How deer sleep
11-30-2007, 06:26 PM
#1
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: East Central Illinois
Posts: 660
How deer sleep
Well Ive been hunting all day, and I had a pretty unique experience. I was looking around, wasn't seeing much, and then all of a sudden as I turned to my right, I could see a cape of a deer but the rest of the body was behind a tree. So I watched it for a second and when he walked I realized he was a little basket racked 8 pointer. He was only about35 yards away from me. Well he was walking real slow and digging in the dirt with his nose, I couldn't figure out what he was doing and then he started walking right at me!
He walked all the way til he was about 25 yards from me and then he just kneeled down and bedded there! I couldn't believe it...I literally said "Oh my god come on" Because I knew I was gonna be froze and not be able to move since he was looking straight at me while he was bedded. So anyways he laid there for about an hour and 45 minutes and I finally got to see a deer sleep. It was really neat because I had always wondered how they slept. He would close his eyes for about 10 minutes and you could see his head fall down and then he would wake up and look around for about 10 minutes, then would get sleepy again, close his eyes, and sleep for about 10 more minutes. He did that for the whole time he was there. I had to move and look around when he was sleeping, lol. When he wasn't I just stared at him and used him for my eyes.
So it was almost time to go and I got ahold of my dad on the radio since our cells don't work where we hunt, and told him that thebuck was sleeping and told him I was pinned down and couldn't leave without giving away my stand, so my dad gradually started walking to me and when he did the buck saw him, and I kid you not he ran so hard and so fast out of there and NEVER MADE A SINGLE NOISE- I was only about 25 yards from him and I never heard a leaf crunch. He was jumping over logs and running down hills, and he never even made a noise loud enough for me to hear. Made me wonder how many deer have WALKED past me if he was running that hard and I couldn't even hear him looking straight at him. And he blended in absolutely amazing. Its really neat when you get to observe them for a while and learn their behavior.
I just thought it was a different experience to be able to observe him like that. I had never seen one sleep before this, and my dad who has been hunting for 30+ years said he had never seen one sleep like that.
He walked all the way til he was about 25 yards from me and then he just kneeled down and bedded there! I couldn't believe it...I literally said "Oh my god come on" Because I knew I was gonna be froze and not be able to move since he was looking straight at me while he was bedded. So anyways he laid there for about an hour and 45 minutes and I finally got to see a deer sleep. It was really neat because I had always wondered how they slept. He would close his eyes for about 10 minutes and you could see his head fall down and then he would wake up and look around for about 10 minutes, then would get sleepy again, close his eyes, and sleep for about 10 more minutes. He did that for the whole time he was there. I had to move and look around when he was sleeping, lol. When he wasn't I just stared at him and used him for my eyes.
So it was almost time to go and I got ahold of my dad on the radio since our cells don't work where we hunt, and told him that thebuck was sleeping and told him I was pinned down and couldn't leave without giving away my stand, so my dad gradually started walking to me and when he did the buck saw him, and I kid you not he ran so hard and so fast out of there and NEVER MADE A SINGLE NOISE- I was only about 25 yards from him and I never heard a leaf crunch. He was jumping over logs and running down hills, and he never even made a noise loud enough for me to hear. Made me wonder how many deer have WALKED past me if he was running that hard and I couldn't even hear him looking straight at him. And he blended in absolutely amazing. Its really neat when you get to observe them for a while and learn their behavior.
I just thought it was a different experience to be able to observe him like that. I had never seen one sleep before this, and my dad who has been hunting for 30+ years said he had never seen one sleep like that.
11-30-2007, 07:10 PM
#5
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location:
Posts: 562
RE: How deer sleep
I'm actually glad the leaves started falling here because you can't hear them in the pine needles. I was about 9ft up in a new climber I bought, long story about that, and had three does walk in over my left shoulder feeding. I didn't know they were there until one was about 10ft from me and started digging through stuff on the ground. It's amazing how something that big can walk right by you without making the slightest noise.
11-30-2007, 07:18 PM
#6
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: East Central Illinois
Posts: 660
RE: How deer sleep
ORIGINAL: Beezer
I'm actually glad the leaves started falling here because you can't hear them in the pine needles. I was about 9ft up in a new climber I bought, long story about that, and had three does walk in over my left shoulder feeding. I didn't know they were there until one was about 10ft from me and started digging through stuff on the ground. It's amazing how something that big can walk right by you without making the slightest noise.
I'm actually glad the leaves started falling here because you can't hear them in the pine needles. I was about 9ft up in a new climber I bought, long story about that, and had three does walk in over my left shoulder feeding. I didn't know they were there until one was about 10ft from me and started digging through stuff on the ground. It's amazing how something that big can walk right by you without making the slightest noise.
Deer that don't know you are there can slip in so quiet, imagine when they DO know you are there...they'll be pretty much a ghost.
11-30-2007, 09:06 PM
#8
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 15
RE: How deer sleep
last year I spotted a young eight pointer following some does that were about 75 yards from me, when they decided to bed down. They were on a small ridge so I could see them very well from my tree stand as they laid down in the leaves. The buck bedded down about 15 yards from them which put him about 60 yards from me.
The interesting thing about this was that the buck walked in a circle about 3 times just like a dog before he laid down. Then after he laid down he curled up and actually stuck his nose under his back leg, all you could see was his rack and his brown coat. What was really cool was after watching them for about ten minutes my attention was draw to a sound behind me so I turned around to see what it was. When I turned back around I looked back around to the buck and I couldn't find him, that is until he lifted his head up to look around for a couple of minutes and then stuck his nose under his leg again. He did this for about 45 minutes until the does got up then he got up and followed them. It was amazing how he literally disappeared in plain site of me and how he hid his face under his hind leg.
Has anyone ever seen a buck or doe do this? It was one of the neatest things I ever seen a deer do.
The interesting thing about this was that the buck walked in a circle about 3 times just like a dog before he laid down. Then after he laid down he curled up and actually stuck his nose under his back leg, all you could see was his rack and his brown coat. What was really cool was after watching them for about ten minutes my attention was draw to a sound behind me so I turned around to see what it was. When I turned back around I looked back around to the buck and I couldn't find him, that is until he lifted his head up to look around for a couple of minutes and then stuck his nose under his leg again. He did this for about 45 minutes until the does got up then he got up and followed them. It was amazing how he literally disappeared in plain site of me and how he hid his face under his hind leg.
Has anyone ever seen a buck or doe do this? It was one of the neatest things I ever seen a deer do.
12-01-2007, 06:42 PM
#9
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 310
RE: How deer sleep
ORIGINAL: englum_06
He would close his eyes for about 10 minutes and you could see his head fall down and then he would wake up and look around for about 10 minutes, then would get sleepy again, close his eyes, and sleep for about 10 more minutes.
He would close his eyes for about 10 minutes and you could see his head fall down and then he would wake up and look around for about 10 minutes, then would get sleepy again, close his eyes, and sleep for about 10 more minutes.
That sounds just like me at around 8am in the stand.
