Seeing Deer

Red Deer

This picture that I took of a red deer a couple years ago illustrates just that.
 

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I measured the spread distance on a mulie buck's ears, one time. Twenty inches, tip to tip! One thing for sure, when they twitch a fly off, it's about like waving a flag. :)
 
I hunt mostly thicket borders on the property I spend most of my season on. For this reason I look and listen for movement. Look for brush moving. If the brush movement tracks across the thicket I look for whatever it is to break cover and move into a clearing.

I also listen for sounds of deer walking. 9 times out of 10 I hear a deer moving toward me before I see it. Watch that direction and wait for it to pop out of cover.

Most of my shots have been under 100 yds, many under 50. Considering that about a third of my deer have been killed by bow, many have been under 20-30 yds even.

There are a couple of big fields on the property that allow some distance shooting. My personal best was 347 yds. In that case I had just got out of my truck on the field edge and was shimmying into my coveralls (it was cold!) when a buck popped it's head up across the field. I marked the distance between (in feet and converted) with my GPS.
 
I also listen for sounds of deer walking. 9 times out of 10 I hear a deer moving toward me before I see it.
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I'm the same way. I seldom hunt open fields. Big buck didn't get big by poking his head out in a bean field before dark. A lot of times I will sit in a thicket stand with my eyes closed day dreaming and just listening.
 
I also listen for sounds of deer walking. 9 times out of 10 I hear a deer moving toward me before I see it. Watch that direction and wait for it to pop out of cover.
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It doesn't work when they're sleeping.....

Last year, I spooked a deer at less than 10 feet. I was watching for movement, and listening for walking noises. (The conditions were perfect for me to be absolutely silent while stalking.)

Popping around some scrub oak was as frightening for me, as it was for the poor doe. It must have taken 10 minutes for my heart rate to come down, and for her to stop blazing across the mountain side.

She had been sleeping next to an old, over-grown logging road, by the scrub oak.
It's too bad, again, that I was hunting Elk.

.......

I do agree. A mule deer flicking its ear is like a giant 'shoot me' flag.
 
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I know what you mean!

Jack
 
It doesn't work when they're sleeping.....

Last year, I spooked a deer at less than 10 feet. I was watching for movement, and listening for walking noises. (The conditions were perfect for me to be absolutely silent while stalking.)

Popping around some scrub oak was as frightening for me, as it was for the poor doe. It must have taken 10 minutes for my heart rate to come down, and for her to stop blazing across the mountain side.
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She was just waiting for you to break cover :D.
 
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