Thread: Deer Behaviour

I had similar Wed night with a fallow in a heavily hunted DOC area in Te Puke. Spooked from about 10m and not even really spooked, just trotted off into the scrub with a short look back. I could have nailed it but I like to ID sex etc first.
In this case it heard me as the wind was in my face but the location of the deer had me thinking it was quite clever as one could not approach it without it hearing or seeing you.
I also get the feeling that they learn to use intensity of scent to determine distance of risk. It makes sense that a full feral that smells a human once bolts vs a deer used to human scent starts to work out how great the risk is over time.