badshotbob

I have been watching deer when a close by gun goes off. It scares me completely out of my skin, but doesn' t even phase the deer. My buddy has unloaded his six-shooter on a deer at 60 yards missing every shot - deer didn' t flich until a bullet hit the dirt in front of him. So I' m convinced they can' t hear a gun shot for some odd reason, what do you think? (if this is already out here, sorry to post again, just couldn' t find it).

trophyhuntr

are you serious, they hear a bow, why wouldnt they hear a gun, think about it

Aught Six

Deer can certainly hear gunfire. Whether they move or not depends on how threatening they perceive it to be. Mature deer are certainly a lot more skittish than a lot of the younger ones.

badshotbob

I have thought about it and it has been a source of conversation with my hunting buddy for years. I really don' t think they can hear the crack of a gun - it may be beyond their range or something wierd...??? I don' t have a clue, or maybe I' m just nuts. My dad shot a buck a while back that he shot at 4 times. The buck stood there and didn' t even look his way. (The crosshairs in his scope got knocked around so he compensated and put a bullet through his heart on the 4th shot). Is it a sound they hear, but really don' t think any danger is associated with this sound?

hardluck71

If they can hear a fart from 30 yards away they can definately hear a gun shot. The deer your buddy was shooting at was either deaf or just plain dumb. I know of people who have shot at deer and they just stand there. They will do this especially if they can not really tell where the noise came from. That way they won' t be running into danger. This happens alot in clear cuts and fields.

Duse500

I dont think the question should be...Can deer hear gunshots.
The question should be...should your buddy have possession of a wepon

Buckhuntn01

I would tend to agree that deer can hear gun shots. I watched two yearlings jump at the sound of my buddy' s shot (he was about 200 yards away). However, I have also seen older deer pay little attention to close shots other than look the way the shot came from. Those deer appeared more cool and tried to sneak through the woods after hearing the shot.

badshotbob

44 mag with a scope. He sold it shortly after and bought a slug gun. Hits em in the heart now.

GBhunter

i agree with Hardluck71, i recently shot one doe in a group of five and two took off and two other ones stuck around. i was hunting out of a tree stand and shot my .30-06 at the deer at about 55 yards. not only did the two other deer run away, they kinda ran towards me. then i shot on of the two that didnt run away. i think they may have not run because i dropped the first doe with one shot in her tracks. i shot both of these deer within 5 minutes. i think they can definitely hear the gunshot, but if they dont know where it came from, they dont know where to run.

JagMagMan

Yes they can hear a gun shot!
I think the two things that affect their reaction are one, they didn' t feel threatened by the sound, or two they could not tell where it came from, so they stayed put. A confused deer will be very alert, but may not run off for some reason or another.