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Four wheelers

J

John 35

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 19, 2021
Messages
593
Just made an interesting observation I thought I’d share. I’m in a tree right now, I’m on private land. I was just watching 2 does slowly move towards me for about 20 minutes. They are just getting to me when I hear the sound of a motor over on the neighbors. Both deer throw their heads up, look in direction of the noise for a few seconds and bolt. I’d estimate the four wheeler was about 150 yards away and it’s on the other side side of a river. People like to debate whether or not four wheelers spook deer. These ones were having non of it.
 
It depends on how often they hear them.

I've watched deer barely stop chewing their cud in response to 4 wheelers and trucks rolling through the woods. And where I hunt in the swamp, they almost completely disregard bass boats running the river and the sound of 2 old men shooting the breeze while they troll the banks for crappie.
 
Agree, depends how often they hear them. Ranch I hunt rancher and his family run quads and tractors all day and neighbors kids ride through the woods nearby. I’ve witnessed deer just ignore them all. Now I will say fawns are a bit more skittish I figure cuz they don’t have the same level of exposure the old heads have.
 
When I was it a hunting club I saw deer react negatively to them all the time. I was usually set up earlier than most guys in the club so when I would have deer nearby and they would hear that putter, putter of the four wheeler in the distance they took note. I got to witness it often. You'd hear the putter, putter and hear gravel popping and the deer would look that way and start paying attention. If the sound was getting closer, they would leave. They were about the same way with side by sides. They knew the putt, putt meant danger.

We had one guy who refused to put his feet on the ground. He rode his side by side right up to the base of his ladder stand and stepped off the running board onto the ladder rung. I was set up about 200 yards across a hillside one time and saw him driving in. From my vantage point I could see deer get up from the pines near his stand and ease off away from him (toward me) as he drove to his stand. The funny thing is the dude was always complaining that there weren't any deer, and he wasn't seeing deer.
 
Maybe deer will spook maybe they won’t. I guess I just don’t see the advantage of driving a 4 wheeler to your stand. Walking isn’t that hard and it’s good for you. You will see more of what’s going on in the woods if you walk in slow and quiet. You will find more sign. Tonight was my last hunt of the season and it was screwed up by a 4 wheeler.
 
I shot a knarly ten point a few years ago, right over my four wheeler. With my shotgun. It was about 20 yards from one of our home made shooting houses. He came in from a direction they usually don’t. I had parked it behind a gas well brine tank worried it would scare the deer. He was 10 yards at the most from it. We typically only use the wheelers when we have deer down. But that morning I was running late and needed to get in the stand so I just drove it all the way up to the shooting house
 
I think the answer is “it depends”. I‘ve driven by deer at less then 20yards in the dark and they just stood there or just walked off. I’ve seen deer haul out at the sound of a 4 wheeler. I’ve seen deer that would stand and watch you until you stop, then haul out. I do think that deer start to pattern you and will eventually avoid areas that get constant disturbance (sound or smell) during season, when those same areas do not get that disturbance during the off season. If it is routine and they are never threatened by it, I think they get used to it. For example, farm machinery.
 
All depends on the location and what the deer are used to. We ride the ATV trails here in Northern Wisconsin and see deer along the trails often. They are used to it, kind of like tractors in a field. I've never used a ATV for hunting, it's illegal to take them off trails and I'd never leave mine sitting on the trail, my luck id come back and it wouldn't be there.
My take on riding a wheeler up to a stand would be they are noisy, big and stick out. If a deer sees it sitting in the woods, it might avoid the area.
 
