# Can Deer smell a ATV??



## alvishere (Aug 21, 2007)

For all you hunters who use a four wheeler or Atv to get to your hunting spot...how close do you drive to where you are going to hunt?
   I realize that most of us park away from stand because the noise will spook the deer and we try to slip in their quietly, now that part is clear........
   I was wondering (aside of the noise) If you drove into your hunting area, throwed a camo net over your atv,  if a deer could smell the atv (motor,exhaust,gas, ect...)?
Note : no need to ask why..I was just curious on your thoughts.


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## ranger1977 (Aug 21, 2007)

Yes, I'm sure they can.  They have a much more keen sense of smell than humans.  I used to park about 300 yards from my stand overlooking the field.  Never had a problem.  When hunting in the thick stuff, I parked on the road near the trail going to my stand.  About a 20-min. walk in.


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## 60Grit (Aug 21, 2007)

The way a deer sense of smell was explained to me was this;

We as humans, if we open a bottle of Ketchup all we smell is ketchup.
The deer smells the tomatos, the onions, the garlic and each individual spice.

That being said, they are staunch creatures of habit, so if y'all ride four wheelers around out of season and then suddenly stop once season begins that is a bigger alarm to the change in their environment than the smell of the atv itself.


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## dan229 (Aug 21, 2007)

Oh yeah a deer can smell an ATV. Park it a long way away (at least 150 yards) and walk. Use it to haul the deer out but not really to haul you in.


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## GA1dad (Aug 21, 2007)

I certainly hope no one parks an ATV next to there stand and hopes to bag anything more than a yearling. Curiosity might get a young'un in, but old biggun ain't coming no where near it.


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## cpowel10 (Aug 21, 2007)

I'm sure they can.  I can smell the gas and oil and smoke, so of course they can.

Whether or not it spooks them, it depends on how used to the ATV they are.  I've killed two does sitting on the fourwheeler when i rode up on them.


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## 60Grit (Aug 21, 2007)

cpowel10 said:


> I'm sure they can. I can smell the gas and oil and smoke, so of course they can.
> 
> Whether or not it spooks them, it depends on how used to the ATV they are. I've killed two does sitting on the fourwheeler when i rode up on them.


 
UHHH, the does were sitting on the fourwheeler I hope, cause if you mean you shot them from sitting on the fourwheeler that constitutes hunting from a motor vehicle, and LEO frowns on that one big time.


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## goob (Aug 21, 2007)

*ttt*



GA1dad said:


> I certainly hope no one parks an ATV next to there stand and hopes to bag anything more than a yearling. Curiosity might get a young'un in, but old biggun ain't coming no where near it.



I usually pull straight up to a stand. I think for the most part as said before if you ride alot then they get used to it, just like bein around a highway with cars goin by. I took a really nice 7 pt, mature deer, with my fourwheeler under my stand. He looked straight at it and went about his business, didnt spook or anything, until I shot him. My 2cents........


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## cpowel10 (Aug 21, 2007)

60Grit said:


> UHHH, the does were sitting on the fourwheeler I hope, cause if you mean you shot them from sitting on the fourwheeler that constitutes hunting from a motor vehicle, and LEO frowns on that one big time.



Does were very much on the dirt.

I would check the regs, but my computer is way to slow to pull that file up (dial up).  I believe it says something about you can't shoot from a vehicle in operation.  See a deer, stop, turn it off...its not in operation anymore.  No different than the folks you see sitting in their trucks (not running) with a rifle watching fields.


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## 60Grit (Aug 22, 2007)

cpowel10 said:


> Does were very much on the dirt.
> 
> I would check the regs, but my computer is way to slow to pull that file up (dial up). I believe it says something about you can't shoot from a vehicle in operation. See a deer, stop, turn it off...its not in operation anymore. No different than the folks you see sitting in their trucks (not running) with a rifle watching fields.


 
Yep, you're right, it clearly says under power.

