How good is a deer's memory?

[Fish- N- Hunt]

I hunt a very small patch of woods and right now I have only seen a few deer. I have my eye on this mature doe that has two fawns. Last night I had an opportunity, but was not comfortable with the shot, so I past. It got dark and I thought they were out of my sight. I started getting down from my ladder stand and all of a sudden I see her eyes staring at me. Will she back or will she not come back, knowing that I was there? Does that have fawns I think are the hardest deer to bag.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

Fish- N- Hunt

[Stratosman]

That depends on if she caught your wind also, if she knows you were a human you might not see her again, sometimes I think those old does are smarter than most bucks I see. Or if you do you can bet she will be looking up to the same spot where you were. It gets alot tougher to kill a deer that knows you were there. However, if her instincts didn't tell her "human" then she might not change her behavior at all. You never know till you try. I have been there too and it sucks, you think the deer are long gone and you climb down from your tree and they scare the living hell out of you.

[EXTREME]

You will probably see her again...but she will scan that tree for some time to come. It completely depends on how good of a look she got of you. Good luck!!

[bigbucks]

I would agree with what was said. I'd try hunting it again, my guess is you'll see her & if she's on to your spot, she'll avoid it & watch it like a hawk. You said ladder stand, which I'm assuming means a portable one, so then I'd just move the stand to setup for her new route & smack her. Your new spot will have to be well hidden & the wind in your favor though, as she'll be "on point" in that area for a while. I think I've already educated a couple of deer on a field this year, do to getting down when I thought they were finally gone. They're still using the field, but someone else hunted there & said they all entered in a different spot.

You're definitely right about does with fawns being hard to kill, with the exception of first time mothers. They're still pretty stupid like any other yearling.

[BLACKJACK]

I agree with bigbucks, move your stand. Next time in that field she'll either avoid that stand or give it the once over downwind. Thats why I think that its very important to have multiple stand sites or else you burn them out. If you have 6 spots and you make it out only three times a week, you only hunt that stand once every two weeks (depending on wind direction).

[bigbucks]

Agreed on the multiple spots thing. I've managed to get a lot of private access & have more like 25 stands. There's something for every wind & most food sources for that wind. I'm not saying they're all of equal quality, not even close, but most of them will get at least one hunt every year or two & depending on conditions, some poorer ones might get hunted a lot any given year. I'm sharing several of those stands too, so my buddies sightings & shootings come into play of course. We build 1-3 new permanents per year.

[Fish- N- Hunt]

Thanks for all the help. I can move my stand, but at this spot there is know way to really set-up according to the wind. This spot I have is only good with a wind coming from the north. It seems like there rarely is a north wind either, but this is one of the two spots that I have to hunt. I went against my odds last night and hunted it with a South wind, I never really got winded but she knew something just wasn't quite right and walked back into the woods after about ten minutes just standing 10 yards from me. My stand is a portable ladder stand so moving wouldn't be the end of the world, but trees in the area are very minimal. Oh yea I was also wondering do any of you feel like shooting a doe with fawns is a bad thing?

Any input on this ?

Thanks again

Fish- N- Hunt

[bigbucks]

I don't feel like that's a problem. If the fawn's so small I don't think it will make it, like still has spots on it now. I probably wouldn't, but then again, I'm not sure that one survives winter with or without momma. You're out there to shoot deer, especially if you only have two spots, you better take the shots you get.

I don't understand why you didn't shoot her if she was at 10 yards? Was she behind you & you couldn't turn or in the brush or something?

[Fish- N- Hunt]

She came out of the brush walking straight towards me. Caught me completly by surprise, I had no warning that they were coming. I could have shot her when she was facing towards me with her head down. I didn't feel comfortable taking that shot, give me a little more light I probably would have poked her. My motto is if you don't feel comfartable taking the shot, then pass and you should get another opportunity. But in this case I hope I get another opportunity!! Sure does get your heart a racing when she is standing in front of you and you're waiting for her to make her move!!

Fish- N- Hunt

[Stratosman]

good choice, that is poor position to take a shot at, you'll get another chance.

[delmuts]

i respect you for not aking the frontal shot.as you said; if you don't feel comfortable with it. don't take it. and the fawn will be ok, unless as said it is a very small /late one. this time of year the fawns are getting most if not all of thier food from nature. not mom. if it is a very lttle one, the chances of it not making it through the winter is slim. you will learn that old does are one of the hardest deer to get. same as an old buck. they didn't get old by being stupid ! del

[Ole #1]

I'm going to have to disagree with most the replies here.

You didn't take a shot at her, so I don't think she'll avoid that area. I have shot deer with other deer in the area and they will scare right away, but a lot of times they will come back.

I wouldn't move my spot because of it.

Just my 2 cents.

Ole

[bigbucks]

Ole, if you read closer you'd notice we said if she seems to start avoiding the stand than he'd know she's on to him & he should move it. If she doesn't avoid the stand, which apparently she didn't, then she hasn't figured it out. I've missed deer that never figured out there was something wrong with a certain tree, but I've also had deer see me, that I haven't gotten a shot at, & they knew to avoid the tree.

I agree, good job on passing on the frontal shot if you're not comfortable with it. I did the same thing myself Friday night. I'm not saying I'd never take that shot, but things would have to be right.

[Ole1855]

I have very mixed feelings on this topic. A couple of weeks ago, on a Fri. evening, I had 9 deer in front of my bow stand, all at once. I had many opportunities to shoot either big doe's, yearling doe's or a couple of young buck's, I didn't feel like shooting any of them. Here's where I differ, when it was time to climb out of the stand 4 of these deer were still in my food plot. 1 big doe, 1 fawn, 1 yearling and 1 small buck. I banged my release on the side of my ladder stand to try to scare them out of the plot, no luck, they just looked up for a second and went back to eating, I dropped an arrow, same results. I grunted and did the bleet call, all these did was bring them closer to my stand. Finally I just got my stuff together and climbed out of the stand, I got all the way out of the stand and walked the 10 yards down the trail that leads into the meadow where the plot is. All the deer remained there until I entered the meadow, then all they did was snort a couple of times and ran about 40 yards and waited for me to leave. I can't tell you if the same doe's and fawn came back Sat. evening, but it was the same buck and he gave me another shot, that I didn't take and there were several doe's, fawns and yearlings on Sat. as well.

Another example, last rifle season, I had a great big doe that came by my rifle stand every single evening that I was in it. She would walk out the same trail from the river bottoms and pass within 10 yards of my stand. When she came out she'd stop and look right at me to see if I was there, after a couple of seconds she would proceed out into the food plots and eat. I don't believe I'm the only hunter out there that this has happened to.

Ole

[This message has been edited by Ole1855 (edited 10-12-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Ole1855 (edited 10-12-2004).]

[bigbucks]

Well I suppose if you & no one else are ever shooting does there that they aren't particularly concerned with humans. Wild ducks let you feed them in a part too, but they still know to stay away from calls & decoys once they've been shot at a few times.

[bigbucks]

Sorry I meant park, not part.

[Fish- N- Hunt]

Thanks for the help. I am going to try it again tonight in the same stand location. It will be a little better wind for me tonight. I will let you know if I poke her, or for that matter anything else. Haven't seen any bucks out there yet, but maybe tonight might be the night!!!

Fish- N- Hunt