I was hunting by the highway that had constant traffic. I was watching a spike feeding calm and a garbage truck came by and let of pressure on the airbrakes and that noise scared the tar outta him.....another time right by the highway watching down a long ridge/old road. I thought the deer were bedded right up along the road and was set up to see them coming out of the swamp by the road up into the wma. There was some kind of motorcycle ride going on and 50+ bikes thundered by and I watched a set of 3 run out then a set of 2 and then a set of 4 deer all run away from the noise....in both cases the deer were.totally fine with the traffic sounds but the real loud sounds they weren't used to hearing set them off and running
 
Yeah my experience on the private farm I hunt is they are somewhat used to them as my buddy tends to his farm with one and his tractors, plus I use mine up there to cut firewood and he also has a natural gas well and the well tenders drive them up to check the well. neighbors farm also use them. However we rarely use them in the more remote or wooded areas of the farm where I would typically saddle hunt but we have a couple of shooting houses in areas where other atv activity does take place so in other words, where they are used to them we use them, where they are not we do not drive them up to those stands plus that just makes you fat and lazy in my book. We typically only use them once something is on the ground and to take down and put up our ladder stands.
 
2Sloe said:
I think the answer is “it depends”. I‘ve driven by deer at less then 20yards in the dark and they just stood there or just walked off. I’ve seen deer haul out at the sound of a 4 wheeler. I’ve seen deer that would stand and watch you until you stop, then haul out. I do think that deer start to pattern you and will eventually avoid areas that get constant disturbance (sound or smell) during season, when those same areas do not get that disturbance during the off season. If it is routine and they are never threatened by it, I think they get used to it. For example, farm machinery.
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I also believe deer pattern us. Especially in permanent stands that get used season after season or day after day. I used to belong to a rifle deer camp, we had a big 10 point showing up to a bait pile every night for three days minutes after the guys would leave their stands and walk the same trail back to the shack together. They came up with the idea that they would leave five minutes early the next evening, meet up and walk out together leaving the one guy in his stand to watch over the bait and sure enough the buck stepped out like clock work and now hangs on the wall. Sometimes you got to out smart them
 
Nutterbuster said:
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Buddy just shot this one this morning. He shoots deer off the back porch in a semi-rural subdivision regularly. They tolerate school busses, garbage trucks, deliver vans, etc just fine.
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Oh absolutely. In a subdivision setting or even on a farm where the farmer is riding around daily it is no big deal. It's when you have a situation where there are no 4 wheelers and side by sides for 8 months out of the year and October rolls around and suddenly, they are everywhere. That is when they take note.
 
It appears to me that anything unfamiliar to a deer makes them uneasy. And anything that indicates a predator is near is considered a threat. Anything consistent is predictable and less worrisome.

Id be willing to bet that deer would regularly bed along side an ATV park if it meant there was zero hunting pressure. On the flip side, I hunt an area where another hunter only accesses his stands with an ATV but aside from him ATVs are rarely in that area. So anytime one is heard anywhere in the area all the deer go on high alert. Fortunately this guy only hunts the 2 week shotgun season. And as we all know, sometimes pressure bumps deer in predictable ways that we can use to our benefit.

I feel like ATVs are a tool like any other and need to be used wisely. I’m always aware that my pickup truck can give me away and I consider that as part of my approach.
 
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I have used my pickup as a deterrent (another stander) while making a drive my son and brother made a drive to me between two lakes. I purposely parked the truck in plain view in the sun on one end of a clearing that I couldn't cover and hid on the other escape route. I could see a buck and doe they kicked up and stopped 300 yards from the trail I was set up on and looked at the truck several times then came directly to me they stopped at 25 yards when they seen me in the brush. that was the last steps for both of them.
 
I believe the deer get used to the normal sights and sounds. The deer and antelope around here never move for the ranch trucks or guys working in the fields. A different truck rolls up, good bye. So strange to see it happen.
 
I once watched a deer eat aspen tops as a huge diesel-powered feller-buncher was harvesting pulpwood. Entirely nonplussed by the loggers and their chainsaws and equipment; they associated that particular human activity in that place, at that time, with food. Yet somehow I doubt that revving a chainsaw at sunup on Nov 8th will bring the deer in...
 
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