I was in my stand Friday evening when I heard a really loud snort. I thought, "Oh %&#@, I'm busted". I never saw this deer. But a couple of minutes later a doe walked right up to my tree from the direction of the snort. I always thought the snort was a way for deer to alert other deer of danger. Just seems strange to me that a deer would snort at me and then it or another deer in the same general area would would directly toward me. Just looking for some of your opinions here.
I had that happen with a Deer that was snorting at a Raccoon about 40 yards from my stand at first shooting light a few years ago.
usually the does give a blow sound, when they want to alert others. Otherwise you could have heard early signs of her starting in estrous? Then they will make more of a bellow call like if you have used a hot doe bleat or can. A grunt sound though, maybe there was a buck with her or in that general area that he never showed himself?
It happened to me the first weekend of Oct. only it wasn't the doe snortting at me she was snortting at her yearling that had strayed to far from her. The yearling was under my stand for about 10min and I could hear her way back in the woods snorting and about 5min after that she came walking in they hung around for awhile witn no clue I was there. When she gave me the shot I took her.
I'm not sure who did the snorting. It sure was loud, sounded like a horse. I was just very surprised to see the doe come walking up the trail after that. I let her go though, hoping there was a buck following, but no such luck.
I have also had this happen a few times this season. Each time the sound came from further away than i could see. I've also been trying to figure out what the heck it was and why?
Deer snort for a variety of reasons that I'm willing to bet many of us don't realize. I've had deer come walking through an area snorting like crazy. I figured the hunt was over and I might as well pack it in. These same deer never left the area and continued to mill around afterward. Shortly thereafter, I saw more deer and a nice buck come in. I had a bobcat take a bunch of deer by surprise this season. They snorted and some of them chased the bobcat into the next county. The remaining deer settled down and even bedded in the area. More deer came by a little while later.
