Hunters, especially bowhunters, spend considerable time and effort trying to pattern whitetails. We study sign, place trail cameras and glass from afar in an effort to discern some routine in their daily movements. Deer aren't nearly as habitual as we might like, but occasionally we pick up patterns we can exploit.

What about the other side of the coin? Naturalists wax philosophically about how nothing moves through the forest undetected. Bowhunters certainly cause little disturbance, but we still deposit scent, make noise and otherwise leave evidence of our presence. There's little doubt deer detect us, even after we've left. We also know they react by avoiding where we are, or were. For the most part, it's just a negative response to a foreign odor, sound or movement. They also learn from their encounters. But is it possible deer can learn not only to avoid where we are, but where we might be? Can whitetails actually pattern us?

My first suspicion that deer might have such an ability came after I had owned my own land for a few years and had the luxury of erecting permanent stands. Over time, I noticed success rates were dwindling. It could have been for any number of reasons. But I also noticed the heavy trails that first prompted me to erect those stands had shifted, usually to the downwind side. It appeared the deer had actually learned to avoid those locations.

Later, I tested my hypothesis on a late-season hunt in North Carolina. It was a typical Southeastern guided operation, with shooting houses and ladder stands strategically placed on food plots and major travel corridors. Each had a name and a history, often related to some hunter who'd killed a deer there. What few deer we saw, and there weren't many, were obviously pressured.

I asked the outfitter if he had a portable climber I could borrow. When he replied in the affirmative, I then pointed to a spot on their property map far away from any established stands and asked if I could hunt there. Again a "yes." What a difference it made! The deer showed up earlier, moved closer and just seemed generally more relaxed, despite my presence. I was convinced, but validation from the scientific community wouldn't come until more than a decade later.

Ironically, it came indirectly from North Carolina in the form of James Tomberlin's master's thesis at North Carolina State University (though the research was done in Maryland). During his radio-collar study of deer movement, he found evidence that deer frequented open areas and passed by permanent stands at night, but never during the day. Voila!

Animal Behavior 101
In a sense, Tomberlin's research validated what we already knew. For years, self-proclaimed whitetail experts have advanced the notion whitetails can pattern humans based on little more than their own experience, which certainly cannot be discounted.