Are deer just getting smarter?

We have heard lately that our deer population in the Midwest is in decline. Many say they are seeing fewer deer on outings compared to other years. I agree that there are areas where there are a lot fewer deer this year due to disease and possibly over hunting.

An example of this is that on our family farm we normally take 6-8 deer a year off the 300 acres. A couple of good bucks and 4-6 mature does. We are in no way over harvesting deer from this farm. This year there was only 2 does taken. My though was that our deer numbers were way down this year, but this just didn't add up to what I was seeing!

All summer long I had pictures of several good bucks and the doe population was about what I normally see. In late August I noticed a drastic reduction in the pics I was getting of all bucks. This is at a time when I normally get more picture of good bucks than any other time. I thought we had an EHD problem and walked the creeks and checked the ponds. No dead deer were found. For some reason the bucks just stopped using my mineral lick. The does continued to hammer it.

When the season rolled around we still had standing corn all through archery and most of gun season. All season long I found the sign of big bucks on the place, but we weren’t seeing them.

My thought is that the deer are evolving, getting smarter and have patterned us to the point where they avoid us for the most part now by staying in the corn, laying up in the CRP fields, or only moving after dark.

Last week I decided to do a little shining on some of the corn fields on the farm just to see what was still around. I counted 37 does and 5 decent bucks and 7 yearling bucks in 3 different corn fields.

On our family farm at least they are still there, and I think they are just smarter than they use to be!

Is it possible that the evolution of hunters with better equipment and more knowledge about whitetails has created smarter deer?

 

Any time there is standing corn you will struggle with seeing the deer. They have no good reason to leave it. As soon as the corn comes out, the deer move back to normal cover. At least that has always been the case around here.

 

I agree with fletch.

I noticed a lot of standing corn here in my part of Indiana well into hunting season, heck I even saw corn still standing in fields after Christmas closing in on New Year's day. I think all of the late standing corn made an impact on a lot of folks deer sightings.

I'm guessing you experienced something similar in the SE part of the state.

 

Just me but I dont think of deer as smart in any event. Standing corn will hurt you if its in any large quantity....they just don't leave it during daylight

 

Really?!? I believe that deer are constantly becoming more aware as to what's going on around them in order to survive. Deer use the terrain and know how to get down wind in order to protect themselves. I know that the deer in our area will change their movement if there is too much disturbance. So I do think deer become more educated as time goes by because they are constantly being hunted.


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Smart implies intelligence and a cognitive thought process ...ie problem solving.
Deer are wary and can be conditioned to what has kept them alive in the past. They have an acute set of sensory response that allows them to react instinctively and survive.
I may be splitting hairs but I believe that when start projecting out thought process onto deer we are doing ourselves a disservice if our goal is killing them.

 

I should have used the word elusive instead of smarter...


"Is it possible that the evolution of hunters with better equipment and more knowledge about whitetails has created super elusive deer?"

 

This x1000. I love hunting cut or partially cut corn. Late standing corn is the exact opposite, especially large fields. Can lead to some very tough/frustrating hunts.

 

Also to answer the question, no deer are not getting smarter. 9 times out of 10 if I'm not killing deer it has far more to do with my smarts(or lack of) than the deers.

 

Agree, it was probably the standing corn but deer can and do get educated. Deer also have some cognitive ability, anyone who thinks otherwise is doing themselves a disservice and fail to give whitetail deer the respect they deserve.

I've seen both does and bucks exhibit problem solving abilities on several occasions over the years. I've had bucks hear me rattling antlers and circle around downwind to check to see if it was indeed bucks fighting or a hunter rattling in a mock fight....that is not instinct...that is progressive problem solving ability. and a result of education.

Yes, some deer do stupid things and some smart deer do stupid things but we as hunters are also pretty wiley and just because we kill a smart deer doesn't mean the deer was stupid, it means we had better problem solving abilities on that day, under those circumstances.

