how smart are deer

1948jr

Member
I killed a couple deer this week over a corn pile and haven't seen a deer since. Are they smart enough to know the CORN is killing them or will they return
 
I use a spin feeder. I have shot deer off it in the morning and someone else shot one in the afternoon. I always heard stories that big bucks will not go to the feeders but some one should have told that to the 14 point I shot waiting for it to go off and the 11 point I shot the next year under it. I think a lot has to do with the pressure in the area. I can take my tractor back in the woods and see deer all the time but just don't shut it off. You cannot shot off the tractor in Mich
 
I can tell you some hunters are not to bright. Beef cows were out a couple weeks ago, went and followed there tracks and led to were someone put a salt block by my fence on the other side of the cows, cows reached through till they broke through. I haven't asked any of them about it, but I am sure Not Me did it!
 
Don't try it here in Iowa, you get fined while the darn deer continue to destroy everything you do.
 
Deer are certainly not dumb!

It's possible they smell the blood from the shot deer and stay away. ...If the corn has started to mold, the deer will usually avoid it.

In my area(suburban NJ), more deer are killed by cars, than hunters. ...Many deer have learned to stop & look before crossing the road. ...However, during the rut, when being chased or chasing, more deer are killed because they do not stop at the road.

Some of the local deer are smart enough to stay near cows, knowing they will not be shot at.

Hunting is not allowed on the east side of our road, so the local deer are rarely seen on the west side during hunting season.
 
Sometimes they seem amazingly smart and sometimes they are really stupid. Stupid only because they forget to look up where a tree stand is. Just moseying along clueless.
 
Yet it's perfectly fine to shoot a deer that's eating off a pile of spilled grain from a combine, both legally and ethically.

I agree, it's not smarts that's keeping them away, but the smell of DEATH. Either the blood, or the pheromones that were released when the bullet hit and the deer took off in a panic.
 
When did that go into effect ? Law says you can hunt corn fields and orchards but taking deer around a corn or apple pile is classified as baiting and illegal in Indiana the same as a salt block.
 
I don't hunt deer anymore but threw some apples out in the farm grove. Keep a few trail cameras around for security reasons. Couple nice bucks one night, few does next nights. Fox came along, herd of raccoons, opossum (trapped six of them) and then coyote. She stopped right in the middle of the apples and let it fly. I though other animals would avoid coyote urine. Doesn't faze them, deer , skunk, raccoons squirrels, and rabbits. One nice buck lost one of his antlers or never grew one but looks like same one that was here earlier with a pair.
 
They're not dumb. I've heard bow hunters claim they will pull an arrow out of their side with their mouth, when hit in a non-lethal way. I don't bow hunt, so I could't say. One story I know to be true- my brother downed a buck with a riffle shot, but didn't make a clean kill. Went to cut his throat to finish the kill, got the knife kicked out of his hand.
 

One that was running to pass in front of me on my snowmobile was smart enough to veer off after I had closed my eyes and braced for the impact. The whole thing happened in about a second and a half.
 
(quoted from post at 14:12:41 11/16/17) When did that go into effect ? Law says you can hunt corn fields and orchards but taking deer around a corn or apple pile is classified as baiting and illegal in Indiana the same as a salt block.

Apparently it's a fine line. A pile that occurred "naturally" such as an accidental spill from a combine or grain wagon is fine but intentionally creating a pile of grain and shooting the deer is "baiting."
 
First deer I got with a recurve bow was a 4 pt who was hit in the vitals, I watched as he reached around & pulled arrow thru all the way out then staggered off. I waited 30 minutes & found him dead about 150' away!
 
(quoted from post at 19:32:11 11/17/17) First deer I got with a recurve bow was a 4 pt who was hit in the vitals, I watched as he reached around & pulled arrow thru all the way out then staggered off. I waited 30 minutes & found him dead about 150' away!
don't care! Still not as smart as a feral hog!
 

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