Many times when I've gotten to my stand very early in our FL swamps...I can hear the drip drip sliding off the deer's hoofs..Then I hear a loud crash..Is this the deer falling to the ground to bed?? I hear this alot..

and sure enough sometimes about 8:00 AM I can give a bleat call and call the deer in?

Question..Is this the normal routine of a deer..to make alot of noise breaking of sticks before he settles down? Sometimes it's followed by a very quiet grunt.

Sounds more like a hog than a deer to me!

Ive watched a lotta deer bed down and in my experience theres usually not much noise at all.Out in the sloughs where the cattails are thick they sometimes make a lotta noise walking in to bed but even thats rare.

i have seen deer get stuck in the muck, both right legs if you will, and he fell over kickin like a fish outta water to get back to his feet. he was 300+ yards away though, i couldnt hear what it sounded like.
deer tend to be very quiet round here. hogs, as mentioned, are loud and dont give a crap about it.

Sounds more like jumping deer to me.

Well....I know it's deer ..I was just wondering if they do the same thing in other parts of the US...

Here's the scenerio..I get to my tree about 5:20 AM..climb quietly..pull my rifle up and sit and listen..All of a sudden I hear faint walking...and the drip drop sound of water running very slowly off thier hoofs..Then I here a slight stirring and plop.That plop sound what surprizes me..

So at 8"00 I give the ole stand by..The Can call by primos..now I hear a little faint noise where the plop was and in 15 minutes I have a buck show up.This has happened a few times..

Sorry to say but something else that happens...did this about 4 weeks ago..I hear the drip drop sound..WInd is in my favor and when the drip drop is about 50 yds from me I hear a snort,,,and hoofs splashing the water and then the sound of a big buck crashing through the thicket..now that's a bad sound.LOL

In my 50+ years of hunting deer, I have watched hundreds bed down. I have never heard one make much if any noise and certainly no crashing and grunting.

Lotta gators where you hunt?

no gators in this area...