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Thanks for shedding some light on the subject BOWDACIOUS....

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I know they can see in the dark but I' ve seen them in fields and as I walk they walk an keep abou 40-50 yds away this goes on for quite some time before either they trot away or I quit playing with them. I' ve actually walked to within 20 yds while they were looking right at me. Can any one eXplain?

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Bowdacious makes a great point and I hope it isn' t missed. You should always stalk your stand, daylight or dark. If you booting deer out, your losing the game before you start. Yes, deer can see at night, not quite as well as they can during light hours but they can and you will spook them if your not in stealth mode. Yes, you can seem to get closer to them under darkness, like Bow mentioned, they are less wary, at least of humans....simply put they don' t encounter humans under darkness and that' s probably the simple reason you can actually get closer however, you can blow it before the hunt begins so.....stalk your stand, don' t daylight yourself in the darkness.

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I agree but look at it in a different way:)

What if the biggest buck in the county was 400 yds away and coming my way. Thats the way I look at it. I figure any deer close is going to bust me in darknes nomatter what I do[X(]. I would rather make more noise for 5 minutes than a little noise for 15 minutes. I like to get in and up and settled - with as little time spent on the ground leaving scent as I can. I am always thinking " they are on there way" and I have to get set up and quiet as soon as possible.

But then again if you ever saw me " stalk" you would understand why I don' t:D:D

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Good points made here. I am kinda in between the extemes...depending on where I am hunting. I have a few spots that I can stealth in quietly and I like that. However, most of the spots I hunt, are fairly rugged terrain, and quiet is not really a word that would describe it. In those cases, I just make my noise, get in, and get settled. I do find that going earlier to these spots seems to help settle them down better. If I' m in the stand 45mins or an hour with total quiet, I usually do better than if it gets light shortly after all the commotion.

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Perhaps the " cover of darkness" doesn' t actually make the hunter invisible on the way to the stand but I' ve walked through feed fields plenty of times with deer in the fields watching me walk to my stand and then continue to feed. I' m not a deer and nobody I know is a deer so as far as I know there is nobody that really knows what a deer sees. I' m sure they see better in the dark than we do but in my opinion it' s not like they have " night vision" . I think they do feel more secure for whatever reason which is why I think it is important to use the darkness as a time to move about to and from stands in the deer woods. They let me get very, very close to them in the dark. Last year I was arms length from a doe in the dark and it was not until she made a turn to come down the trail I was on that she saw me and spooked...she was just 3 yards away. I don' t think she would have done this in the daylight. I do agree that one should be as careful walking to the stand in the dark as in the light but I think you are overestimating the power of the deer' s conical capacity. ;)

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I have to agree with wolfen68. While they can see better in the dark than we can, I don' t think that they have night vision. Good luck.

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I have read somewhere...cant remember when or where it was that Deer way way way back in the day were daytime animals. Hunting pressure from Man forced them to adapt to nocturnal activities, that it was more a learned behavior than a instinctual one.Again, I cant back that up, just throwing my two cents in.

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Bo: Quote from one of your links.

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We can add that back in. I still like this part.
I noticed they didn' t name, names in the article. It doesn' t matter. I still don' t think a deer can see as well in the dark, as he can in daylight.

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I' m sorry, I ment to say as " we" can.

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Whoa there Bow:D - I agree and think deer see very, very well at night, and thank you for the links and info.

Sneaking into any stand may be the better way to go - I just can' t sneek so I try to get it over with as quick as possible.:)

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I think I agree with both bodacious and rack-attack. I think it is scientific fact due to the makeup of their eyes that they see very well in the dark. I think the only question is HOW well and I don' t know that we will ever have the answer to that question. If you read the articles well deer don' t see as well at long distance so if it' s dark and they are fairly well away, How much will they see us? If you have ever looked through night vision equipment at heavy foilage I think you' ll agree that it is still tough to make out lots of movement.

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I make grunting noises like a pig[:o] when I WALK to my stand. It only sucks when I get pig grunt replies!!
I' ve ran up one ladder stand and HOPPED into my climber due to this more than once:D.

The quieter I try to walk, the louder each twig sounds- to me anyways.

I bought some " bears-feet" a couple of years ago and use them when it' s dry out. They really help quieten your footstep down considerably. Well worth the $20.00 IMHO.

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my two cents:::::::::if you have ever watched deer run from dogs at night you will agree they can see prety darn good at night....how well,I don' t know either!!! I just know they get throught the trees and swamp without running into the trees:D;).

bo: I agree with you on being as quit as possible.I walk slow and easy.JMHO.;):D:D...............lets play together quitely,and play well. we' ll all get a little smiley face at the end of the day.[:-][:-].

one to all:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

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While we' re on this subject, do you use a flashlight walking in in the dark? Bad idear, but I' m afraid of the dark :D. I' m trying that new green penlight this year to see how that works. Really though I only turn the flashligh on if I loose my way and it goes back off again once I find it. Last year I entered my stand with a half hour of darkness yet to go and as soon as I got in it I could see two deer running across the top of the field and enter the woods where I did. Although I couldn' t see antlers because it was still so dark this buck ran that doe all around and under my stand all the while only feet from my tree. Leaves no dought in my mind they can see darn well in darkness. BTW, they both vacated the area befor it got light enough to shoot. :(

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I am kind of like Rack.....I get worried about sneaking up on a dead animal. I am just not a stalker. My buddy is constantly giving me dirty looks when we are turkey hunting or when we deer hunt together.

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Tree climber brought up a very good observation though...I have seen deer high tail through the woods @ almost pitch black darkness. YOU cant do that unless you can see very very well...I recant my statement suggesting that deer may be daytime animals :D

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Ok, ok...the whole deer running through the woods in the dark is no real mystical phenomenon. The woods is a deer' s home, it' s house, it' s crib or crizib if you will. It is there every single day of it' s life, they know every inch of it. Just like you know your own house inch by inch. I could darn near walk through my house blindfolded. I can nail the middle of the pisser with a stream of urine from 3 yards half-drunk at 2a.m. in the pitch dark...now that is a mystical phenomenon.[:o]:D

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My previous post was too funny for me to see this thread disappear to the next page of topics[:o]

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Damn skippy! I dont care how good they see in the dark! I still run to my stand as fast as I can singing gospel hymns as loud as I can.:D;)