My closest encounter was at about 2-3 ft., though I couldn't get off a shot being that close. I was on a bow hunt in South Texas sitting in a bush that someone had cut out a hole in to sit inside and then cut some very small shooting holes. A big Doe stopped directly in front of the bush and put her head inside one of the holes and stayed there for about 2 min. looking at me from about 2-3 ft.. It was really hard to hold perfectly still for that long and I never got off a shot but it was very unnerving staring into the eyes of a deer that close.