Today we’re going to talk about deer hunting basics and the first thing we’re going to learn about are deer senses. Understanding what the deer senses are and how they use it will immensely improve your overall understanding of the game. In fact, these misconceptions about deer senses are responsible for denying hunters success more often than any other reason. So let’s go back to deer hunting basics and learn what the deer senses are.

Deer Hunting Basics – Explaining Deer Senses

Unlike humans, deer only have three senses they rely on to keep out of danger. Namely, these are their sense of sight, smell, and hearing. However, these senses are shrouded in mystery leaving us guessing what deer perceive and how they use these tools to avoid peril. Good thing, veteran hunter Keith Warren explains these senses through his deer hunting basics video. I found this video very informative and depicts things from the game’s standpoint. Watch the video and learn more about deer senses.

Panoramic Eyesight

A deer’s eyes are sitting on the side of their head. As such, they have a wide scope of vision surrounding them. However, they aren’t very adept at seeing color and it’s very hard for them to focus on things. This might be a downside of their capability to see things, but they make up for it in some ways.

Having a panoramic view allows them to see more things than a human would. Imagine a horizontal panorama versus a normal landscape picture in black and white. Of course, you’ll see more things in the panorama than in a normal picture. In this sense, deer will scout all of what he sees and observe the changes in its surroundings over time. Thus, the game uses its eyes to see movement rather than identifying an actual object itself.

To fool a deer’s eyes, you’ll have to avoid moving your hands and head in such an abrupt manner. When you see a buck enter your kill zone, take the arrow out slowly and draw the bow in a very careful fashion. That’s the way to keeping your concealment while preparing for the kill shot!

Deer Ears

A deer’s ears are much more powerful than you think. As you can observe, deer can move their ears in any direction they think the threat might be coming from. However, this is a good way to tell if the deer senses your presence– if it points its ears to your direction.

A good way to camouflage your presence against the deer’s hearing is by hunting near places that produce an ambient noise. These may be near a highway, a river, or when it’s windy. These things may not always be present where deer are, but it’s a good way to camouflage human noise.

Sense Of Smell

The most powerful weapon in a deer’s arsenal is their sense of smell. It’s so powerful that they can smell you from miles away and avoid going to where you are. To counter this, you can remove as much human odor as you can with a scent killer. There are so many scents unnatural to a deer’s environment that could give you away. It could be burning gas from riding a vehicle, or even the lunch you ate. So, it’s best to seal your deer hunting clothes and only wear them when you’re about to step out the truck.

The best way to avoid deer smelling you is to stay upwind. This way, your scent won’t travel to the deer’s direction but away from it instead. This is one of the reasons why you should have multiple tree stands so in case you go to your stand and the wind isn’t blowing in your face, you could use a different one. You don’t want to be hunting in spots downwind the deer cause it’s a complete waste of time. Deer are very cautious creatures and they don’t take chances of going into human territory.

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Deer are very reliant on their senses that it helps them survive from all sorts of predators including hunters. It is important to understand and respect this fact in order for a hunter to achieve success in every hunt. The most common reason why hunters fail is that they don’t respect the power a deer’s nose or ears can do for them. To gain higher chances of success, use the deer’s senses to fool them and think you’re part of the environment as well. If you have thoughts on how to conceal your presence from deer, let us know through the comments!

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