What do you guys think is the more vital sense deer use to stay alive (and keep us from success).. hearing, or vision?
Hearing and though it wasn't listed...their nose. I can generally fool their eyesight pretty easily but their hearing and nose is a pretty hard combo to beat. I've always felt deer and turkey take advantage of each others best defenses and that's why they like to feed together. Turkey take advantage of deer's hearing and nose (probably more their nose than anything) and deer take advantage of the turkey's eyesight (and hearing to a lessor degree). What is that saying I've heard? A deer will see a hunter and assume it's a stump.....a turkey will see a stump and assume it's a man. Always seemed about right.
http://www.whitetailsinsight.com/deerbehavior.htm Check this link out. It explains it pretty good. Just read this the other day
I agree with you guys, hearing is much underrated by many hunters and not focused on by many. It is the biggest opportunity of improvement for hunters to raise their level of hunting.
Scent, hearing, vision. Their vision is better at picking up movement I believe. That is why they bob and weave when they think they see ya in a tree. jmo.
Exactly... and if you think about it, if a deer hears or sees you they will usually key in and wait for more sensory feedback. Additional movement or sound. What they really want to do is get your scent. Their nose is their ultimate feedback sense. If they smell human they BOLT. Haha learned that the hard way.
There was a special on PBS about the Whitetail deer not to long ago. I can't remember the name of the show but I know its aired several times. I'd highly recommend watching it if you haven't already.
Yes studies show that deer know where to look with their eyes because of their ears. If you eliminate their ears you basically eliminate their eyes to a major degree too. That is huge when it comes to stealth and being successful.
Eyes & ears are pretty much the same IMO. Usually if they detect something with either, they'll have to confirm it with another sense. Not so with smell. They trust their nose way more than their eyes & ears. If a deer hears something, it'll look or stop and smell. If it sees something, it turns its ears and smells. If it smells something, 99 or 100 times, it's out of there without a second thought. Wind helps fool all their senses
Its all about the nose.. their ears and eyes are close to the same to me. I would say their ability to see small movements is greater than their ability to hear faint noises. I have been busted by small movements way more than small sounds. You can get away with some of either if you are lucky tho... The nose on the other hand.. you dont get much room to mess up with. Its hard to fool and it is almost like a super power, amazing really. If I had to rank them in order.. nose, eyes, ears
An Old Timer that had shot more monster bucks than I could dream of told me: You can fool a deer's ears. You may fool a deer's eyes. You will NEVER fool a deer's nose.
Studies show that ears tell deer where to look for danger. Eliminate ears, you get past their eyes much of the time too. Also, hearing is 360, vision/field of vision for deer is not. These things together strongly suggest it is ears, eyes coming in last.
They have to hear it first and tho they have the great ability to tell where a sound is coming from.. they dont hear as well as everyone lets on. Just my 2c from my experiences.
O I swear this works "sometimes." Carry a turkey call while deer hunting and when they go on alert for whatever reason gives some yelps and clucks and they calm down. It hasn't worked for me when deer are right on top of me or winded me because they will immediately look right up at you, but if a deer is approaching at some distance (50-75) yards and they stop and go on alert, the turkey call brings their guard down. If their nose gets you their gone period.
I read somewhere last year that a deer's hearing is much similar to a human's hearing. The big difference is that they can direct, or focus their hearing by moving their ears. We don't really have that ability.
Nose is #1 for sure followed by hearing then vision. I don't think their vision is such a great defense for them. If you are in a "stare down" with a deer trying to pick you out and you don't move or it does not smell you, a lot of the time the will calm down and disregard you as a threat.
By what I've read on the hearing of deer, they only have a keen sense of hearing when it comes to higher pitches. So something like a person talking, especially a male with a lower toned voice they don't hear that any better than a human would. Where as something like a twig snapping or walking through dry leaves they will hear very well from a long distance. I've had so many times where I was sitting on the deck of my cabin carrying a conversation with a friend, talking normally.. Next thing I knew there were deer right on top of me. IMO their hearing is overrated. Although they do hear better than humans it only applies when it comes to higher pitch sounds. Their nose is clearly their #1 defense when it comes to their senses, they pick up on human scent and it's game over. Where as I feel their hearing and seeing are about equally as effective and you can fool both easier than their smell. Deer can see almost completely around them due to the position of their eyes but they need movement. With their ears they need higher pitch sounds to be able to pin point sounds, but lower tones they don't hear any better than a human.
