Bingo. Its funny when you think about it. What do they think the light is? One thing I always think about with lights in trees, like in your situation there, is that maybe they think its an airpline going over, etc. Go out in the woods at night and you'll see various lights overhead from time to time. One other thing I think about a lot is the differences between deer out in the midwest compared to deer I hunt in the mountains in PA. Simply put, and this isn't taking anything away from the midwest deer, but mountain deer that rarely see humans throughout the year simply are not as tolerant of disturbance. Think about it. If you spend most of your year, not running into any humans with the exception of a few hikers or a random truck bouncing down a gravel road, the beginning of hunting season and suddenly there are people in the woods in places they haven't been in months... your gonna notice. When you start seeing headlights at 5am in the mountains and headlamps, etc... you're gonna notice. I know from my time in the midwest, the woodlots and fields are buzzing with activity, especially in the fall with all the farmers, etc. But I agree with Justin, the noises you're making walking into the woods, sound more like the predators that deer are programmed to detect and evade.
I don't disagree that certain deer herds will be less tolerant of human intrusion than others, but I still believe it's the human intrusion itself, and not the lights strapped to our heads, that's scaring them. Deer can see just fine in the dark. If you think you're somehow hiding from them by fumbling around without a light, you're wrong. If they're close enough to see and hear you walking around, whether you have a light or not, they are close enough to be spooked by your presence. So my point continues to be this: using a white headlamp to navigate in the dark is not scaring any more or less deer than a red lamp, green lamp, or no lamp. They aren't spooked by your light - they're spooked by you.
I did have a scenario a couple weeks ago that got me blown at. I was pulling my bow up and it got caught on a branch or something. I finally turned on my red headlamp to see what i had to do to free it up. We did have a bright moon. So my guess is the doe saw the red light which alerted her to my presence. She blew at me but you know how they can be. This particular doe blows all the time. Probably when a leaf hits the ground she will blow. Had i not turned on my headlamp would she notice i was there? Maybe not. But i also would have ended up probably making some noise anyhow. Getting to my stand as quietly and quickly as possible is most important. If i have to turn on a headlamp so i can be settled in quietly in my tree instead of fighting with a tangled bow rope or snapping sticks i didnt see then so be it. It may hurt us due to the fact it could make us noticed when otherwise we might not have been and spark a deers instinct to investigate which then could smell you or see you when it comes closer to check things out but i dont think it matters nearly as much as some think.
Thought about this thread after a hunt last week or so. I was covered up with all kinds of critters actually. Coons, a possum, and of course maybe 5 or 6 deer within about a 60yd circle of my tree right at last light. I didnt want to spook anything so i waited for them to move on. Which they did not. So i can do a decent coyote howl with my mouth. I let one go and heard stuff running off in the leaves. As im taking my platform and sticks down quietly and quickly i can hear them coming back, just my luck. As i slowly packed my sticks together i turned on my red light and poof! As soon as it came on at least more than one deer ran away. I guess its a situational thing. These deer were probably on alert because i just howled and they were investigating a possible threat. They must have really wanted to stay in the area to come back. They may have thought the coyote moved on or something. Seems like if a deers mind is calm or if they are fixated on something else then a light may not bother them.Deer on alert different story. At least these deer didnt like it.
