Deer snorting
 

Seems to happen to me a few times each year. Ill be heading to or from the stand and will hear a deer jump in the woods but unable to see it. Then it will make a ' ' SNORTING' ' type noise at me. What is the " snorting" mean, and is there anyway to lure these deer into shooting range?

RE: Deer snorting
 

When a deer " snorts" or " blows" , it means it has become alarmed and is warning other deer of possible danger. It is possible to call them in if they are unsure of what spooked them. I have had success using a doe bleat to call in a buck that was blowing at me. Usually though, when they snort or blow, the gig is up!

RE: Deer snorting
 

It happens alot when they are down wind of you and they get a good whiff, if thats the case its over.

RE: Deer snorting
 

I' ve had deer see me, I' ve grunted and they stopped. I know they saw me but don' t think they were sure of what I was. I think if a deer smells you then it' s over.

RE: Deer snorting
 

I hate when you get busted and blown at. I had a doe bust me on the ground in the dark one time,and she kept coming back and blowing over and over. You just know that you might as well go back home, because every deer within a mile has heard the warning. Why can' t the deer just stay in the fields till light like they are suppose to ?

RE: Deer snorting
 

Treedog, the same exact thing happened to me this morning. I jumped three deer.
The funny thing was, about 10 min. after I annitially jumped them, one of them started grunting. But that blowing noise is the weirdest noise I have ever heard.

CJW

RE: Deer snorting
 

If you can see the deer that is snorting...lok at the tail, it will tell you what the deer is thinking(sort of).

If it is hanging down, no problem if it is twitching slowly no problem, if it' s twitching fast he is nervous. If it is sticking straight out, he is unsure of what is wrong, and thinks something is out there but not sure about it, has no idea where the danger might be but doesn' t really want to run away, he can still be called in ar calmed down with the proper grunt. If the tail is up in the air, the deer is usually running, and cannot be called.

RE: Deer snorting
 

Wrong way,

I wouldn' t suggest going home if a deer busts you and starts blowing. If they stop blowing and move on to a different area odds are still pretty good that something might walk past. It happened to me sunday at 6:30 a.m. and by 7:00 deer were coming through the area. The ones that came past at 7:00 may not have been within hearing distance of the blowing though, but who know?. I also heard a theory once that a deer' s brain is not advanced enough for long term memory, and therefore they will " forget" after about 15 minutes of any danger. It makes sense. Otherwise in the wild deer would leave the area forever if they saw a wolf, coyotes, or cougars as well as man. Obviously this doesn' t happen.

RE: Deer snorting
 

I agree with handles, just because you have a deer blow does not mean it is time to go home, another thing is if the deer keeps coming back and blowing they have not got your scent, the only thing they are doing is trying to find out what you are, they will even stomp their feet trying to get you to move and give away your exact location. If you respond with a doe bleat they may very well come in to find the doe. Now if a deer blows and has your scent they are out of there!!!! That does not mean that other deer will be gone forever, as handles stated, they have very short memories.

RE: Deer snorting
 

When they snort they are alarmed or are trying to figure out exactly whats wrong with that bush. Either way it usually ends in a snorting scamper by the deer. You can try grunting, bleating or even snorting back at them to calm their nerves(however they then know exactly where that noise came from and it may result in many more snorts). Sometimes if they snort once or twice I just remain motionless and avoid eye contact with them. I have had on more than one occasion them cautiously go back to their business. Yet other times, especially does with fawns they keep locked on and blowing every 30 seconds or so, in these cases I will often stand up, wave...really anything to get them to flee the scene. However I would never suggest leaving just because you get snorted, it happened on Friday evening to me when I had 3 young bucks come with in a few feet of my ground location, all was good until the last of the 3 locked on my eyes[:@]. He than stopped and stomped, which stopped the other 2 and then the furtherest started to blow, this went on for a good couple of minutes until finally the first one circled and caught my wind which made them leave in a hurry. Not 15 minutes later I had 3 mulie does come out and I promptly stuck an arrow in the biggest one(which is what I was hunting that night). So you just never know what may happen if you just stay put and hang tight[8D].

RE: Deer snorting
 

Sat. morning,just at dawn I had a deer down wind of me blow three times.I don' t know if it was smelling me of my ther-cell????????? it stopped after three times.about 3 or 4 min. later a doe came down the trail that leads down wind.(I don' t know if it was the same deer or not).she didn' t seem disturbed or scard.about 10 15 min. later a nice 6 pt. came along the same trail and I took him at about 15 yards.

some times they blow because they just don' t know what something is,and then they go on there way.

I have saw 5 or 6 deer in a food plot,when one would all of a sudden blow,throw her tail up stomp off stiff legged.the rest would just keep on feeding.other times they will all look up and prance away.look around,come back and feed on.
What they think is weird.I think all the snorts and blows mean a lot of different things.
If you can blow back,or bleat a doe blate,it " sometimes" clams they some.JMHO;):D

RE: Deer snorting
 

Tazman, I hope that you are correct. Last weekend I had set up my penthouse blind and had 6 deer snorting for over 15 minutes. I really don' t believe they winded me. I thought for sure they just saw the blind and were skiddish because of the blind. I took every precaution I could think of to be scent free(I know it' s never 100%). I' m guessing that they were just curious about the blind because they kept coming over a little hill and staring and stomping at the blind. One of them stared, stomped, and snorted for at least 4-5 minutes and then casually walked off.

RE: Deer snorting
 

I had it happen to me a few years back, going to my spot while dark on the first day of buck season in PA, and had a few blowing right at my spot. Well around 8am like clock work my buck showed and i filled my tag. There have been times though when I had this happen and didnt see a thing the rest of the day. I wouldnt give up on it though.

Mike

RE: Deer snorting
 

From my experiences of deer hunting the ones that do the most snorting is an old long-necked doe with fawns, The old mature bucks don' t stand around and carry on like the does do, if they recognize something wrong they will just slip out of the area as quietly as they can, I have had them to slip right back out the way they came without hardly making a sound.

RE: Deer snorting
 

That is the alarm system of the deer, it will alert every deer that can
hear it that something is wrong, try going to your stand earlier.

RE: Deer snorting
 

It really may not help going to the stand earlier. Its always a crap shoot. My experience says its best to hunker down if you are moving when it happens. They seldom go far and often are simply trying to provoke a reaction. Horses do it. Bulls do it.

You HAVE BEEN SPOTTED when it happens.

RE: Deer snorting
 

After you get snorted, I think the area should calm down in fifteen minutes or so just like when you walk into your tree and move deer. Also, there are two types of snorts and both signal that something isn' t right. The snort we all hear is the deer expelling air through its nose and the nasal flaps moving back and forth. There is a second higher pitched snort that the deer all seem to react instantly to. This one seems more serious. They may snort to get your scent better, my beagle does this when running a rabbit. After he is on trail for several minutes he pushes air out his nose. I think it is kinda like blowing his nose for better scenting. They may use the snort like they stomp their foot, to get you to move and show yourself and they sure use it to tell every deer around that there is something that just doesn' t look right in the area. In any case it isn' t a good noise.

Greg