Hector500

Where I work it is backed up to the woods and every night I see deer right outside the back door. In fact I just saw 2 nice sized deer about 5 minutes ago. The thing is every time I see them and go outside they don' t run away. In fact one night I went outside and a couple of them were laying on the grass and didnt even get up! Have you guys ever seen anything like this before? Anytime I have been hunting and got spotted by a deer they take off. Now mind you the area over here where I work does not get hunted. Does this have anything to do with it or are these guys just bold?

-hector

FL/GA Hunter

Complete absence of hunting pressure. Go to a National Park sometime - you can literally walk right up to those deer. Read about the way things were before real civilization came to North America sometime; there were whole valleys of game that wouldn' t blink an eye when a man walked through.

It doesn' t help that deer like that probably get fed sometimes.

hntngirl

FL/GA is right. Deer tend to adapt to their environment very easily. I believe this especially true of whitetails. I actually read an article about deer that live on military firing ranges. Having lived there for so long, they don' t even flinch at the sound of artilery. The bullets aren' t being fired at them, so they just don' t view them as a threat. They just stand there and think, " Man, that noise is irritating!" . At your workplace they have never experienced a threat. So they are comfortable.

kevin1

Agreed on both answers , deer don' t run unless they feel threatened . If no attempt was made to harm them they assume you' re no threat . A deer used to being hunted will run every time .

Rack-attack

Hey Kevin - I agree, I agree

Those un-hunted deer do tolerate people to a higher degree.

Also - they are not scared of you because they expect to see you there. Even hunted deer will tolerate people where they expect to see people - backyards, roads etc.

Hector - I would bet you, that if you walked into the woods at work - where your not supposed to be, those same deer would react very differently

timbercruiser

Got some in my backyard like that. It is common to have them in the yard while cutting grass or the grandkids playing ball.

MA Jay

1 thing I have noticed about deer like the 1' s you are describing is that they may be completely content to lay around and watch people walk in and out of a building, even letting them get pretty close to them, but let them catch a whiff of man-scent coming from the woods behind them and they' ll bolt just as quickly as the hardest hunted deer. I' ve also noticed that deer that live around people are pretty keen on reading body language .. as long as you act and appear like you don' t notice the deer they are ok .. but stop and start slowly slinking in their direction and they will bolt.

There is a farm here in Mass that is in the center of a built up town. 2 years ago there was this buck that used to hang out under an old weeping willow. The farmer lets any bowhunter who asks hunt the property and many guys tried putting a stalk on the buck .. not 1 even coming close. An old timer who shoots a stick bow and has taken many many deer claims at the archery range he' ll bag this buck .. no problem at all. 3 days later .. he' s got the buck hanging at his house. He got it by changing out of his camo and into a pair of jeans and a sweat shirt, he then walked right into the middle of the field and grabbing his bow at 1 end swung it back and forth like a metal detector over the rolled earth. It took him almost an hour working back and forth along the rows to work himself within 20 yards of the buck, where he stopped drew back and shot a perfect double lunger on the bedded deer. He said he got the idea by watching the field for a few days and noticed that a lot of people came to the field with their metal detectors looking for old revolutionary musketballs and uniform buttons and the buck never flinched, but anyone trying to stalk the buck ALWAYS got pegged.

I thought he was pretty slick for pulling it off!

liquidorange

i have always wondered if specific genetics to an area might be at play. i hunt in the pine barrens of new jersey and the deer are very nervous.you cant get anywhere near them even in the off hunting season. i have a cabin in the poconos of pennsylvania and you can almost walk up to a deer there. the hunting season is heavily pressured in that area so im not sure what the difference is.

MBuckH72

I' ve seen it before. Just 2 weeks ago, I was talking to the land owner of the property I hunt. While I was talking to him, a deer walked right to the corn feeder 40 yards away and was eating. Kept her eye on us though


and comeing home from hunting one evening during the hunting season, there was land owners putting up those rubber fences around there shrubs to keep deer from destroying it, and they were actually standing no more than 50 yards away watching them do it! It weird how they wont run when in the field , but go in the woods one time...they' ll take off quicker then you can blink. They are never hunted in the fields up there cause of the houses....woods only.

DaveH

I' ve seen it too-- both on my own land and in one residential area I hunt. Stay near the house and do " normal human" activities that deer are used to seeing you do and they will just stand there. Figuring they' re gonna be easy pickin' s, you take one step in the woods with your bow and are surprised to find out that they are some of the most alert and aware deer you' ll see. I will always eventually get a few, but they don' t come easy.