rivers and deer
 

Kinda curious will deer cross a river that is bout 5ft deep and 20wide. Reason I'm asking is bcuz it seems like when the water level came up the deer movement has decreased.

i seen deer swimmin through a small pond they coulda walked around..yes they will cross lakes and rivers with ease...they, like most wild animals are natural born swimmers.

my brother and a buddy have hunting spots right across from a river almost exactly the size of the one you describe. Both have gotten deer several times on both trail cameras and a couple of times even gotten them on camera then the one across the river then back to the original camera. doesn't seem to bother them in the least.

deer cross the illinois river here and its 13 feet deep dont know how wide it is but at least 2 football fields.

They are very strong swimmers.I have a lake front piece of property on Shuswap Lk. I have seen 2 deer and 1 moose swim across this lake which is actually the mouth of the Thompson River. It's 2 miles across and places can get over 100 ft deep.Both deer made it safely the moose I don't know. He was about 300 yards away from shore and a jet boat with a water skier went by him. He turned and started swimming back to the other side 2 miles away. I don't think he made it it's just a guess though, I lost sight of him.

If a deer really wants to get somewhere water will not slow them down and it dose'nt matter how cold it is.

They will swim the Ohio river here like it's nothing at all. The Ohio is one of the largest rivers in the US. We also have island in the river and they are loaded with big deer.