple of studies that where those involved determined that the flash did not spook them to a great extent. In other words, some deer would jump but once they found that realized that they weren't hurt then they would relax. This is the same thing I've seen while hunting near them.

On a few occasions I've captured more than one flash photo of a bedded deer. Obviously it didn't bother them enough to even get up.

We get a lot of pictures of buck throughout the year and have noticed that we will get single pictures of bucks or maybe just a couple of a particular buck. I've grown to believe that these are bucks that are traveling or we are just on the fringe of their territory.