How to handle snorting deer?

[Remix]

I spent a night on the shoreline at Lake George at 5th peak point, and talk about herd path....

I was awoken 4 times by snorting deer. Im pretty sure they were different creatures as they all seemed to be headed north. Since I was a in a bivy bag and did not want get hoofed in my head, I got up each time and made my presence known.

As an aside, its a really freaky sight to see a pair of glowing eyes, one red and one green, go from 2 to 6 feet over and over again at high velocity. Evidently they can swim too, cuz something big jumped into the water.


So, my question is, in the NON-RUTTING season should you wake up and confront the deer, just respond in a really low voice, or is it ok to let them go about their business.

 

[TomEske]

They can't figure out what to make of you, so they issue a bit of a challenge to see what you will do. I just say something to them in a non threatening way to indicate I am of the human species. They almost invariably give up and move on. Sometimes though, I get the feeling they expect me to move on. Obviously, they have no idea how tired I am. I had one in Jimmy Dolan Notch back in april snort and stomp for almost half an hour before moving on. I think we were in HIS browse area.
I had another one during mid afternoon come up to my back fence and give me her best form of harassment by way of stompng and snorting. I talked to her and explained that she was on my land, but it did no good. I guess she didn't understand english. I kept talking and slowly moving toward her, but she didn't back down. When I got close to the fence I could see the ears of her fawn sticking up in the grass.
I gave her the back yard. She now runs a fruit and vegtable stand back there during the growing season.
Happy Hiking,
Tom

 

[WalksWithBlackflies]

A couple of years ago in the Finger Lakes region of NY, I was kept awake all night by a snorting deer. It would come up to the tent, snort, gallop away, and start all over again. I told him (her) that it could go AROUND the tent, but it was determined to stay on it's path. I yelled, got out of the tent, and even chased it once... no luck. Was it THAT stupid, or maybe concerned with violating the "tread lightly" ethic to stay on trail???

As far as a solution... see the numerous gun-related threads.

 

[mink319]

I have never had a problem with deer. They do snort at me in the rut and when the mothers are with fawns but they are not aggressive enough to attack. It can be scary but you will be fine.

 

[MichaelJ]

Post'r Boy - just hike with a bottle of marinade. One look at that will get them going in the opposite direction!

Yes, I'm the guy who gets geese out of the yard by yelling "Christmas dinner!" at them...


Now, in all seriousness, are there any particular colors, shapes, or movements that one should be ver careful to avoid in one of these situations?

 

[KZKlimber]

What were they snorting????

Maybe that's why their eyes were red.

 

[spider solo]

Must admit it is the first I have ever heard of it...
I did get a chuckle with the post asking if it was "that stupid?". Might be a bit of an even draw on that one......... only kidding......(humor)
We have them come through the yard pretty regular. I have never seen that behavior but would like to. Probably I should go with the fruit and vegtable stand.
Did watch a young moose totaly facinated by tents and it ran over to check each one out..I mean really ran right up to each one !
I think it's pretty much a rule of thumb not to camp right on the animal trails if it can at all be avoided...kinda like camping in the middle of the road.........

 

[Barry Sr]

Where exactly were you bivied?
Could you have been on their regular commute path?
I know I snort a bit when someone parks their lazy broken down butt on my highway at rush hour.

Could you also have been setting up camp in their camp/bedding area? They do trample down nice places to sleep.

 

[shadowcat]

snorting deer

Remix:
well it's spring, and you were alone? love is blind isn't it?
my cat snorts sometimes and i believe it's his way of showing me he's mr stud, king of the house. i can only assume the deer is doing the same type of thing. you are in his territory and he's letting you know he's boss. or, he thinks you're pretty!

 

[Remix]

Thanks for sharing all your experiences!

 

[Rick]

This makes me laugh....
10 years ago while thruhiking the NLP, I had gotten off the trail to hike into Long Lake for food and bought this huge submarine sandwich at Hoss's. I ate half and threw the other half in my pack and headed back to the trail.
I ended up staying in a very sheltered group of smaller pines that night and there were plenty of deer droppings, just off Tarbell road.

Since this was an extremely primitive remote site, I decided to just bring my food (and half-sub) into my tent and use it as a pillow. Around 10PM I had just drifted off when I heard loud snorting outside the tent. I yelled "go away bear!!!" , thinking the obvious. THen I got the loud and vibrating hoof stomping. I jumped out of my tent thinking I was going to be attacked by a bear only to have 4-5 deer all staring at me (their eyes do look scary in a headlamp at close range) snorting and stomping.

They eventually left, and came back early in the morning, but by then I didn't care as their snorting and stomping didn't alarm me any further. I realized that morning that the beautiful little secluded spot I was set up in, was their overnight spot.

 

[BenW]

humorous deer experiences

For my first snorting deer experience I was awakened during the night while camped by Fall Stream on the NP Trail. At first I was alarmed, since the closest name I could put on the sound was a sneezing moose. I didn't think a moose (or I) would be too happy to run into my clothesline (and then my tent) at night. My dad and I decided it was a deer though, since I'd seen one browsing on the witchhobble earlier. We reference the "sneezing moose" every once in a while. It makes for a humorous picture.

May the forest be with you.

Ben

 

[WalksWithBlackflies]

In my case (above), it was 1:00 am and I was just happy to find a flat spot off the main trail. In the morning, I realized I set up next to their trail.

It sounds like a cross between a sneezing moose and the velociraptor from Jurassic Park

Anyone heard a 'possum fight???? Now THAT'S a sound that'll curdle your blood!

 

[JOD]

snorting deer

I think you have to dry them in the dehydrator and then powderize them in the food processor before you snort them. I'm not sure what you're going to get out of this though.

oops, never mind. should have read the other posts first

 

[woodstrider]

snortin' deer

I've had this happen to me countless times. The only way to avoid this is to not set up camp on ANY herdpaths. (I take it you were camping at large) Even the faintest of trails are well used animal herd paths, so get off their roads.

They snort as a way to clear out the nose- all the better to smell you with.

By the way, I've had a deer leap over my single person tent once in the middle of the night, while I was trying to actually get some sleep. (it was an Eureka "Gossamer", I just know someone will ask. By the way- I can leap over this tent as well as any deer). Another time a female moose almost stepped on me in the middle of the night. Both times I was camping at large, and I was on a very faint herd path.

Now- just don't get me started on spruce grouse, ruft grouse and grey jays.