I had shared one of these two photos in another thread but feel the topic warranted a separate post. I had also mentioned in the other thread how a study using radio-collared deer found that deer will remain hidden at very short distances as hunters pass through a given area. What brought the subject to mind is how once several weeks has passed during the General Season in East Texas, hunters will often claim the deer have all but disappeared.

These two photos were taken just seconds apart. Note how the young buck in the far background has hardly changed his position by the time the bobcat has passed by.

you can drive by the in a Polaris and they will just sit down. Fly over them in a helo and same thing happens and this is even in low brush. When people "still hunt", they often move too quickly and miss more than they should. unless spooked, dear utilize stealth first and flight later. makes sense when you realize most predator vision works best off movement.

I think the second pic was taken first, from the positioning of the deer.

Perhaps. Or maybe the buck was preparing to flee should the bobcat notice it, much like they'll do once they notice that we've spotted them. This belief also falls in line with how a deer will stand motionless until we stop our vehicle. Then he's off to the next county.

Thinking about it further, it was the motion of the bobcat that triggered the initial photo. The second photo was the result of a timed second shot setting.

Still, a good point worth noting how deer appear to notice once they've been noticed. If you're someone like me with little patience, who knows how many deer I've walked past and never knew it.

No, the image codes are in the order the pics are posted. So the second pic was taken after the first one.

Some deer are more wary than others. Some will stand in the way and then walk towards you daring you to runover them.

Couldn't I have uploaded them in the opposite order and made the sequence appear differently.

I'll go back to the original files and check the sequence numbers created by the camera. These were downloaded from filenames I created afterwards to make them easier to track.

Update: Image_1681.png shows the bobcat. Image_1682.png only shows the deer.

That's one healthy, and feisty, doe.

If it weren't for their curiosity, we'd be
lucky to kill one during daylight hours

That’s true ya know

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think I see a second deer off to the right of the buck. Between the second and third pine tree in the sunny spot just below the green stuff. It is gone in the second picture and might not have liked the bobcat being that close.

That bobcat is not a threat to the deer at all. A lone bobcat isn’t taking down an adult deer, and i have never seen a pack of bobcats, ever.

Deer will stand still during a threat they are unsure of, and then take flight if they call no dice. This was mentioned above. As STX mentioned as well, some deer are more brazen than others. Deer are just like republicans and democrats, some are more scared than others

I had a friend who was loosing a few fawns in his breeding pens and had some adult blackbucks killed. He was finding the dead fawns outside the pens and covered up with grass and leaves. Same with the 2 blackbucks they were killed and covered in grass/leaves. He killed a very large bobcat one day outside his pens with a fresh killed fawn. He had killed the fawn and then carried it over an 8' chainlink fence. The same with the blackbuck only he called an experienced trapper who came and set up some leg catch traps on a fresh blackbuck kill. The second day he caught a bobcat. Only the bobcat was not at the kill sight but rather hung on top of the neighbors 8' deer fence on the county road about 600 yards away. It was a huge male bobcat and he was caught by front paw in one of the traps. The proceeded to drag that trap across a 10 acre Kleingrass field. then over one 8' fence across a mesquite pasture to the next 8' fence and was over the top of it till the drag caught on the top barbwire. A huge male bobcat can kill a deer maybe not an adult buck but once they learn how to kill a deer they become very successful at it from then on.

Those are great pics STX. I have never seen bobcats in the wild in packs. That’s pretty cool. I think even you would have to agree that bobcats don’t typically hang in packs. As with everything in nature, there are exceptions to anything typically seen.

Cool story too. Dang animals are tough. We don’t see how tough humans are these days much anymore. Thankfully.

Bobcats are smart enough to know where deer frequent...water troughs/tanks and feeders. A taller/larger water trough makes a great ambush location for a bobcat. They can hide on one side and wait on deer to come up on the other. Bobcats also know beside deer that birds, rabbits, squirrels, etc all frequent water. They are easier targets but a cat that has learned to kill deer is going to kill one if given the chance. The deer on the ranches I managed, owned and hunt all react the same when they catch sight of a bobcat. They do not like them. The ranch in La Salle County had the largest population of bobcats I have ever seen. I snared the fencelines and caught 35-40 per year. I killed a few inside the ranch but I really do not know how many there were in that part of the county. We killed 40 does over 2 weekends back in the late 90's. We gutted them at one location on a large creek drainage that was very thick with blackbrush and whitebrush. After the first evening the number of bobcats on the gut piles grew to over 10 bobcats at one time by the next weekend. They heard a vehicle drive up and they would start coming out of the brush. One guy videoed a huge male on a gut pile and he was less than 10 yards from him. Most would not leave unless you got under 20 yards from them. 15 yrs later that ranch still has just as many bobcats and the deer still react the same at the sight of one.

Again, crazy cool story! The exact opposite of my experiences in the wild, but that’s nature for ya.

Animals are smart and most of the time try to take the easiest route possible that helps them survive. The difference in predator behavior and prey behavior is fun to note and watch.

It makes sense that deer will remain still and use cover in an attempt to hide from predators. After all, it's the only ability they have when they come into this world.

I've saw a group of 4 Bobcats at our place in Navarro county. 2 of them walked away...well ran, but that's beside the point. I've also seen a bobcat chasing adult does. I don't think a full grown cat would expend that much energy if he didn't think he had a chance at a meal.

I think you have a good spot. Impressed.

Just to add a little more, it would also make sense that deer would learn to pick their own hiding spots as they age and gain experience in avoiding hunters. And just as they do as fawns, they remain in place in order to avoid detection. So while we may think that mature buck has been killed or has left the area, he may have simply found a good daytime hiding spot that's within a rock's throw of a road, trail, gate, or other place we frequent.

Deer do not pick out hiding spots necessarily but great bedding cover. What we consider good for them may not suite their needs at that time of the year. Their needs are seasonal and weather along with land usage can dictate a lot where they bed. That will vary from summer to winter bedding cover. Bucks may batchelor group up in the spring and summer in the same bedding cover. More tolerant of each other. Whereas in the fall and winter after the pre-rut/rut they may not be in the same area or on the same ranch anymore.

It’s all in the camouflage.

Shoot with my eyes im not even sure i spotted the original deer lol

Several years ago I shot my biggest buck to date, a typical 12 on our family place. Shortly before the hunt that I actually connected on him i walked within 20 feet of him in the brush/grass. He didnt even get up much less run till I started climbing the ladder of the tripod and could see him.

While I've seen places where deer have been bedding in more open areas, they've always been in more remote areas away from road and trails frequented by hunters. Pure speculation but I've thought these were places where the deer wanted a better view of approaching predators during windy conditions when it was more difficult to differentiate movement.

Another point not to be missed is that as do with other types of behavior, how they choose to bed and/or hide during the season probably changes once they feel pressured by hunters.