Eye Contact

I'm curious what your opinions are on avoiding making eye contact with deer. Something rifle hunters don't have to think about!

 

I just squint. And I'm squinty-eyed to begin with. Seems to work. I usually win the staring contests.

 

My dog definitely knows when eye contact is made. He also knows how to follow eye direction. Not saying a deer is smart as a dog, but I'm not locking eyes with one if I can help it.

Also, many "lower" forms of life like insects have markings that look like large eyes so that predators are scared off. I'd say that's a pretty clear indication that animals are aware of eyes and recognize a predators eyes when they see them.

 

I'm normally 20+ feet off the ground so I don't have worry about eye contact.. But I have had stair offs with deer and they'd stand there and stair at me, as soon as I took my eye off of them, they were gone.. I think most of you have this backwards lol.

 

I do think deer are at least as smart as most dogs. I avoid eye contact as much as I can but it's not at all cost. I go so far as to avoid even laying eyes directly on deer that are close to me. I'll watch them from the periphery or just as part of a general broader view. I often can tell from a "feeling" when something or someone is watching me and I expect deer have the same defense mechanism though I couldn't begin to explain how that works. I think most of us have had that feeling of being watched.

I've had deer bust me from eye contact and won staring contests with them by squinting as was mentioned earlier. I generally try to keep my bow or a limb or my glove or sleeve between us to break up eye contact. They can pick up eye movement, blinking, etc...I imagine they can even pick up movement from breathing that's subtle enough we don't even notice it ourselves once they are keyed in on us and staring at us. Some deer have like zero tolerance for anything abnormal and will just bolt and others can see you move a little and still stay calm so in large part it depends on the deer's personality.

 

I try not to make contact.Will lower my head and watch from under eyebrows.. Saying this though I only have one deer with bow , so my thoughts probable not worth much.

 

I think it's more important to freeze. If they're looking at you, don't move. Not even your eyes.

You weirdos shouldn't be looking at their eyes anyways

 

I keep my head tilted down so I am looking just under the brim of my hat which normally keeps my eyes in shadows. Only time I bring my head up is when I draw and aim.


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That may be the funniest thing I've ever seen.

 

I avoid eye contact. I will spend most of my time looking into my camera monitor. I have found this seems to help with deer alerting with that 6th sense thing.

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I try not to make eye contact if at all possible...I usually pick out my target then start focusing on where my aim point is. The only time I'm not focusing on where I want to hit is when there are multiple deer around and I need to be careful about drawing my bow...there has been a few times that I've locked gazes when that happens and in my opinion, it has caused the deer to get nervous.

 

Im glad you made this post I was about to! I never know for sure but stress big time if they look right at me, even when not alert. I get so scared since my mask doesn't cover my eyes (obviously lol) that one can tell its eyes. So I often close them and hope I don't hear it blow lol. I figure its probably childish, I laugh thinking of an iguana I used to have that would close its eyes when it wanted people to leave it along. If I cant see you you cant see me haha.

 

I usually don't look at his his once I see buck I want to shoot approaching. I try to avoid eye contact with any deer if I can help it.

 

I have gotten away with being seen, herd, and or smelt. But I have never gotten away with two of them put together like being seen and herd or smelt and seen. You get the idea. I do try to avoid eye contact if possible and keep them
From blowing and alerting the whole woods.

 

If its a buck I want to shoot and he's coming in, I try to not look at his head. And I try to keep from staring as much as possible until right before I'm drawing back, then I'm burning a hole in the spot I'm aiming at.

 

We had this conversation in our team thread. Call me crazy, but every time I've made eye contact with a deer, they have gotten real nervous and busted out. There have been other times that I was busted and I never looked the deer in the eye and they calmed down and went about their business. It could be dumb luck but I won't look a deer in the eye anymore because of that.

 

Interesting thread. I have always wondered it but I never thought about asking it on here. Since I never knew anyone else's opinion on this, I have experimented myself and also found that they tend to get a little spooky if eye contact is made. I usually lower my head to where I can just barely see them under my eyebrows.

 

Decoys are a good distraction

 

really don't think eye contact makes any difference... movement and scent are the only things I worry about... have had many a deer up wind look me in the eye and as long as I didn't make any sounds or movement, go right back to doing what they did before

 

I also avoid eye contact. Whether they recognize eye contact or not, im not sure. But, once I identify a deer I'm going to shoot. I force my gaze to the spot I wanna place my arrow. It gets me focused for the shot and eliminates any fever watching the rack as it approaches.