A game of peek-a-boo

[Sam McMichael]

Yesterday, I went to my ground blind for a rare evening hunt. I had not been there long when a small doe began to work her way toward me. About the same time, 3 approached from the other direction.

So here I was, not knowing which way to turn. The deer from behind were blowing, and the deer in front was blowing in return. I don't think any of them made me out because they were concentrating on each other, and the angle from which the breeze was blowing kept them from smelling me.

One of the deer circled and joined the deer in front of me. Both of these very young deer still had traces of spots on their coats. Since I knew I would not take a shot on them, I just sat back and watched, even though they came within 15 yards of me. This lasted almost an hour.

The most surprising thing about this whole scene was that my neighbor was running his lawn mower just a few hundred yards from us. None of the deer ever reacted to this loud noise. They are used to human noise and activity. Obviously, they have us patterned pretty well. Now the only question is, "Where is that big buck?"

Hope that buck shows for you, Sam!

Good luck,

Bisch

[maineac]

Sounds like a fun hunt.  The deer know all the noises of the human activity that goes on around them.  I would not be surprised if they recognize the smell of the homeowners compared to you.