If they bust a hunter in a tree I think they do learn to look up. And when one looks up the others learn from that too. That's called educating the deer.

See...I'll buy THAT tree....even that area.

But to wander through the woods.....looking up for hunters in the trees?

I won't buy that.

That's the lure and the excitement of deer hunting, learning to "outwit" and beat the animal in its own living area. The longer you go up against those senses the more you witness the incredible actions and reactions. It sounds as if you have just a few years of experience behind you. I'll bet in a few more years, your beliefs will change.

I'll admit, I haven't read ALL the posts.

But I'm in the boat with LEARNED action.

IMO IF they have EVER busted a hunter in a tree, no matter what tree, they will look upwards. I think it depends on a certain deer. Deer A could have busted a hunter 1 time, and walks around with his eyes to the sky. Deer B could have busted a hunter 7 times, and still hasn't learned.

Actually hunter.....the more I hunt the more my beliefs (in this area) are reinforced. The doe I watched for 50 minutes last night really solidified this for me. I can EASILY see where eople might think she was "looking up" for a hunter. As I said earlier...ALL I think she was doing was trying to wind me. She got my scent from the ground....where I'd placed my gear. But....she couldn't get my scent in the wind (which was good).

I'll keep watching.....and maybe I will change my tune.

Jeff - I only read a few of these posts here, but I think deer definitely learn to look up once they bust a hunter, and will learn from other deer, On my food plot i have to move between 4-5 different trees because the mature does walk to the edge and look in the tree tops, especially the ones I hunt frequently.... Tonight i had a young doe looking in trees, and a squirrel almost had her spooked...

I've learned though that if you pick a tree w/ enough cover and you dont move they will look at you and not be alarmed, they need a double trigger, either scent and blob in tree, or blob in tree that moves...

I've heard a lot of different scenarios about deer scanning trees all the time. But it has always came from people who hunt public land or high pressured areas. I can understand mature does being alarmed in those cases. Perhaps, the majority of them confuse deer checking the wind with scanning trees. Who knows?

Where I hunt cover is key. I have a preserve that I hunt with a few other guys for deer management purposes and there definitely are a few does that have learned about "death from above". I truly believe they go so far as to vary their travel routes to avoid us along with looking up. Call me crazy for giving them too much credit but it is what it is. Some of them will even avoid an area with a fixed stand in it.

From upwind I have seen deer look up, all were mature deer. They do learn, at least thats my opinion. How else do they know to avoid an area after being shot at?

I was hoping somebody would go there.

What do you think they're avoiding? Arrows? A hunter?

No. They're avoiding something that spooked the crap out of them. THAT SPOT spooked the crap out of them. They'll avoid that spot.

One of the tough things to overcome when using a training collar on your hunting dog is teaching your dog that when that shock occurs....it's coming from YOU. It's not coming from a spot on the ground (which is what they initially think). If you didn't teach them otherwise....they'd never get the benefit of it....and they'd go arund thinking that spot on the ground is something to avoid.

I think that's what deer do.