Just got back from an interesting hunt this afternoon. I had a doe and a doe fawn walk out of the woods and into the field where I had my stand on the field edge. So something behind me was making noises and the doe immediately looks right at me. I have not moved a wink since she has turned my way. Oh and the wind is in my favor so she is not winding me. Anyway she stares at me for a good ten minutes and then goes back to eating. The same thing happens and she looks back at me. Now she is starting to get worried. She slowly turns back into the woods and starts to try and get down wind. Before she even can do that she blows two times but doesn't run away. She did this three times till she finally walked away. Anybody have any idea how she could have picked me off if I didn't even make the noise or move a muscle. Also a little after that happened I had does all over and non of them even knew I was there. Just thought this was kinda weird.
Coulda been a old doe, they're tricky. Most of time though when I have stands on a field edge I'll have a doe look right at me every once in awhile. Even if don't move or make noise, I always just figured they noticed that me being there was a little different look then when nobody is is stand.
Actually had something very similar happen to me before. Had a doe and her fawn sneak up on me and stand in a clearing 40 yards from my stand and just sit and looked at me for a little while. The doe continued maybe 20 yards, turned around walked by into the small clearing and again just sat there looking about, and at me from time to time. Eventually she just walked off back into the swamp. But she never stomped, or snorted, and I never moved an inch. Deer are smart critters, my guess is she just knew something was up, and something just didn't seem right. Kinda like when you or I just get a "gut" feeling to do something, not sure why and sometimes it doesn't make sense but it just feels right.
what if its the ultraviolet thing people talk about how deer pick up light-waves we don't..got me thinking
She didn't run away so she wasn't truly spooked. She just knew something was not the same. She kept blowing to get you to move.
We have a mature doe on our property that knows every old stand and knows every new stand. She'll pick you out of the tree a mile away..needless to say we're trying to take her off the property this year
Many years ago I had an old doe that used to do the same thing on property we hunted. She would stop just inside the woods at the edge of the field and scan the opposite woodline until she found you up a tree. Then she would stand there a stare for a while before she would blow and stomp her feet trying to get you to move. She wasn't scared, she knew just what she was doing. I finally drew a doe tag for that area. I put a tree stand up with a stuffed Halloween dummy strapped in it and slipped into a ground blind on the adjacent woodline. When she stuck her head out and started looking for the "hunter" I lined her up. When she stepped out a couple of feet to blow and stomp at the dummy, I put her on the ground. Who's the dummy now? It took three years to take that doe out and I still consider that to be my most challenging kill.