I live in Ohio, and have hunted whitetail deer for a couple decades. When the subject of hunting comes up, I have often heard it claimed that “an Indian (Native American) hunter was so skilled in his art that he could walk through the woods and sneak up on a deer.”
From my experience, deer can smell me from a long distance. Even when I’m up in my tree stand, I can tell by their behaviors that they sense something is not right. The second I make the slightest noise they run off.
I find it impossible to believe that anyone – including the fabled ninja Indian hunter – can sneak up a deer and kill it with a spear or bow & arrow or whatever.
The ghillies lead the hunt, and get you into a position where you shoot the deer without them knowing you’re there. There is very little cover in the highlands, so it takes a great deal of skill on the part of the ghillie. Still use a rifle though, can’t see how you’d get into melee range.
I have heard of it a few times by accident but never intentionaly. I have on a couple of occasions had deer wander right up to me while I was sitting, on one occasion actually sniff my face and still not run off. Bow hunters routinely take deer at 5 yards while hiding in blinds.
Living in the outskirts of town, I’ve done it on accident before. Walking around the corner of a building, chatting with my friend, BOOM, face to face with a doe. Deer panics and runs one way, my friend panics and runs the other way.
Tom Brown claims to be able to sneak up and touch a deer. I’ve heard of some of his student who claim he has taught them to as well. Take it for what it’s worth.
I’ve hunted a lot and have gotten close enough once to get a bow shot off but the circumstances were just right. Fred Bear stalked deer with a bow consistently. Its called still hunting.
I’ve heard the Indian stuff too. I’ve always assumed they dropped out of trees on them. Deer rarely look up and will walk under you quite easily.
While hiking beside a lake with my brother at night we happened upon three wild deer. One of them was curious about us and walked up to us and we pet it on the nose. The other two were frightened and moved away quickly, but they didn’t stray away from their friend. So I guess it depends on the deer.
Mrs. J. was in the back yard one day when she suddenly encountered two deer at close range (less than 20 feet?). All parties stopped in their tracks. Mrs. J. made clicking noises with her mouth, and one deer was fascinated. The other deer was suspicious and appeared to be trying to convince its companion to hightail it (“Doris, she’s up to no good!”).
Maybe the Native Americans had Great Hunters who had mastered the art of deer-attracting verbal clicks.
We have some pretty ridiculously tame urban deer. They’ll usually bolt when you get within 6 or 8 feet, but I bet if you took your time you could grab one.
This is what I was going to say. With the ever-expanding urban sprawl, deer are becoming more and more desensitized to the presence of humans. I think an urban deer would be a completely different animal in regards to ‘spookability’ than it’s more isolated cousin.
I almost ran into one while jogging down a dark road a few weeks ago. Scared the crap out of me when it bolted. I wasn’t in arms reach, but probably within eight feet or so before it ran, and it was directly in my path.
I suspect lack of natural predators and frequent exposure to human traffic noise have made deer near suburban areas pretty oblivious to anything outside a radius of ten feet or so.
Have done it several times, once got within 10 feet of a doe and it’s fawn, we were both surprised. I ave never done it intentionally though, but know it is possible.
Once I sneaked up on a couple of the the relatively tame deer in the local Forest Preserve without them reacting. I got within 2 arm lengths. This was on a dirt path with trees on both sides, and they were upwind and facing away from me. In addition, the ground was wet from an overnight rain, so there was no sound from leaves rustling or twigs breaking underfoot.
I used to have a hunting book written by Fred Bear. It discussed walking up on a deer unexpectedly. His advice? “Feign extreme nonchalance”. True story.
