The firearms deer opener brings with it the hope of affixing a tag to the ear of a doe or the antler of a buck after a successful hunt. Doing so, however, goes far beyond the simple act which signifies the end of one’s season in the field. Such a moment is often the intersection of preparation — scouting, sighting in a rifle, and setting stands and blinds in place; skill — selecting the right spot for the wind, competency with a firearm, and knowing a bit about your quarry; and of course a bit of luck — how the deer travel a certain day and what other outside forces might be at play around a hunting area. In the end though, it often comes down to besting their senses which have evolved over millennia to aid them in their survival and there are many challenges and some advantages that the November firearms season brings with it when dealing with these animals’ heightened abilities.

Nose to the wind

Perhaps the greatest advantage deer hold over hunters is their ability to detect scents and smells that pose a threat or otherwise seem out of the ordinary in their habitat. From wolves to coyotes to other predators, deer utilize the millions of olfactory cells crammed into that elongated snout of theirs to detect dangers and get out of the area when something smells amiss. This includes those odors that we as hunters bring with us as well. Perhaps it’s the scent of your four-legged pheasant hunting buddy who is on a mid-season break. It may be the odor of a couple drops of gasoline your pants picked up at the pump before heading out in the morning. In the end, it may simply be the slightest beads of sweat materializing in your armpit that gives off the odor of something not quite right. So how does a hunter best these hurdles a deer’s super-smeller presents?

First off, shower. Utilizing a scent-free soap and a clean towel helps eliminate a good amount of a body’s odor before getting dressed. When doing the latter make sure to wear clean hunting clothes washed in a scent-free detergent. I like to cycle mine through the washer and dryer every night before hunting and spray my pantlegs with a bit of scent blocker when leaving the truck to my stand. Do these efforts prevent deer from smelling a person completely? No, but they do help eliminate some odors, and for $20 a season’s worth of soap, detergent and spray is a cheap investment.

In the field, find a downwind ambush point when hunting, and use stands that play the wind to your advantage. The movement of air currents will push what scent of yours remains or develops during the hunt away from a trail or a feeding area. Additionally, elevated positions will help keep your scent above the ground, so utilizing a stand helps keep scent up and away from deer. Finally, especially during the rut, consider utilizing commercial deer scents, where legal, to confuse incoming deer. Bucks will follow a scent line from a strategically placed Q-tip dabbed in doe urine and are more likely to miss your scent when they have courtship on their mind.

Out of sight

While deer lack the full color spectrum that humans possess — explaining why blaze orange doesn’t send them running in the other direction right away — they still have sharp vision. Akin to the T-Rex in Jurassic Park they can pick up motion from a great distance and are able to detect something amiss when they see a hunter on stand. I’ve had a number of standoffs with deer who’ve stopped and looked at me in a stand or open on a hillside at less than ten yards, sitting completely still. Some have left with a bound and a raised tail, others have walked off with barely a flicker of their white flag. In all comes down to movement.

If you’re in an exposed setting such as a tree stand, or just a great ambush point along a hillside or trail, know that your movements will be easier to pick up by a deer entering the area. Blinds are to your benefit as they conceal a hand reaching for a rifle, a turn of the head, or a nervous knee as the adrenaline takes hold when a buck comes into view. Limit motion at all times to what is necessary, because you never know when a deer is approaching.

Hear hear

Finally, if you’ve ever had one of those close encounters with a deer on alert you’ve likely seen the physical ability of their ears. Like a pair of rapidly rotating satellite dishes, deer can pivot and turn their ears to cover every angle around them, picking up sounds of other deer and of things that are a bit scarier to them, like movement in the brush, or perhaps the cough of a hunter. Even the shifting of a boot in a blind or stand can make enough noise to trigger their retreat. Capping off their three amazing senses, the hearing ability of deer is well known and yet another challenge to overcome.

By staying as still as possible and limiting noise, hunters are able to best a deer’s sense of hearing. This means having firearms in hand and at the ready instead of on a hanger or a rack in a stand. Limiting conversation with a fellow hunter in a blind is a good decision too, especially in still times like dusk and dawn. As one who likes to talk to himself on stand to keep my mind busy, I sometimes have to remind myself to keep my monologue mental and not whisper things to myself when hunting. Any noise can cause a deer to turn tail on the trail that would have otherwise brought them from cover into a shooting lane. Keep quiet and up your odds.

When you look at the amazing senses deer possess, the challenge of finding success in the firearms season can be daunting and suddenly that piece of paper in your wallet becomes a heavier weight than its size and material suggests. But fear not, there are ways to best their abilities through preparation and knowing the advantages they possess, and how to overcome them through scent elimination and minimization, staying unseen in your position, and limiting the noise you make, can make for an epic finish to the biggest hunting season … in our outdoors.