How do you know when a deer is coming?

Blue Jays are my favorite. I have more killed more deer that were given up by blue jays than any other signal. And for whatever reason, when those little chickadees start flying around and jumping around the tree I am in I getting really focused on looking for movement in my surroundings. The worst part about this article is I thought all of this time it was my little secret, now everyone knows:D:D

Stay safe and enjoy the day!!!

Strut
 
Hunted a place where crows hated bucks. I could always tell when a buck was coming due to the flock of crows pestering him. They didn't bother does at all. Other than that I tend to watch other deer a lot for clues that another deer is approaching.

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Nah, screaming bluejays are not a dependable clue that they see deer.
They scream at almost anything.
There is a screech owl that lives in a hole in a tree right outside my bedroom. When bluejays and a few other birds see that owl at daybreak, all the screaming and racket starts and continues until the owl goes deeper into the hole.
Bluejays scream at fox, hawks, crows, housecats, red squirrels, and they even scream at each other.
Hearing the deer themselves...ground noise, grunt, wheeze, sneeze, bleat, antler clicks is the only dependable way to know a deer is coming.
I have seen movement of a sapling top (made by a buck rubbing it) long before I realized that there was a deer present.
 
I don't have much to add other than I have found that hunting an open stand is very different than hunting from a blind. Sound doesn't travel as well when you have some sort of barrier around you. I will also say that use of binos is a great way to spot deer well before you normally would. I tend to focus on any little movement I can spot or any sounds I can hear. Sometimes the deer can sound like a herd of cattle coming thru the woods and other times they are like a ghost that seems to never touch the ground!
 
j-bird said:
...Sometimes the deer can sound like a herd of cattle coming thru the woods and other times they are like a ghost that seems to never touch the ground!
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Twice in my hunting career, I've had deer directly underneath me that came in from behind me and I never saw them coming, but I did hear something that made me realize they were straight down...One was a deer eating dogwood berries and I could hear the "pop-pop" of the deer biting thru the berry pit.
The other time was the same thing only it was black cherry pits the deer was crunching.
Both times, the crunch of the pits was almost inaudible because it was so quiet.
 
Tap said:
Twice in my hunting career, I've had deer directly underneath me that came in from behind me and I never saw them coming, but I did hear something that made me realize they were straight down...One was a deer eating dogwood berries and I could hear the "pop-pop" of the deer biting thru the berry pit.
The other time was the same thing only it was black cherry pits the deer was crunching.
Both times, the crunch of the pits was almost inaudible because it was so quiet.
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Tap, those super quiet mornings are my favorite. Almost eerie but gets me hyper focused.
 
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I have deer show up all the time. Especially when I am archery hunting. I struggle to stay focused for a long period so I will do a serious scan and then play a level or two of a game on my phone and then look up and do anther scan. Sometimes they just show up where they wasn't before! I get this mostly in the early season when the cover is thicker and the leaves had not fallen yet. Deer on bare soil or even sandy soil are essentially silent. I love seeing does working their way out into a plot and keep looking back into the cover. He knows he shouldn't be out in the open and he tries to avoid it.....but if she gets too far away....he may loose her.....so he eases his way out....and BOOM!. Killed all 3 of them on my wall that way! Sex kills....and I'm thankful it does!!
 
Jeff H said:
Tap, those super quiet mornings are my favorite. Almost eerie but gets me hyper focused.
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I once had a ~200" buck come in late during a damp afternoon. It was one of those gloomy days when it seems like its getting dark all day long. I never heard him coming. I decided to call it a day a few minutes early and as I started to wrap up my stuff in the tree, a doe RIGHT underneath me caught my movement and spooked slightly...not crazy spooked, but she knew something was wrong as she walked out of there. Well, out of the corner of my eye, I catch movement...its an absolute monster, double drop, wide, heavy, points everywhere, unbelievable buck 20 yards away...now walking out because of that doe being nervous. He never saw me. My bow was lowered half way down the tree at that point.
Had I saw or heard them coming, I very well would have had a chance for a shot.
I had 4 more encounters with that buck in 2 years. Never had him that close again. That was 1995 and '96. He still gives me goosebumps when I think of him.

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I get ghosted by deer all the time, not because I’m a bad hunter or don’t pay attention, but because they’re just that good at being stealthy. The two best tactics I use that have directly led to more deer on the ground are 1. always have the stand facing the direction I expect deer to travel from, and 2. Always have your weapon laid across my lap. Combining these two as much as possible allow me to miss a deer until it’s right on top of me, but then still have a great chance at getting a shot with very little movement. The bow or gun is on my lap, unless I’m standing and it’s in easy reach. I’d hate to say how many deer lived to see another day because I didn’t have my weapon ready. At least half a dozen. Not anymore. I also am comfortable shooting my bow sitting down, so I really have little movement I need to get away with to get into a killing position when a deer appears in range.

I’ve tried paying attention to blue jays and squirrels, but the former has never alerted me to a deer, and the latter very, very rarely.


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Tap said:
I once had a ~200" buck come in late during a damp afternoon. It was one of those gloomy days when it seems like its getting dark all day long. I never heard him coming. I decided to call it a day a few minutes early and as I started to wrap up my stuff in the tree, a doe RIGHT underneath me caught my movement and spooked slightly...not crazy spooked, but she knew something was wrong as she walked out of there. Well, out of the corner of my eye, I catch movement...its an absolute monster, double drop, wide, heavy, points everywhere, unbelievable buck 20 yards away...now walking out because of that doe being nervous. He never saw me. My bow was lowered half way down the tree at that point.
Had I saw or heard them coming, I very well would have had a chance for a shot.
I had 4 more encounters with that buck in 2 years. Never had him that close again. That was 1995 and '96. He still gives me goosebumps when I think of him.

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That was a tough one for sure. Many a deer hunter has spent hundreds of hours over multi-year spans pursuing a trophy, with several close encounters, to end up never getting him.
catscratch said:
Hunted a place where crows hated bucks. I could always tell when a buck was coming due to the flock of crows pestering him. They didn't bother does at all. Other than that I tend to watch other deer a lot for clues that another deer is approaching.

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Like you mention, there's only one reliable sign to tell you that a deer is coming, and that's observed by watching another deer that showed up earlier. There's no other consistent sure thing clues that I know of that points to when that monster buck is going to show up, but a doe that's already in the food plot never misses his approach. However, sitting still and being in tune with nature can give many little clues, many that were already mentioned, that if put together can sometimes give you fair warning of impending heart rate increases. And to me, that's what big game hunting is all about, being one with nature.
 
Always heard that birds, squirrels, etc would give away an approaching deer but never seen it myself other than the one time a doe running across the Nebraska prairie jumped a rooster pheasant behind me. Those animals are all prey species and will spook at their own shadow.
 
Patrick said:
Hey I’m sorry, I haven’t posted on here in like 4 weeks. I wrote an article and wanted to know what people thought. Don’t worry it won’t happen again.


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It’s fine. We have had a problem in the past with people joining up just to link to their blogs and YouTube videos. It’s easiest to nip it in the bud immediately.
 
cutman said:
It’s fine. We have had a problem in the past with people joining up just to link to their blogs and YouTube videos. It’s easiest to nip it in the bud immediately.
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I am right there with you on that...come on in, share your stories, get and give advice, write that blog on here instead of linking it for web traffic.
 
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