This behavior is caused by human scent. We don't understand how good a whitetails nose is, and how long after we've been through that they can pick up that sent. Try bow hunting the weekend before gun season and you'll know why deer know it's coming.
Most of my big buck sightings occur the days just before or during the rifle season. I'm careful not to pressure my hunting areas too much though.
I don't think its a 6th sense as much as the animal has to remain alert to survive. The distracted and unwary deer end up on the game poles while the slow deer end up as coyote turds. that leaves the fastest and most aware deer to breed. as mentioned earlier that's why we look forward to the rut, it distracts an otherwise alert and oftentimes nocturnal animal giving us a chance for a shot during daylight. having said that there is a book called "The Secret Life of Your Cells" by Robert Stone who used a polygraph to test plants and his results showed they could sense intent. interesting book that will leave one wondering.....
So, funny story goes here...when I took my bow hunter safety course, the teacher is going over the deer anatomy. Trying to be funny and engage the class he starts asking silly questions..."how many legs does a deer have? How many lungs?" The answers falling in line as you expect until, "how many ears?" To which a guys starts to argue they actually have 6 ears...the two on their head and one in each hoof. It took some time to get the class back under control after that...
I don't know I'd say they ignore it, I think they get too relaxed at times and some are naturally less in tune with it than others. Young deer are especially less in tune with it than older deer in general. It's probably nothing more than all the senses working so well that it creates a bubble of environmental awareness so that even if they don't outright see danger, the smallest detail subliminally triggers their alert response, creating a "feeling" like we sometimes get when being watched, etc...
Like said before i think they know their environment so well that they can just tell when something isn't right. except for me they cant tell when i'm there.
I don't believe deer have superpowers. But what ive always wondered is this: why don't they spook when your farming? Or fishing? Or sitting around the campfire? But they DO spook when your hunting them?
I don't believe they have a 6th sense, however I do believe they are so aware of their environment and subtle changes in it that they bust hunters. Most of the time the hunter will think they've done everything right, but this is an irrational thought to have. Never have I gotten into a setup and thought that I hadn't left a trace. I have seen deer sniff overturned leaves (walked on with scentless boots) and get spooked, this I believe was attributed to the fact that there deer recognized that something had walked there, but spooked because it couldn't identify what had turned over the leaves. Things we don't even consider can alert deer. Consider this, If I were to walk into your living-room and turn a figurine on the shelf around backwards would you know something was amiss? You are in the deer's living room after all!!!
I don't believe in a "sixth sense" but I believe it has to do with what others have stated previously on this thread, the deer may have picked up on some subtle change...maybe a minute amount of scent, maybe a tiny bit of movement, but something that they picked up on and puts them on alert. I think it is what many of us might attribute to instinct in ourselves...do we have a sixth sense? Of course not, but every now and then we get a gut feeling that we should do something and we are surprised when it works. When I competitively fished, I would get gut feelings on how to fish and more often than not, it would work out. I think it was just my subconscious picking up on the conditions and "directing me" to a better coarse of action.
When you're doing this, you're not really paying them any mind. You are usually where they expect you to be. You're not slinking through the woods getting close to them. Or staring at them with the intent to eat them. From somewhere you usually aren't.
[video]https://youtu.be/RIvYq8ewiX4[/video] This was recorded by me on my phone last season, still dont know what I did to spook this deer if anything. All I was doing was standing and recording. yes he came in on edge already and also it was raining with light wind. but for him to just bolt like that blows my mind. Let me know your thoughts....
My guess would be that deer got your scent. Humid conditions are the best conditions for a nose to pick up scent, also during rain I've experienced scent pooling. There is little to no wind and the conditions make your scent pool under your setup instead of lifting away. Using milk weed shows a lot of strange wind currents other scent checkers will not, it can teach a hunter a lot.
