The Inquisitive Nature of the White Tail Deer

Some of my best learning opportunities came to me while hunting in the mountains of West Virginia. This one experiment consisted of no more than a Q-tip with a single drop of women's perfume on it, placed in a Ziploc bag. I first began by scouting the east-facing side of the mountain. What I'm looking for are areas where the early morning intense rise of the sun strikes the earth and radiates back up as thermal heat rising. Your milkweed will show you precisely where this updraft occurs. Remember: this updraft occurs only during high pressure in full sun. On the day of this experiment, the conditions were perfect. I began my long walk up, and when I was about 200 yards from my destination I took out my Q-tip and rubbed the perfume on the toe of my boot. Upon entering this updraft I walked about 20 yards and then I walked down and circled back up to the trail and bellied down in the waist-high grass. In less than ten minutes I had two does following my trail. The first one was a big doe. She had her nose to the ground. The second one was a yearling doe and was acting like a sentinel. I remembered looking through the tall grass into those huge brown eyes, and when she stepped in front of me I reached out and grabbed her by her nose!