 

Pressure will change their habits. It will cause more night time activity because they are not encountering our pressure at night. They are a prey animal and behave that way. They are weary in almost all situations, and generally avoid situations where they feel vulnerable.

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Maybe you put a little extra pressure on them?

I actually love Corn. Just hunt close to it. Keeps the deer safe and on your property (Win-Win).

 

I know what you're saying Bone Head, and there is no doubt in my mind that deer are smarter than they were 10, 20 years ago.
Bowhunting was not as popular, and there is less timber every year. Deer are running into a hunter on almost every woodlot.
Driving through Illinois and Wisconsin as a kid, we would see deer feeding in fields all the time. Now, almost never.
Sure, there are fewer deer now. But they just don't show themselves like they used to.

I think they're much more skittish also. If they don't have the wind in their favor, they're more cautious, and look up more often. I remember when deer would never look up.
So yes, I do believe they're evolving to survive. Heck, pretty soon they won't be colorblind and bucks won't grow big antlers anymore!

 

I don't believe deer are getting "smarter" at all. They have innate abilities to survive and they use them very well. Deer use the best cover they can find the majority of the time and standing corn is hard to beat. As we all know, deer rely on their senses of hearing and smell above all else. When they hear something that interests them they will circle down wind to check the scent because they can usually smell it before they can see it. Coyotes do this, bears do this, elk come to a call the same way...This has been going on long before any of us was alive and continues to be an instinct that deer and other animals have. I think if they were getting "smarter" they would avoid our calls altogether. Wild animals have a wonderful, God-given ability to survive and their instincts are amazing, but I don't see them coming up with "new tricks" for fooling us during the season. Just my $.02 worth.

 

^ where is the like button when you need it.

 

No more than any other year.. I only hunted it 5 times and only saw deer on two of those hunts...

The rest of the family hunted it less than normal also..

 

We might also be getting "dumber", per say. If you think about it, there are less and less hunters working together and pushing deer. As an example, our PA gun season has turned into a dud over the past decade because there are less hunters in the woods pushing deer around. Deer hunker down and have no reason to move when they hear a bunch of gunshots echoing in the mountains. Likewise for bow season, I think there are less and less hunters who are willing to go deep into the woods and everyone sits on a food plot not far from the truck. Of course this isn't the case for all hunters but we may be getting more lazy as a collective. We go sit in a tree and expect a deer to walk by rather than stalking and going deep into the woods to go after them. I am no better and I think some of it has to do with land size restrictions. I think deer are just playing their cards better, not necessarily getting smarter. Just a thought to play the other side of it.

 

As the season goes on the deer get wary just not the same animal as the first day of bow season, deer sure learn to avoid stand sites and new things in the woods we as hunters leave way to much scent,over hunt stands they really know more about are travels then we give them credit for.

 

I have rattled in hundreds of bucks over the years. They will nearly always try to approach form down wind. It is just instinct for them to do so when curious. Only the most rutted up bucks will blindly come charging in. Caution is what has helped deer survive since they were put on this earth. I dont see that as having any true cognitive abilities, its purely survival instincts. I have rattled up the same bucks from year to year and sometimes multiple times in the same year, even after being spooked. If they really had any true smarts, that would never happen.

 

We'll have to agree to disagree then. I contend you've seen a lot of smart deer and a few dumb deer who came straight in.

I've also see bucks bust me in a deer stand and change their patterns immediately. Watched them avoid other hunters by sneaking around. Watched them actively alter their travel routes because of new fences, people, animals. Watched them analyze a situation and act accordingly based on other deer and animals mannerisms. Watched them figure out how to get feed from a feeder that is not distributing feed.

My conclusion that they are smart and learn isn't from one incident of rattling, it was a simple example. They aren't on the same intelligence level as people but they do problem solve and learn and are intelligent. Some people just have a hard time accepting that fact or refuse to think of their preferred game as intelligent.