davidmil

This little story was prompted by the on going thread about hunting behind fences. This is a true happening from about 3 years ago. I just thought it was amazing and still marvel at it.

My brother and I are driving up the dirt road. There's a big field and we come to a 90 degree bend to the right. There's a massive cliff to our left. After you turn the 90 degrees there's all woods running along the cliff. Right at the apex of the 90 degree bend there's a tiny tiny patch of woods and golden rods. It's no more than 40-50 yards on the short side and maybe 75 on the long side. It's a triangle coming to a point at the junction of the road and the field. Anyway, you can see across this patch.. it's fairly open with 5 or 6 volunteer pines scattered through out it. As we appoach the 90 I saw the butt of a deer jump behind one of the pines.

I told my brother. He said jump out. I'll back up to the field and walk through this little patch to see if there might be a buck in there. So I hit the ditch and hid behind a small little pine about 4 feet high. He backs up, I see him park and he enters the point. I lost him for a minute in the brush but he appears and as he does I see a doe jump behind two pines between him and me. He walked on one side of the trees going real slow. The doe slinked around the other and went back. I waved my hat at him and signaled to do a loop backwards, the deer has gone back. He sort of walked really fast back to the field. I see the doe slinking back toward me about the time my brother disappeared. My brother came through again kind of zig zagging in this little patch. I had a visual on him almost all the time. I saw the doe once more pass through a hole behind some golden rods.

My brother came out and said where did the deer go. I told him the story and he couldn't believe it. This place isn't much bigger than my half acre yard. He said bull. I assured him she was still in there somewhere. He walked back to his truck around the road and came through again. I caught a glimpse of a flash when he first walked in but that was it. We both walked through trying to jump her. We have no idea where she went if she went anywhere. I mean.. this was a tiny fairly open little piece of nothing,... but it was home to this doe.

Big Country

If you would have been hunting with a spear, or maybe a wooden keg of beer, the deer would be dead as we speak!

Actually, like most guys that have hunted for a long time,I have seen deer do some pretty good vanishing acts.

Buck Magnet

I can totally believe it.

As long as the cover right, and the deer is in the right mood, they can hide in anything. There is a small outcropping of brush near a barn down the road from my house. This out cropping may be 15 yards long, and I am betting that it is only about 5 yards wide at the widest spot. It is made up of grape vines and multi-floral rose bushes. You would think that this is so small that it wouldn't hold deer, well, wrong. Last year, while scouting, I watched three does and a small 8 point get up out of that brush (as if they just appeared from thin air), and walk out into a field and start feeding.

I have had a bunch of instances like yours. There is a small patch of woods near my house, maybe 2 or 3 acres tops. It is pretty thick with deadfalls on the ground. Well, two years ago while doing a drive, I saw two doe jump up. My grandfather was posted at a point so he could watch both sides of the woods (the woods were shaped like a triangle). Well, I was starting at the wide end when I jumped the does up, and I zig-zaged my way through there trying the absolute best I could to not let a deer circle back on me, but, you guessed it, those doe never came out past him.

Like I said in the other post, a deer can sneak around a human in any amount of space, it just depends on what type of terrain. You could be hunting a 10 acre field of lawn grass, and sure, if those deer have nowhere else to go, you are going to see them. But, you could also be hunting a 40X40 yard thicket, and those deer could sneak right around you.

Also, like I said in the other post, I have seen deer do some crazy things to disguise themselves. Alot of times, it seems like a deer will much rather just go somewhere that you can walk right up on them and never know, than go to somewhere that when you jump them up, they have plenty of cover. Like I said, I have seen deer bed down in dried out creek beds, underneath a "bridge" of multi-floral rose. I have seen deer "make" a bedding area in the middle of green briar patches, but, they don't have any trails leading in. They jump over the lowest part of the edge, then have a trail leading into the center. I have seen deer bed in alfalfa fields that were just a foot high, and when they bed down, they laid their chins on the ground so they disappeared. There is another area I hunt where the is a HUGE rock pushed on top of another rock, making a "cave" of some sorts. It only goes back a few feet, but, deer bed in that area all the time. Heck, I have seen deer do just about everything except climbing trees to hide from humans.

So, to answer the question, yes, a deer can EASILY hide in 5 acres of woods. 5 acres is actually pretty large, about 100X250 yards. It all depends on the terrain.

P.S. Neat story David

thelastboyscout

sometimes them deer hole up like rabbits.
i've kicked bucks out of patches of thickets that are smaller than my house that i had no idea they were even there until i practically stepped on them.

Cougar Mag

Walked up to within 5 yards of a bedded big buck once. He was hiding underneath some old logs and fallen down trees. Scared the heck out of me when he jumped up! Never saw an antler or any sign of a deer as I was slowly scouting the area.

davidmil

Oh I've almost stepped on them before... but when I did they made an exit. You couldn't have gotten this deer scared enough to leave that patch with Custer's men in chase.

Jimimac

I've seen a buck do a belly crawl through some thickets to evade a couple hunters just off the edge of my back yard. They are pretty amazing critters, especially when pressured....

DaveH

Look how hard they can be to track even with a blood trail.

I watched a doe trying to evade two bucks a couple years ago during the rut. She jumped right into the middle of a patch of multiflora rose bushes and disappeared. I knew where she was and couldn't see her. The bucks gave up!

jimpok61

Yes indeed, it always humbles me so when one disapears. The only thing worse is pokin one, trailing it easily and then poof! Nowhere to be found.[&o].

joeturse

Nature gave them the best Camo there is.Have seen them lay down flat on the ground to evade drivers,that were pretty close together, and let them walk by a few feet away.
Over many years of hunting,I have seen them do some amazing things.Seems like the deer that live in highly populated area's are the smartest.

Joe