this last weekend in the CA high country I was on a a small group of 6 deer 1 big forkie that I passed on because i knew of a bigger buck in the area. I went over in the basin were i located the bigger buck 2 weeks prior and he wasn't there. sense it was my first season with a stick and string i wanted to make a play on the big forkie. I went back to my glassing point were i saw him last and the whole herd were gone. i spent at least a half hour trying to turn him up when about a 300 lbs bear came of the same ridge as me about 60-70 yards away i could tell he was an older boar. I started to think that the bear pushed the deer out of that basin. I glassed about a hour longer and even came back. but know deer? note the small herd had 2 fawns with them. just wandering your guys take on predators coming through a small basin.
predators.
- Thread starter Ozzymodel70
- Start date
I use to think they played a big role on the movement of game. But I think trail cams are slowly changing my ideal. I have a camera that shows deer consistently. And 2 mountain lions weekly-biweekly. It never really changes the deer behavior in that area. I'm starting to think they coexist better than I've been told.
Consider the fact that we (humans) are the most dominate predator and can have quite an impact on deer movement, location, scarcity. I believe that a bear or cougar that wonders through an area keeping to him/herself has little impact on prey movement and location. However, I don't believe that predators hunt every single animal they come across. I also believe that a bear or cougar that hunts, excites, and pushes the prey around in an area has a large impact on prey location. If the bear is bulking up for winter he may have been opportunistic by chasing after one of the deer pushing the rest much like we do when we jump a deer.
Like most other hunting situations, this is merely speculation. The deer could have just moved out for better feed, another hunter could have came through and pushed the deer out, or you could have accidentally pushed the deer out yourself without knowing it, ect. ect.
Like most other hunting situations, this is merely speculation. The deer could have just moved out for better feed, another hunter could have came through and pushed the deer out, or you could have accidentally pushed the deer out yourself without knowing it, ect. ect.
RICMIC
Veteran member
We were watching 3 mule deer bucks through the spotting scope a few years ago in Wyoming, when they all looked in one direction, then took off. A big black bear came into the scope and chased after the deer that he had zero chance to catch up to. The next morning we saw deer in the same area, so ???? Here in NE Minnesota, when we are deer hunting and a pack of wolves moves through, the deer seem to completely disappear for a couple days. After that they resume their normal pattern. We're in the big woods, and our deer migrate closer to Lake Superior when the snow gets over 6", so I suspect that they had just laid low for a while. If the deer had left they likely would have stayed away. Nothing scientific, but those are my experiences.