Deer Blowing / Not seeing deer
 

Does this really matter if a deer blows? Will it ruin the hunt?

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I am good about my scent and wind direction. Trail cameras have deer morning and evening. I go to hunt and nothing. I don't get it.

Frustrating

If the deer is blowing, and you don't see it it is more than likely that it has caught your scent. The deer may have crossed your trail to your stand, or the wind has shifted. Either way, you are not likely to see that deer or any others in the area, cause the blowing alerts the other deer within hearing range that there is danger in the area.

Your not going to see any deer if they are blowing at you. Are they spotting you entering the woods or picking up your scent, some detail would help. Getting blowed at means they, without a doubt, are aware of your presence and are warning other deer. If one gets wary, flips it tail around, and trots off that isn't going to ruin the day. Deer can be skiddish and act that way over nothing, but blowing means they are very aware of a threat.

I agree, if deer are alerting by snorting away from you, there picking up something that is making them nervous enough to sound an alarm!

it could be as simple as the deer are actually watching you enter the woods from where ever they are sitting before you get there
or again, could be there catching your scent
you say your pretty good about your scent, but what exactly does this mean
a deer has an incredible sense of smell
if you clothing or your hands, come in contact with certain things, (like fueling up a vehicle,)
fuel on your boots or hands or clothing can stick even after being washed in a good scent free detergent!

also keep in mind some deer are just a LOT more sensitive to scents than deer in other places
I personally always took great extremes to try and beat there nose
I always showered just before heading out, using scent reducing products, (lots of baking soda too)
and then carried all my hunting gear in scent free containers, and dressed , then spray down with a scent , so called scent eliminator LOL, just before going into the woods!, and if a LONG walk in, would carry some to spray me down again, and I will stop OFTEN to NOT Break a sweat going in!
sweating is like defeating all your work in scent control IMO!

ALL my hunting gear was NEVER ever wore any where but HUNTING, it was kept separate from all other things in a separate room I dedicated to hunting clothing and gear I wanted scent free!
I know everyone cannot do this, but, I will say I seldom if ever got busted by deer, no matter what way the wind was blowing!

NOW< if deer are NOT scenting you
it could be deer are seeing you in your stand, or on the ground, as your NOT stating how your hunting, on the ground or in a stand.
Movement is a number one thing deer notice IMO after scent!
if your in a tree, and you don';t have a god stand site, you will stick out like a sore thumb, same as on the ground, and deer KNOW there area, so things different can get there attention,
add in some odd scents and or a bunch of movements, and you now have very alert deer!
next will be again entering and leaving the area
are deer WATCHING you as you do so!
can you try entering from a different location/way
do you SNEAK into your area or just plain walk in and not pay as much attention as you do< ??

hunting is a skill and like all skills, it takes practice and paying attention to get better, and a endless adaptation to changing your tactic's to be successful
as what worked ONCE might not again, and same with where you hunt, its a never ending game of learning , and trying to BEAT the species your after!
just keep trying
and if your area get a LOT of deer snorting, just it a rest and hunt else where
BUT deer snort all the time, and they WILL come back
its NOT a once they snort they move on else where deal
They spent there lives there, there NOT packing up and moving to a unknown area again
they WILL how ever change how they go into there area, be it at different hours, or in different travel routes thru it
but they DON"T flee a home turf, just due to they snorted at something, or deer would NEVER have a home range

I have killed countless deer, JUST after one deer snorted and then new one's showed up
and have had countless deer in food plots snorting at things behind the tree line and never left the food plot and deer continued to come out !
snorting isn't a done deal when hunting, but you DO want to try and find out WHY there snorting and make adjustments from there!
keep at it, you'll learn as time goes by!

I have had deer blowing at me in the dark several times in the dark when I was walking to my stand. I also had one on the ground sometimes within 30 or 40 minutes afterward.

If you break a twig in the woods while still hunting deer, you can fool them into thinking you're a turkey, by making a few clucks and yelps.