I still would bet if a leo saw you drive up, turn it off and shoot you'd be talkin to a judge though....

Kind of a fine line in the delineation of hunting from a vehicle under power. Not shooting from a vehicle under power.

But you were correct.


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## cpowel10 (Aug 22, 2007)

60Grit said:


> Yep, you're right, it clearly says under power.
> 
> I still would bet if a leo saw you drive up, turn it off and shoot you'd be talkin to a judge though....
> 
> ...



I'm glad, thought i'd been breaking the law everytime i went riding right at dark when i didn't have time to put in a whole hunt. I'd have to tell the judge i had to turn it off so i could get a steady shot .


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## doates (Aug 22, 2007)

Heck I would worry about them hearing it also.


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## Snakeman (Aug 22, 2007)

There's no doubt that deer can smell an ATV......rubber, plastic, gas, oil.......but I can't begin to count the number of times that I've come out of the woods and had deer standing next to my truck, either.

The Snakeman


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## Skunked (Aug 22, 2007)

I have tried parking the quad away from my stand and walking in and I have just drove it straight under the stand and hunted.  I haven't noticed a real difference.  I know people that will only walk in and I know people who drive right under thier stand.  In my opinion I bought a four wheeler to get in and out of the woods and for hauling out the harvest.  So I will just keep riding them right up to the stand and hunting.  The only times I don't do that is if someone in the club requests that no one ride directly right up to the stand.  Then I walk in.  Some people are extremely scent conscious and I will abide by thier requests.


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## skeeterbit (Aug 22, 2007)

Ive parked mine a ways away from the stand and walk to my stand only to come back out after hunting to find fresh tracks behind my four wheeler on top of my tracks


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## LT3006 (Aug 22, 2007)

I'm sure the deer can smell an ATV, but I think a number of factors including the hunting pressure determines whether they care or not.

My husband and I rode a fourwheeler to a field on our hunting club last year.  We got off and walked around the field to look for deer sign.  As we were looking at tracks, I looked up and saw deer standing on the other side just watching us.  I'm sure they heard the four wheeler, but for whatever reason, decided to just stay and watch.  It was also around 2:00 during the day which surprised me.


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## dawglover73 (Aug 22, 2007)

Good question, and one I have thought about a lot.  I have killed many more deer by driving right to the stand, as in, I could spit straight down on the four-wheeler.  

I have often wondered why that is, even nice bucks dont seem to care.  I think the smell of the four-wheeler is not much different than any other vehicle.  But, if you walk those last 200 yards to your stand, you are leaving human scent behind.  At least for me, I drive right up to the stand and seem to have no problem.


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## skeeterbit (Aug 22, 2007)

Hmmm Dawglover good point about the human sent thing never thought about that! maybe I should just drive it right on to the tree!


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## Bruz (Aug 22, 2007)

*My Experiences*

First...Try this this year...Park your ATV in an open piece of dirt and check around it each time you come back from a hunt......I will bet that you will see deer tracks several times during the year.

2 Seasons ago I had a broken foot and needed to park close to my stand as I'm fat and walking on a broke foot hurt. I hunted a stand not far from the camp road and parked about 100 yards over a hill from the stand. I could see the Polaris once I was up still saw plenty of deer that year but the best examples of why I think deer are individuals and what spooks one today day may not spook another .....

1) 3 Mature Does walked right up to the Polaris and were sniffing it...The hung around for a few minutes and then walked down my trail and right by my stand.

2) A small yearling Doe walked into the camp road and looked down the road at the Polaris and spooked big time...She came unglued and ran straight at my tri-pod and actually hit one of the cross braces hard enough that it shook the stand  and it was as loud as could be. I laughed til I had tears in my eyes.

3) A 2.5-3.5 year old 8 pointer and a young 7 pointer walked through the food plot down wind of the Polaris and then snapped to attention and looked directly at it. They kept eating and walked on through the plot.

