Do deer "pattern" the hunter?

[Jerry Jeffer]

This past season I hunted a couple of spots kind of frequently. (2x a week) This was early season. The deer would show up after being there an hour or so. When the extended season rolled around; I found the deer where still using the area. However, they were around my spot while it was still dark, and I was walking in. I moved to another area and hunted that a few times. After that, the deer again came around earlier before shooting light, or not at all. I am pretty careful about scent control and hunting the wind. I think the simple presence of human   sensitized the deer into changing up there routine a bit.
Any one else care to share on this one?

[Talondale]

They absolutely will pattern a hunter.  One trick I like to use when I hunt a new area that other hunters have been hunting is go to the one area they haven't been hunting, no matter how unlikely a spot it looks like.  Odds are you'll find it holds deer.  Dr. Kroll has reported radio tracked deer learn hunter's habits and adjust their movement accordingly.  That's why he strongly discourages permanent stands.

[LV2HUNT]

I have had the same observation as you. No matter how careful you are about scent something is always down wind of you. In the public hunting areas that I hunt the change in behavior of the deer over the course of the season is very visible.

[ishiwannabe]

Scent is a priority...that said, I tried something different this year after my stands had the same thing happen. Took out my buddy...second year bowhunting. We just walked into the first stand....not loud, but not trying to be too quiet. NO talking, and we tried to keep our footsteps in time. Stopped at the stand....he quietly climbed up....I walked on. Half hour later he shot his first deer....six pointer that came to the base of the tree looking in the direction I had gone. Poor deer didnt have a clue.

[vermonster13]

Watch a doe that has survived a few seasons. She will know every tree that has ever had a stand hung in it in the woods. She'll check everyone of the trees for stands when season starts too. You don't survive as a prey species if you can't adapt some to the predators that pursue you.

[Orion]

Deer do pattern hunters, and it doesn't take them long to do it.  

Jamie:  Your experience fits under the "deer can't count" syndrome.  My brother and I have used that to our advantage countless times over the years, one dropping off the other as we go to our stands.  In the dark particularly, deer often wait until "we" pass and then resume their movement, often right past the person on stand while the other person can still be heard and sometimes seen while walking off.

[Jerry Jeffer]

OK, all that being said. How often do you change your set up? Just curious about what others do. I do usually change up often. But obviously not always often enough.

[vermonster13]

I don't hunt from treestands. I set-up in a different place to play the wind and many times to play off of how the deer have changed in response to other's treestands just about everytime out.

[dougers]

i hope i dont catch too much flak for this, but when we gun hunt i have found that deer expect to be hunted a certain way and learn the best escape routes.  realizing this my brother and i have had a lot of success hunting together by slowly pushing a deer and anticipating his moves on past experience.  if you do it slow, the deer will not get too spooked and will simply walk on his "escape route."  its actually a lot of fun to create a scenario for the deer to react to, but as you all know...those old bucks are old for a reason and can make you look silly sometimes.

[ishiwannabe]

I hunt the wind...wait until its good for a stand or go elsewhere. I usually hunt all weather, except for very hugh winds...swaying back and forth a few feet in a tree is not for me...not to mention when trees or branches come down.
I also key in on weather fronts. Before and after seem to work well for me. I have a barometer, once it is up to 29.5...Im out in the woods for sure.
Orion, it is a nice tactic...but ya think any of them big boys can count?LOL.
Another thing to key in, like vermonster said is other hunters. Use em to your advantage as much as possible..with their knowledge....or without.

[Arwin]

They definitly do. Where I hunt, the deer are accustomed to moving after most of the hunters are out of the woods at 10:30am. Old doe will bust you out if they become aware of what your doing.

[Stone Knife]

I have 27 acres to call my own and on that i have 7 stands, to some it might seem a bit much. But i feel strongly that deer pattern hunters big time. I have watched them adjust there routes and times around me. That is why i have so many stands to choose from some are within 50 yards of others, i move around from stand to stand and I'm not afraid to move stands during the course of the season to follow the deer habits.

[jacobsladder]

I hunt the wind and the does.  Because its just a matter of time before the bucks start to show up.

[Lee Viv]

I've seen deer walk into an area from a thicket and instantly start looking up at trees!  My only guess was that have gotten used to hunters in treestands, and now are looking for them.  I absolutely believe they pattern us.  I have had more success around midday, right after hunters have walked back to their wehicles for lunch, than pretty much any other time.


Lee

[Shawn Leonard]

Stoneknife has 7 stands on 27 acres, well I have 102 stand on about 200 acres, one piece is 37 acres and I have 19 stands on it. I switch up quite a bit and if I have been picked off by deer I may move as little as ten ft. and not get busted. Shawn

[**oneshot**]

several years ago I got busted in my treestand by an older doe.  I hunted that same stand 2 weeks later facing the direction they came from,  the doe crested the hill and looked right at me and veered to the edge of the field along with the 3 other deer that were with her.  I never moved a muscle and I was dowmwind of her.  I waited 2 more weeks and set a trap:  I had my buddy sit in my usual stand and I set up along the field,  it worked like a charm.

[ishiwannabe]

Those older does are cagey critters for sure.

[Swanny in MD]

If I primarily hunted the wind in my neck of the woods I'd be pretty dizzy all the time. It's almost always fickled.  Changes 4 or 5 times in the course of a couple hours.

[dougers]

onetrap...thats what i am talking about, they are smart, but sometimes, we manage to out maneuver them.  

i have never had a deer scanning the trees for stands...that would make it a little rough.  next thing you know we will have to dig fox holes to fool them.

[jonsimoneau]

For sure, deer pattern hunters alot better than hunters pattern deer.  I will never forget something that happend to me years ago.  It was when I first began bowhunting, and I was hunting the same stand over and over.  When November came around, I hunted in it everyday for about 2 weeks or so.  One day I saw a big 5x4 slipping through the brush.  He stuck his head out and looked directly at me in the tree.  He was far enough away, that he did not notice that I also saw him looking at me.  He slowly turned around and went the other direction.  He did not smell me. I had the wind.  Nor did he smell where I came in at, since he was nowhere near my entry path. He also did not see any movement since he was far enough away that I did not even begin to get ready for a shot.  I have never seen another deer do anything like it, but I am 100% convinced that this deer knew I was hunting there, and decided to check before he moved through the area.  More than likely, he had spotted me in the stand on a previous day, and I never saw him.  

It's hard to do, but I think it helps to only hunt a stand once every week at the very most.  Too much more than that, and the deer will surely figure you out.  

If you think about it....people are much easier to pattern than deer.  Most of us enter and leave the  woods at about the same times every day.  Plus, many of us hunt the same stands over and over.  It does not take them long to figure this out.