Of course there is the "snort wheeze" call of a buck. I believe --- from past experience --- that is mainly a call from a buck to stop a doe from running away from him in the rut --- Though sometimes it's used as a territorial warning against other bucks.

I like to snort wheeze with just my mouth and air from my lungs (or you can buy a snort wheeze call). It might make a buck stop for a shot while he is chasing a doe...or otherwise possibly call in other bucks.

just because a deer blows it doesnt mean the hunts over...........sometimes the deer doesnt know what you are but youve alerted it somehow. In my experience when a deer knows its a human it just ghosts out and you never even know a deer was there (especially bucks).

if a deer blows at me and I cant see it, i always blow back. Ive had deer come in to me before thinking im another deer.

Most likely the deer caught my scent somehow someway. I hunt in a ground blind. it's so frustrating. I didn't do anything out of the normal. Wind was favorable. Clothing washed. I washed. Sprayed with Dead Down Wind. I know they don't see me when I walk in because they generally come in front of me. Maybe they are just really smart lol. Is it worth trying again in the morning?

maybe its your blind
have you washed it? lots of smells in commercial things made
I always used to wash my pop up blinds far in advance, with scent shampoo's , treat them with UV treatments(deer can see UV colors and a BIG blind that has UV colors will stand out like a spot light IMO)
and then, I would find a nice BIG muddy puddle and roll the blind about in it, let it dry, and then store in a scent free area!

the amount of noise setting up a blind can also alert near by deer and make them nervous when traveling in the area they heard them in earlier!

do you set it up every time you go in and not leave it, giving deer a chance to get used to it

as Blind set up, changes the lay out of the land and will make some deer very nervous!

I always used to try and set blinds up a few weeks in advance to allow deer to get used to them
if worried about getting stolen on public lands, Maybe SKIP the blind and make a more natural one
don't need a commercial blind to kill deer!

keep in mind, that deer on public lands that get pressure will be more sensitive to things, than deer less hassled!
won't call them smarter, just learning to survive is all!

Oh brother! Please stop with the fake this is what I do nonsense. Some of have hunted for over 50 years . Then there is the pretend to be a turkey BS.

The above in bold is important, it is important that deer get used to something strange in their territory before they ignore it.

The blind has been set up a month before the season started and it stays in the hunt area. It is hot here in Florida, even though today it was on the cooler side being 66 degrees when I was walking in at 6am. In blind and ready to go at 615am. The deer blew about 650am. The camera shows deer every morning the past 9 days. I'm assuming they smelled me. It is what it is. I know there's deer in the area, just getting busted or never seeing them is frustrating. This year has been my worse year so far. Archery is usually gold for me. But it happens some years. But plenty of time left.

As usual many good suggestions already.

Where we hunt, we've learned if you have deer present when you're not there but none when you are, the deer have patterned you. Through repeated use of your stand, perhaps for years, you've become a distinct, known part of their environment and they check for you every time they get near your stand. It could be scent, sound, sight, alone or in combination, that gives you away.

Maybe try a new stand location, one that intercepts them on their way to your old area. Hunt mid week if you can. Ditch the tent and get up a tree or build a natural ground blind. Change your non scent, park farther away and walk a different path. Anything and everything you can do to break the pattern you've established and the deer have learned.

One contrarian suggestion to try, don't put up your stand in advance. Wait for the best time of year and conditions for your area to hunt, stealthily put in your stand and hunt the next day. Sometimes it catches the deer with their guard down resulting in more deer seen.

Deer know every tree in the woods --- A tent blind might seem out of place to them.

Turkey hunting with a tent blind is a different story...they don't seem to be alarmed at all when confronted with a tent blind.

If you hunt in bottom land...the wind has a tendency to swirl around in different directions.

i have a question...got a swamp in front of my property of 52 acres...if i have crushed concrete dumped and i make a trail about 200 yars in front of the land, how long will der avoid the area??? I NEED AN ANSWER SOON,THANKS!!

