All interesting thoughts/observations. I have had deer see me and spook, smell me and spook, and had them see me and not spook. I have also witnessed deer skirting an empty treestand. I have also seen a deer spook from a tweety bird rustling the leaves on the ground. There are multitudes of reasons we can come up with I suppose. This time just really stood out as I have never seen a deer/buck do exactly what this one did.

Imagine a T. The top line on the T is the deer trail. The bottom line is the direction of my entrance, although I never actually reach the trail. I climb about 20yds back from it. Wind from the North, which would be the top of the T. The deer actually almost had his neck touching the ground flat as was his chin/jawbone. 5 seconds at the most and then backwards flip to about 20 yds back on his entrance trail. He stops. 15 seconds. Walks back the way he came. Not your typical "I smell you, I'm outta here scene". I still believe he either saw the flashlight or my outline and freaked, or he just got that "deer sense" and changed his route.

LT