Do you think deer make a distinction between predators? Let's take humans for example. Do they see us as humans period? Do they feel less threatened by some more than others? Do they distinguish between us? How do they know when they should feel threatened or not?

they distinguish heavily between predators by their experiences and what their mom has taught them. in a natural setting deer are far more freaked out by a human than anything else. now deer learn that a old farmer in his beater truck driving out in the woods means nothing and will stand there watching him as if there is no problem. if i drove out there or stood out there the deer would be sprinting off. one thing i have learned is in the off season i don't wear camo, it scares the deer a lot. for example any time i come home and i am wearing full camo the dogs at our house start barking franticly as it somehow scares them and they don't recognize it is me. i started taking that thought with me in the woods and i never scout without bright colors, and i make lots of noise cause the deer don't mind being chased off at a distance.

I have had deer while trout fishing walk by me knowing I was there, within 50 yards. And while walking to my stand bowhunting same thing. Other times I will see the great white tails up to 300 yards running like the wind. I think that expierence for the deer makes up their responce to us. And they run really fast when being chased by dogs.

I think it depends on the deer and where you hunt. In certain suburbs where there are a ton of deer and people, and very few hunters, people don't bother to deer much at all. compare that to a piece of ground that is hunted heavily and the deer run at the very thought of people. Another thing is that deer don't always run when they see people and get spooked, a lot of times they will just freeze or lay low if they don't think you see them, and will let you walk right by. Some are naturally more curious then others, especially young deer (which are often found in freezers by the end of hunting season) which will even walk towards a hunter to try to figure out what in the world that funny looking tree is. I think some people over estimate the effect that humans and predators have to a deer's everyday life, if a deer spooked and ran everytime they smelled a human, or coyote, or bear or whatever, they would be doing nothing but running for their lives 24 hours a day in most places.

I'm sure deer in one area see humans as less than a threat than others......suburbia......less worrysome, in the country where the only time they see a human is when they're hunting them.....more of a worry. Course then there are some remote areas where a deer probably has never seen a human, then what? curiosity?

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Yep.. I agree with everything said. Here's what I'm getting at. Please forgive me it's the off season and I have a lot of time to think about stuff [8D]. Let's take this line below....



Hypothetical situation. YOU lived in the woods for 2 years. You posed no threat to the deer in the area while living there. Their home became your home and vice versa. Are you still a threat to the deer in that area? Do they (after 2 years) view you as a threat because you're still a human? Or have they accepted you as being part of the woods?

I know that's stretching things. Like I said .... it's the off season. Just curious how they might react to a "predator" if the predator lived among them with no threat.

From my observations - Deer veiw coyotes and humans very differently. Around here, humans ignite a greater escape reflex, causing deer to run further, faster.

However deer also learn to view a predator on an individual level. they can tell how much of a threat is posed. I have seen deer simply watch a coyote from 50 yards away, when it was clear the coyote was going somewhere and was not hunting.

I believe deer also distinguish this between humans. They can tell the difference between someone perched on a tree stand and that same person, a week later, going for a walk in a field 300 yards away. It is pretty simple when you think of it, when you are hunting you move differently, and more importantly in my opinion: you react differently when you see a deer and if that deer already sees you...well, they certainly can tell what objective you have.