ORIGINAL: Pops423
I often wondered the same thing. Last year just after Christmas, a 9 pt I had see off and on thru the fall was bedded outside my house one morning. I left him undisturbed and was interested in watching him rest. He appear worn out and beaten up from the rut. I had watched deer bedded before but he was different.
He could barely keep his head up. Just like you or me, he appeared to have heavy eyelids and his head would drop as he dozed off. At times, his chin was on the ground or his body and his eyes were closed. He would remain this way for a few minutes and then pick his head up and look around.
I think he felt safe as he was 15 yards from the edge of my yard and had the wind at this back. He spent hours doing this.
This is the best captures I have off the video and you can see his eyes are almost closed. I'll have to see if I can get a capture of him actually sleeping.
That deer wouldn't have slepped long at my house. I think the sound of the rifle would have woke him up!
Once while hunting phesants, I was walking down a corn row and the wind was blowing. I walked to within 5 feet of a doe and when I went to pet it to see if it was alive. It got up and ran about 15 feet and stopped and looked at me. I guess I caught her asleep. It had the prettiest eyebrows you ever saw.
It didn't look nothing like the ones hanging in the garage.