do the bears scare the deer away. I found lots of bear droppings around my hunting area

Bears will kill and eat fawns, so I would assume that deers have a natural aversion to them.

Bear are a huge problem where I hunt, once they start using a feeding area the deer will not use it any more. At all!!!!!!!!!! Even something as small as a mineral lick once the bear use it no more deer. It really sucks I hope you live in a state that has a bear season.


Joe

I would have to disagree. We have a corn feeder behind our house that deer and bear both use. I' ve seen a bear hang out there for an hour or more and the deer come back within 15 minutes of him leaving. I would say that the deer keep a healthy distance from a bear but they won' t vacate an area. They just avoid them.

Scott Meier
White Oak Lodge

I think Barnes is correct. Deer avoid bears but they will share the same area as long as the bear is not around. Bear are a little on the lazy side and don' t really chase deer that often.

Deer have to live in the same area as bears and coyotes all the time. There would be little real estate left if deer tried to avoid all property that was once occupied by a predator. I would rather not have a bear come by when I' m looking for deer but it won' t ruin the day.

Scott Meier
White Oak Lodge

I guess it would have to depend on the bear population in your area. We have an overpopulation of bears right now. How are you feeding the deer, we use free choice feeders to keep the bear in one area away from where we deer hunt. Where we deer hunt we use electronic feeders rigged so the bear cant distroy them. There bears eat and dont hang out much so it does not bother the deer much. But if the bear spends alot of time there the deer will not stay in that area. Now that I have clearified that. Hairball had a question stating that he found lots for bear droppings. That would tell me that one bear or a few bears were using the area and deer would avoid the area. I am not saying they will vacate a 10 mile area around where you hunt I am saying where the bears are spending the most time.

Joe

I was hunting rifle last season when 3 deer bolted from out of the laurel about 70 yards ud the ridge from me. About one minute later, a bear came from the same place and sauntered through to down below me. No doubt the bear pushed those deer through there...

I also agree with BarnesX.308. If deer would not go were bear go then there would only be small places left for deer. A bear can cover alot of area and it will always be going from one spot to the next. Plus I have had deer and bear come onto my property, on the same day, within hours of each other

We just have a trough that we put corn in behind our house. The bear usually knock it down and lay there, eating the corn off the ground. It' s not used for hunting - we don' t hunt near the house - it' s just to watch wildlife while we' re in the cabin. We also have dogs and they don' t seem to bother the deer if they' re not out at the same time.

Scott Meier
White Oak Lodge