Do deer associate gunshots with hunters?

[ucfireman]

I have seen a deer stand there when I shot and missed, didn't even react, then again when I missed a second time, no reaction. The 3rd shot hit and she ran off so that one she did react to and knew something happened.

 

[diamondback]

Just this year I have seen a couple times 10 minutes after a shot and killed a deer that ran ,ten minutes later another will come the same trail. One of these was a mature deer

 

[Liberty]

I think if you shoot around your place a lot like we do, it doesn’t bother them as much, until you shoot at them. Then they survivors that see the shooting seem to take notice.

 

[grouper throat]

I've hunted quite a bit on a military base around the ranges and some do not react when a shot is fired. It hasn't happened much anywhere else though.

 

[sghoghunter]

IMO I think it’s all about what they hear on a daily basis. If there’s shots around everyday I believe they will be less spooked than somewhere that hears only a couple a week.

 

[ucfireman]

I think in most places, a loud noise that echo's through the trees or whatever the deer may hear it but know it isn't a danger (unless it hit them or they see dirt fly) and just go on about their business.

 

[natureman]

I was at the Wilson Shoals gun range in the WMA yesterday. Saw several deer in the area with no urgency to get anywhere while all the bang...bang.. was going on.

 

[Tight Lines]

I think it depends. Deer become accustomed to the noises around them. I see them in the food plots never move when someone on an adjacent food plot fires a shot. If there are loggers, farmers, or hunters regularly around, they will become accustomed to them over time. They are much more concerned about random noises, scent, and movement near them...in GA that's a smaller radius than in KS where I grew up...you can spook them there 400-600 yards away...especially in areas where they are not used to seeing you...

 

[Doc_Holliday23]

I have shot deer and had others stand around. I have shot a deer and 5 minutes later had another come in and shot them, too.

But I have also seen deer become alerted and skittish when someone else shoots. They hear it but they don't necessarily know to be scared by it.

I was surprised that these two yearling does heard and alerted to this gun shot (about 7 seconds) which was at least 1/2 mile away, probably more. They didn't spook but it caught their attention.

 

[Stumpsitter]

Duck hunters will defanately run deer your way. One of my best bucks came from escaping the barage of shotgun fire from them.

 

[NCHillbilly]

No. A gunshot is just a loud noise, another of many loud noises they hear every day. Sometimes it scares them off, sometimes they don't react at all to it, and sometimes it actually attracts them out of curiosity. I couldn't tell you how many times over the years that I've shot a deer, and in less than a minute, another deer or two come running up looking around. Twice in my life I can remember shooting at a deer with a muzzleloader, missing because of a hangfire or some such, reloading the muzzleloader, and killing the deer that was still standing there looking around.
Deer do not have powers of logical deductive reasoning. These are the same critters that will stand in the middle of the highway in front of your car until you run over them.

 

[Jim Baker]

I had a good 8 point come out of woods, stop and whirl around and look back to the wood line. I had a bead on him when out of the woods came another buck, a 10 point.

They charged each other and locked horns. As they fought I took aim at the larger of the two and fired.

He fell DRT. The other buck stood back then attacked the buck on the ground. He then ran directly down the field a 100 yds, stopped, and ran back. He began to attack the downed deer again. Bad mistake.

Point is the deer didn't relate the shot to the dead deer but did realize the deer was injured.

Do all deer react to gunshots? No. Do some deer react to gunshots? Yes.

 

[Roebuck]

In general I don’t think the sound of a single shot bothers deer that much. I’ve shot deer and then seen another step out shortly afterwards, often to investigate what’s going on. I’ve also been watching deer that I wasn’t intending on shooting when one of my buddies a couple hundred yards away has fired a shot and the deer don’t react. Over here almost all hunters use sound moderators (suppressors) which helps mask where the sound is coming from so this works in our favour.

 

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

Noises can startle them but mostly doesn't bother them. Smell is worse than sound. I just spray my bullets with Scent-Away.

 

[elfiii]

The biggest buck I ever killed was right after I shot the biggest of 3 does literally right underneath me. The other two does startled but went back to feeding. They were more alarmed by the buck when he showed up about 5 minutes later so I'm a no.

 

[bany]

No, not a chance.
On the other hand, yes it does.

 

[chrislibby88]

No. A gunshot is just a loud noise, another of many loud noises they hear every day. Sometimes it scares them off, sometimes they don't react at all to it, and sometimes it actually attracts them out of curiosity. I couldn't tell you how many times over the years that I've shot a deer, and in less than a minute, another deer or two come running up looking around. Twice in my life I can remember shooting at a deer with a muzzleloader, missing because of a hangfire or some such, reloading the muzzleloader, and killing the deer that was still standing there looking around.
Deer do not have powers of logical deductive reasoning. These are the same critters that will stand in the middle of the highway in front of your car until you run over them.

I agree. I’ve doubles many times after dropping one. Also had doe family groups hang around wondering why little sister laid down and stopped moving after I shot. Just wanted to see what folks thought.

Now, the standing in the road thing is another matter. A bright light in human eyes that are adjusted to night is very blinding, deer have exponentially better night vision than ours, imagine how blinding headlights are at night to them. They do much better with traffic in daylight hours.

 

[bfriendly]

I heard someone say they think it’s lightning, same as turkeys. I think it’s movement more than anything else that They react to. Maybe even the blast(that wave thing) going by, more than the noise. I think if they feel it, they’ll react.

 

[bullgator]

Nope. They take thunder and lightning in stride and barely look up. Motorized vehicles in the woods are associated with people, but they’ll stand next to an interstate and feed.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I agree. I’ve doubles many times after dropping one. Also had doe family groups hang around wondering why little sister laid down and stopped moving after I shot. Just wanted to see what folks thought.

Now, the standing in the road thing is another matter. A bright light in human eyes that are adjusted to night is very blinding, deer have exponentially better night vision than ours, imagine how blinding headlights are at night to them. They do much better with traffic in daylight hours.

Yeah, but if they had reasoning capability, they would associate roads and cars with danger, and not stand in the middle of them to start with.