I accidentally left my rattling antlers at home. Yesterday I saw 10 does/fawns, 2 button bucks, and 1 small 6 point. Cameras indicate most big buck movement is still after dark. Not a single image of a buck over 1 1/2 during daylight in the last week.
Seen a decent buck harassing does last night in a field, and then on the way to my spot this morning I almost nail one with my truck.... Had high hopes for this morning... But since I been in the woods it been dead except for a couple does...sticking it out noon and then spending the rest of the day with my wife and kids.
If deer could think and reason you would never kill one because they would never move during daylight at all,or all just live in state parks. Deer simply live in constant fear and the only chances they will take is to eat or breed.
If deer couldn't think and reason, you'd kill one every time in a stand because all they'd care about is breeding and eating....
Except that breeding and eating isn't their top priority. The survival instinct takes precedence over everything else.
Again another decision a deer has to make there's 3 of them in that sentence alone. Have fun boys I'm going hunting in these hurricane like winds.
Good luck out there....Ughhhh..It's the same here. Why can't a nice cold front come in without 20mph winds and rain? Who ordered this crappy weather? We ordered cold...not all the other stuff. And just to give you something to think about while you're 20' up in a stand...instincts aren't decisions. They're not based on learning.
The natural instinct to survive and reproduce is far from having the ability to reason. Good luck this weekend!
Yes, what sounds more realistic to us is going to sound more real to them too- but I think alot of deer will run to the hills when they hear a fight. The number of deer that are going to respond to 2 Pope & Young record bucks fight to the death is going to be slim, IMHO. That being said, I rattled lightly the 2 last nights and saw 3 bucks, not too long after I rattled. All looking in my general direction and did a good amount of glassing, I think they responded.
I can agree with your understanding of instincts. To make use of this point we agree on, think about what deer are stupid enough to do but learn not to do as they age...learned behavior...not instinctual equals capability to reason. A fawn doesn't know to circle downwind, walk only into the wind, it doesn't know what's safe to eat and what isn't...the doe teaches it. Lots more there alone that we all know of. How many things do we all know that are stupid that young deer do because they have not yet learned any better. Never more obvious than when a doe expels a button buck during rut. Buttons do some stupid chit that you will never catch a mature buck doing...learned behavior. Beyond the first year, adult deer know when it's safe to venture near humans and when it isn't. Deer here avoid my house in the daytime, will run from my scent when I'm in a stand out back yet they walk right into the garden not more than 75' from my house at night. Past machinery (within feet) that I was all over that same evening leaving my scent, septic system, dogs, cats and a garden that I was picking veggies in right up till dark. How and why do they think my scent is okay then when it isn't acceptable anywhere else to them. This while every "instinct" they possess should be screaming in their brain to stay away. How about deer learning to look both ways before they cross a highway. How about a mature buck learning to turn his head from headlights and lower his body so not to be seen from the road. I witnessed a buck do this about two weeks ago, my #1 hitlister. Well, neither of us can "prove" what a deer is or is not thinking. All I can do is offer things I've witnessed as evidence that they do have some ability to reason out situations. In the scenario you offered, I've seen deer make too many decisions to be explained away as simple instinct. Altering their normal travel route to food because of wind direction, or because of a hunters location they've busted. Okay I have a good one for this. I was in a stand the other evening after my #1. SPot is 1/4 mile behind the neighbors house. While sitting there the closest neighbor was shooting and so was the south neighbor, at that very time, I had deer walking around in front of me and were basically non-respondent to the gun fire. Not only did they ignore it but ended up traveling right towards the closest neighbors house. I guarantee you during rifle season, every one of those deer would have run for cover. Instincts don't cover situational adaptation, instincts are based on constants, what is...simply is as far as instinctual reactions go. Again, deer here at my house come into my yard and garden less than 75' from my house on a nightly basis. I'm in the yard and garden working and taking a leak when needed every day. My scent is all over the place yet they have learned it's safe at night...LEARNED. That's ability to reason. I don't know I can argue that deer are smart enough to understand the concept of mechanics or trajectories of projectiles. I could argue I or we as humans aren't smart enough to understand all the complexities of life or astrophysics either...doesn't mean I/we can't reason on many levels. That's your theory, you can't prove it and it doesn't hold up against things I've witnessed deer do. My deer care who I am, I see it when they recognize my truck or ATV and scent and hit the feeders 20 minutes after I refill them while if my boss is the one that is there(rarely), they steer clear of the area for hours. They have learned the difference between us and our vehicles and scents.
