Ok, they are drilling a nat gas well on the property next to our land. The deer seem to like hanging out around this thing. It's been running, and lit up at night, most of this rifle season. I just pulled in the gate and saw 3 deer feedimg in direct viIew of it,, not 100yds away from it. Been loke that all season lomg this year. To the poimt that normal deer movements on the whole property have changed drastically.

Anyone else ever seen this? Opinions on why?

Someone working on the site is feeding them?

Whatever you do don't let them put up the new energy wind mills around your lease it will completely ruin your deer hunting. For some reason the noise the blades make will drive every animal out of the area!

Nah, definitely not feeding them. To me it seems to have more to do with the light than anything else.

They had the rig up most of the season, then broke a bit off or something, they moved the rig about a mile down the road and punched another hole, then get down here last night to see the rig back where it had been.

When it was here earlier we would jump deer going to and from stands almost every morning and evening, in the dark. This is in an area where we almost never saw deer before. When they moved the rig for a couple of weeks things went back to normal.
Then last night when i pulled in to find the rig had been brought back, and deer were again hanging out feeding around the perimeter of the rig again.

No chance on windmills here.

I believe a lot of this type of behavior is caused by a deer’s natural curiosity. They may also associate the machinery with agricultural activity which often leads to a free meal, such as spilled grain or newly exposed forbs though clearing of brush etc.

A lot of fresh dirt being moved? Deer love that for some reason.

Not sure about deer and rigs. But completely disagree about the windmills. We have quite a few and they have never altered the deer movement.

I also disagree with the windmill theory..I see alot of nice deer around them.

See a lot of deer around them, but they're usually not that old.. Rut is a different story; rig acts as mood lighting.

I remember my roughnecking days and whenever we were tripping pipe (pulling out the pipe and putting it back in the well bore, for you non oilfield type), deer used to come out in the location and I guess were just curious of the noise. I hunt in Karnes county some and there is a drilling boom going on here, hasnt affected the deer at all