So out of these 3 occasions the yearling Doe was the only one that lost it's mind when it saw the ATV. Now of course I don't know how many B&C bucks detoured that year because of the ATV being so close but since I haven't ever killed a B&C whether it was there or not I would suspect not many.


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## flattop (Aug 22, 2007)

I have had to wait for deer to move away from my 4 wheeler so I would shoot it. I have not seen a problem with me riding to the stand and seeing deer. I usually park aways from the stand though.


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## bull0ne (Aug 24, 2007)

Bruz said:


> First...Try this this year...Park your ATV in an open piece of dirt and check around it each time you come back from a hunt......I will bet that you will see deer tracks several times during the year.
> 
> 2 Seasons ago I had a broken foot and needed to park close to my stand as I'm fat and walking on a broke foot hurt. I hunted a stand not far from the camp road and parked about 100 yards over a hill from the stand. I could see the Polaris once I was up still saw plenty of deer that year but the best examples of why I think deer are individuals and what spooks one today day may not spook another .....
> 
> ...



Charles Haynie killed a B&C buck back in 87' and if my memory serves me correctly he had an ATV parked directly under his stand at the time............


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## 7Mag Hunter (Aug 24, 2007)

We used to use them to fill our corn feeders, and rode
them alot in the summer...
Have actually had deer approach the feeding stations as
we were pouring corn in the hoppers....I think the deer
related ATVs to corn being put in the feeders....Several
times I have returned to my ATV and had deer tracks
close to it, and even deer tracks in my AM boot tracks...
Like some other guys said, they can get use to them,
and largely ignore them, just like farmers tractors...


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## ROCKRIVERDUDE (Aug 24, 2007)

I pulled mine right to the stand when I would scout. I have had a doe to taste my handlebar grips. Just depends on where you are at.As well as how uesd to four wheeler traffic the deer are.


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## W4DSB (Aug 24, 2007)

I think they gather around mine just about every time i'm out hunting judging from the tracks and droppings .

I have started taking my key out to keep them from riding off on it!


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## stev (Aug 24, 2007)

How many times have yall parked 300 yds away and come back to your machine and there stands a deer.There use to them at our club.some ride right to there stands and they kill deer with the machine parked up under them.Cant say how many times ive seen deer around my machine .KInda odd.I guess our deer are trainedIf you ever been to our club you know what im talkin about.


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## THREEJAYS (Aug 25, 2007)

The land I have hunted the last 5 years it's the only way you can get around.We have no vehicle access roads.I have not seen anything different from when I did not use them


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## JoeyWommack (Aug 25, 2007)

7Mag Hunter said:


> We used to use them to fill our corn feeders, and rode
> them alot in the summer...
> Have actually had deer approach the feeding stations as
> we were pouring corn in the hoppers....I think the deer
> related ATVs to corn being put in the feeders..



My buddies lease has hogs that actually chase them on the 4 wheelers cause they would associate the noise with filled corn feeders.


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## Dub (Aug 26, 2007)

The last buck I killed was from a food plot edge.  From my climber position in the tree I could see my 4wlr...less than 75-100 yards away.  The buck was standing between my position and the 4wlr when I shot him.

I think they get you through the woods with minimum human scent being transferred around.  As long as you ride through the area on a regular basis...I think you are okay.  I ususally park within sight of my 4wlr and spray the grips, seat and footboards with scent killer before walking to the stand.  Sometimes, I'll drive up to the tree I'm hunting and drop off my climber....drive off a 100 yards or so and park and walk back in.

I've never used a cover over my 4wlr...mainly because I think a deer will spook way worse at a blob like that than it will a 4wlr itself.

I've also seen the tracks all around my unit when I return in the past.


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## hogman2 (Aug 26, 2007)

I have a small tract that I own, 66 AC, if you ride a 4 wheeler around there for any length the deer disappear for weeks!!


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## jklaus (Aug 26, 2007)

Man yes you should try the ATV in heat.  Brings the bucks in every time


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