You are the professor, you should be telling us. You may want to check the laws regarding filling in areas of a swamp. I think the answer is there is no exact answer, as it appears that you want.

I too would question if its even legal to add concrete to a wetland)swamp)
I know in my area its highly illegal

BUT there is NO set answer as to how long it takes deer to get used to something new
an example will be this,

I have plowed roads and opened sections of forested land with a bulldozer and had deer in them while dozing, and have done the same thing in another place and deer seemed to avoid the new openings for weeks

I have poured concrete in some residential neighborhoods, doing driveways and had deer walk in the wet cement before it dried
A deer is an individual critter and they all think and react to new things differently!
how well adjusted they are to humans or not, can matter

SO< there is NO exact answer for your question!
best answer is
it will take them as long as THEY need to feel comfortable with the new changes to there home range!

A couple of things I've picked up that seem to be fairly constant are when there is no breeze the air tends to move from the open into the woods early evening, the opposite early morning, Anything coming in from my rear on a still early evening hunt, the Deer usually spooks, especially Doe with fawn.

I carry a smallish Pheasant feather tied to a piece of dental floss. I hang it high enough to check the air movement. I try to stay still, so I don't squirm around a lot trying to see 360 degrees when I hunt. I usually keep it in a 180 degrees fan looking the opposite direction the feather is leaning.

When walking into my stand I try to avoid walking across or on Deer paths. I've seen Deer come to my path into my high seat and stop right where I've flattened the grass. Either my scent or the scent of broken grass or both.

I've fooled feeding Deer before. Usually, they'll hear me before they see me if I'm walking a woodline. I try to keep some cover between me and where the Deer usually feed when I'm walking in. If you've ever watched a Deer come out of cover they step, pause, step, step pause. I try to copy that cadence when walking into my hunting area, You are going to make some sound no way around it and Deer have exceptional hearing. Try to make your noise as natural as possible. Like moving when the breeze is blowing and pausing when it isn't.

You can mitigate your scent some, but it will always be there, you have to breathe. You can mitigate your eye-catching motion or unnatural sounds.

I've watched new hunters sitting for Deer, the biggest mistakes they make are fidgeting too much and jerking their head around too much trying to see everywhere at once. Your face jerking around iooks like a camera flash going off at a distance, especially in low light.

when you use your blind do you open ALL the shooting windows, or just one?

as if you have more then one open, its very easy fro deer to see you inside a blind,
and sounds can be louder in a blind than you think, also alerting deer to you being inside it!

It all depends on the situation. I have been blown at completely covered in cover scent in a tower stand with all the windows closed. The buck is alerted to "something" that is not right, not so much just you. I have also been in the same stand with my youngest at the time (8 yr old) and hes playing with his gameboy and eating a sandwich and chip and making tons of noise and out walks a nice 6pt about 50 yards away that he shot at and missed. I figured it was just a day out with dad getting use to it and out walks the buck. So I think its really different for each situation.

Also it could be something very small like a reflection on anything that is spooking him. Not whitetail, but on our duck lease, they kept flaring. We were covered head to toe and in a fantastic spot. As soon as the sun came up, they started to flare, but once sun came up, we limited out. The next day we saw that there was a small square of reflective tape on the motor that would reflect the sun as soon as the sun came up, but when overhead, it didn't reflect anymore.

I don't know whether you have hills in Florida...but if you do hunt places with hills or mountains: Try to avoid skylining yourself as you traverse along the top of the bank. Deer also try to avoid skylining themselves, by having most of there deer trails somewhat below the skyline.

If an alarmed deer stomps one of his or her forelegs into the ground while looking at you...along with or without snorting --- Is releasing alarm scent on the ground by it's gland between his bottom hoof. I forgot the name of the alarm gland --- Maybe ole' timer can enlighten us on the name of the alarm gland.

inter digital gland. The same glands are used for deer to identify themselves and to know there is a strange deer in their territory. When they use the substance from the gland to signal danger, they stomp and deposit more of the substance than they are simply walking laying down the scent. There are no mountains in FL.