Nosey deer

[BorderReiver]

I was having a stroll in my local wood at Christmas with my Toller and throwing a ball for her to retrieve.I noticed 3 roe deer off to the left moving away from us.Kept throwing the ball and the wee bitch kept tearing after it.

I looked off to left again and the deer were walking slowly towards us.They kept stopping and looking and then coming closer.Eventually they were less than 50 yards away,standing in the open at the edge of the clearing.

Now Tollers have been bred to be fanatical retrievers and to look fox like to attract duck on Canadian lakes.The trick is for the hunter to hide and keep throwing a ball out of the hide and the dogs bounds about picking it up.The duck get curious and come in closer to see what's going on.Once in range the duck are shot and the Toller sent to retrieve them.

Has any one else noticed this behaviour in deer?

 

[andyn]

Its not that unusal for deer to be somewhat inquisitive. I've had one walk up right behind me when i was sat down on the other side of a fallen tree with a small fire. he walked round the roots and peered round to look me right in the eyes from about 5-10 metres away and then just walked off across in front of me and into the bracken.

 

[Artemis]

A few years ago i was out with my hunting partner and we were just having a walk around some ground without rifles. The light was just starting to go when we spotted a Roe Buck at around 80-90 metres away.

This was one my first encounters with a deer and i wasnt too sure what to expect to be honest.

The Buck spotted us and my mate said ''watch this''. He got down on all fours and gestured to me to do the same (although i stayed out of sight). He then started jumping slightly on his forearms the way Roe do sometimes. With that the buck started barking, my friend started barking back, then buck decided to start running towards us at a fair pace. I have to admit 'i swore a little'
I didnt have a clue what was going to happen but i was sure in those few seconds it wasn't going to be good! remember, it was my first experience

He got to within 30 metres before realising that we werent his long lost cousins and did a 180 before heading home as fast as possibly.

The friend...? well he struggled to contain his bladder. The thought of me being scared of a little roe buck just coming to see what we were was too much for him.

And he enjoys telling anyone he can!!! Luckily i have enough stories on him now that i can at least get my own back!!!

 

[BorderReiver]

Thank you Artemis,I enjoyed that.

Must give it a try.

 

[Voivode]

Many species can be coaxed into curious investigation with patience and/or luck.

Four of us were backpacking the the Rockies in 2005 and set up in a campground that was all but deserted; we didn't see another camper for two more days. The whitetail deer were pretty common around there and didn't seem to mind us too much. A pair of does and a fawn wandered within 10 metres of us and casually walked off. On the second evening, just around dusk, we were all loitering about the fire when one of the does from the afternoon before appeared at the edge of the clearing. We all froze and watched her walk not 4 metres past us through the middle of our camp and bed down in a little patch of bush about 3 metres away from where we were sitting. She clearly knew we were there, but paid us little attention. She laid there for perhaps 5-10 minutes (nobody was watching the clock, I assure you!) and casually got up, sniffed around and trotted away.

That was the best encounter I've had. We had a few more that trip, mostly the deer skirting our camp and the chipmunks trying to steal our food.

 

[Dunelm]

In 1999 when the Solar Eclipse crossed the British Isles I resisted the temptation to spend 12 hours in a traffic-jam trying to get into a Cornish campsite and instead threw sicky and spent the day in the woods.

At approximately 11am it began to get darker and cooler, the birds all began to roost and the insects went to sleep. As the light began to increase and everything woke up (some 15 minutes later) 3 fallow deer walked into the clearing where I was sat and just stood about, confused and bewildered. I don't know if they didn't see me or just didn't realise what I was but they got to about 15 meters before waking up and running away.

Better than a day in the office...

 

[hammock monkey]

i woke up in the woods with a doe and a couple of fawns grazing approx 15-20ft away, beautiful.

 

[Mikey P]

We get roe deer coming down the wooded ridge behind our house and almost into the garden. They'll sit just beyond the lawn and watch us through the kitchen patio door.

Spooky...

 

[DavidW]

In the woods near my house for the last several years deer have been quite abundant. In behind my house is another house backed by a wood covered mountain. In front at the edge of my yard flows a small stream , a small open field and then a two lane road , then another tree covered moutain.

So the deer have plenty of places to hide. Too many of them as they do great damage to my mother in law's garden in the summer and to my shrubs in winter. Silly me. I used to wonder why only the lower leaves dropped off of one of my shrubs while the top leaves stayed on all winter.

Anyway , most evenings deer are seen in the field in front of the house or in my yard after dark. But a couple of days ago in the early afternoon I was doing on line computer stuff for work at home and had to go out side to the car to get some files. To my surprise . A lone deer was in my yard about fifteen feet from the front door. I should have seen her earlier as she was just out of site to the left of the window in front of my computer desk. She was just feeding away on my grass. As long as I stood still she just stood still too and watched me. Once I turned my back to go to the car she took off . I couldn't see where she went so quickly . Then spotted her as she crossed the creek to westward of where she had stood and ran eastward down the field to the tall weeds .

Funny how wild life will watch you until you turn your gaze away from them , then flee. Another day a month or so earlier I saw a large crane in the creek in front of my house through the double glass doors on the corner of my kitchen. I know the bird saw me as it stopped looking down into the water and walking slowly along and kept it's gaze toward me. I slowly backed into the kitchen to be less visible and the bird remained motionless. I moved to the right to observe from the kitchen window , on the ajoining wall, hoping not to spoke him away. In the split second as I lost site of him he disappeared. I quickly ran out the door and he had flow westward up the creek , turned 180 degrees climbing high as he flew away to the east.

The crane behaved just like the deer. Moving away when first not observed . Moving in one direction then reversing 180 degrees. I am not a hunter so this behaviour is all new to me.

Today unseen by me a red tailed hawk landed on a tree branch across the road and sat there for five or ten minutes. No doubt looking for something to eat scrambling around the field. There is a covering of snow on the ground and the birds dark back feathers and white breast feathers made him quite difficult to spot once I had taken my eyes off of him. I could only locate him again by looking slightly up and to the right from the top of a power line pole as a reference mark. He eventually flew off while I was not watching . Looking for an eatery with more on the menu or so I assume. Hawks are also plentiful around here. I usually spot them on trees or flying along the highway on the way to the city going to work. I guess the open area along the high way makes it easy to spot what's on the days menu.

Luckily I never had any face to face with some bears who lived in the area about five years ago. .The first I knew they were in the area was on a hike in the mountains to the east across the four lane highway. That mountain has a more gradual slope than the mountains to the north or south of my house . I think the bears liked the easier walking too, so they lived there. I saw a large foot print near a mud hole about half way up the mountain. I thought that must be one really large dog. Later higher on the mountain I spotted a tree with the bark raked off several feet up on one side. I at first was angry that some kid had done the damage with a knife or small axe. But it didn't quite look like that sort of damage. And it went a bit to high up on the tree for a child to easily reach. But the tree was at the foot of some large rocks which set on the ridge line of the mountain. Which is a common place for folks to hike to and climb for the view. It was only after returning home that my wife told me a bear had carried off a neighbors trash can a couple of weeks earlier. Dragging it about 100 yards up the mountain side. Within two months all three bears had been killed on the four lane highway which runs within site of my house. The cub was hit by a car then the mother was hit while looking after her cub. A month later the male was hit by a car. Crawed injured into a culvert under the highway and was put down by a state trooper

Bear encounters can be exciting on foot. Something which happened to me in a local state park a few years ago. But with a ten year old son who likes to disappear into the woods with his friends . I am happy they don't live locally anymore. The state park 100 miles away is close enough.

David