Knowing game capabilities

[steve white]

Have you ever carefully observed the ability of game to hear? I was watching a doe from 150 yds uphill, and she was contentedly swishing tail and ears the way they do, a picture of a relaxed deer. Suddenly I was not able to suppress a wheezing cough, and though I pulled my jacket up to contain the sound, she immediately stared me down. Then the doe decided to bound away, not in panic, but none the less AWAY purposefully. How far out can a cough, or even low conversation be picked up? There was no wind, so that was a factor. How far out does most PG pick up on walking noise?

My uncle Tim told me later that he thinks squirrels have the best hearing. He has unreal eyesight, and told me that he has watched squirrels pick up on his walking in sand about a hundred yards out, and then turn and bark at him. I would not have imagined that. But he has told me more than once, and he is a man known for stalking them.

What other senses have you observed that are keen; perhaps in regard to scenting a hunter?

What animals have the best eyesight in your experience? Pronghorn are widely believed to have eyesight approximating 8x binoculars!

Feel free to elucidate...

 

[mark-hunter]

When I am stalking fallow deer, in woods with changing winds, but not to strong,
reaction of deer will follow within 15 seconds.
Distances up to 70 meters. Thats average.
If the deer is shootable, 15 seconds or less, is what he will offer.

 

[Sabre]

I have experienced some weird things with sound and deer. I have had a couple times where I was hunting and had to take a phone call or make a phone call. I did my best to keep my voice very low, but the other person still needs to hear me. Without fail, those times, I suddenly had many deer show up while I was talking on the phone and couldn't hang up. And the deer didn't spook, even at fairly close distances. Maybe the whispering sounded interesting to them and they came in to find out what it was, they are curious in nature.

Then other times, the smallest sound seems to spook them from 100+ yards away.

Scent wise, you aren't fooling a deer's nose. People think they are, they aren't. If thermals are working in your favor that day, a deer can be downwind and it won't scent you because the thermals are helping you out. But, if they are downwind, it is a mature animal, and thermals aren't in your favor, they are heavily favored to win that chess match.

 

[fourfive8]

Agreed. Animal senses can be uncanny. Coyotes have always impressed me. One that surprised me, when I took the time to carefully study them, were turkeys. Their hearing ability is very specialized and I believe is sensitive across a wide frequency band. Eyesight acuity of birds of prey is well known. I’m most familiar with mule deer and their hearing is excellent. Bears are interesting to watch and have an excellent sense of smell along with all their canine cousins. I’ve watched bobcats hunt and they have a peculiar method which I think is visual in method. They will occasionally stop and move their head back and forth watching for the slightest reaction movement from prey like a cottontail tracking that movement with an ear. I believe moose bulls carry massive horns around for more than one purpose. Show how big they are to other bulls, visually flash signals to other moose, especially cows and as sound collection dishes. Note where their ears are in relation to those “dishes”

 

[Rifleman97]

I have experienced some weird things with sound and deer. I have had a couple times where I was hunting and had to take a phone call or make a phone call. I did my best to keep my voice very low, but the other person still needs to hear me. Without fail, those times, I suddenly had many deer show up while I was talking on the phone and couldn't hang up. And the deer didn't spook, even at fairly close distances. Maybe the whispering sounded interesting to them and they came in to find out what it was, they are curious in nature.

Then other times, the smallest sound seems to spook them from 100+ yards away.

Scent wise, you aren't fooling a deer's nose. People think they are, they aren't. If thermals are working in your favor that day, a deer can be downwind and it won't scent you because the thermals are helping you out. But, if they are downwind, it is a mature animal, and thermals aren't in your favor, they are heavily favored to win that chess match.

After driven deer hunts we’ve had quiet conversations in the woods with the fellow hunting party members, And often times deer will show up while we’re talking. But more often, coyotes will show up. But by the time we see them it’s already too late and they’re out of sight.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Asian black bears have the best smell.

Royal Bengal tigers have the best hearing.

I’ve seen tigers flee for cover as soon as a rifle’s bolt is cycled from even 75 yards away.

 

[fourfive8]

You might say bull moose have “ear horns” .
Sorry couldn’t pass it up. Ear antler just doesn’t “sound” right

 

[Hunt anything]

I carry a pair of shooting sticks (Camouflage trigger sticks) on my way in and out of my stand. Last year a doe casually feeding along about 20yds away looked up and saw them. I had left them 15 feet away from my stand. She focused on them for good 5 minutes did her head bobbing thing and foot stomping before nervously walking away.
I guess it was something new and definitely looked out of place to her. I’ll never underestimate the power of observation to pick out something new again.

 

[Woolley Bugger]

What I find interesting is the difference in deer behavior between my suburban neighborhood, where there is no hunting, and my hunting properties, about 45 min drive away. My neighborhood is loaded with trophy bucks who will dumbly stare at me while I walk my dogs past them. The woods consist mainly of does, who I can identify only by their fleeing white flags when I get within 150 yards of them.

 

[Firebird]

It has always interested Me how the last 30-45 minutes of daylight, animals senses seem to dull or become less effective. Maybe the animals are just distracted but I have noticed a difference in that time frame

 

[BourbonTrail]

Whitetail is hit or miss: if it’s raining I have nearly stepped on them, but if it’s dry and quiet, there is no way you are getting in the same zip code.

I use squirrels to alert me to deer. They usually don’t bark at me unless I am walking around or fidgeting, but they always bark at bucks.

I’ve had a muley spot me/hear from 300 yards. It was a windy day on a mountain, and I was just sitting and trying to plan a route up the next ridge. That muley stared at me for 15 minutes.

Giraffes spotted us from 500 yards while we were stalking gemsbok. Once they alerted, everything else ran. Ostriches can pick you up at a couple hundred as well.

 

[steve white]

Agreed. Animal senses can be uncanny. Coyotes have always impressed me. One that surprised me, when I took the time to carefully study them, were turkeys. Their hearing ability is very specialized and I believe is sensitive across a wide frequency band. Eyesight acuity of birds of prey is well known. I’m most familiar with mule deer and their hearing is excellent. Bears are interesting to watch and have an excellent sense of smell along with all their canine cousins. I’ve watched bobcats hunt and they have a peculiar method which I think is visual in method. They will occasionally stop and move their head back and forth watching for the slightest reaction movement from prey like a cottontail tracking that movement with an ear. I believe moose bulls carry massive horns around for more than one purpose. Show how big they are to other bulls, visually flash signals to other moose, especially cows and as sound collection dishes. Note where their ears are in relation to those “dishes”

Moose are often underestimated. Some of my relatives built a house in Homer, Alaska. They decided to take a boat out to an island some 30 miles off shore to hunt moose. Never even saw one! An old timer asked if they had walked around at all. Yes. "Well sonny, the old man said, Don't you know moose hear better than anything in the woods? They heard you coming a way off."