Dead deer = other deer have cleared out?

[MarlinMan]

My hunting partner and I found a really good place to hunt - so good in fact that we had barely stepped out of the truck when we discovered a gut pile from a fairly recently killed deer.

We kind of thought that the area would produce some deer but we saw very little fresh sign and no deer.

I was wondering if other deer will clear the area? Does it scare them off?

I should add that the remains were just starting to smell a bit....

MarlinMan

[rocksteady]

Absolutely !!! They will vacate the area until stuff settles back down....

It's not so much that their cousin Fred got whacked, but probably the noise that the hunters made afterwards (hooting and hollering etc), as well as the clean up crew that comes in behind (ravens/crows/coyotes/bears)...This will make the deer more wary...

Give it a feew days for all of the goodies to be cleaned up and the critters will go back to their normal habits...

[Ozone]

I have seen the opposite. I have shot a deer dragged it to the shore line( I was hunting from my boat) went back to where I was sitting as it was now only 9am after about 1 hour I had 4 does within 30yrds of me. Some were even smelling the gut pile.

[Rainwater]

I have helped a guy drag a deer out on the same trail a deer was dragged out the day before. Blood was splattered along the trail and interestingly enough there were fresh tracks in the trail, in the blood. Those crazy whities.

[Onesock]

Animals die in the bush every day. If animals quit using areas where others have met their doom the forest would have no critters in it.

[DBM]

I spoke to a guy who's son tagged out during youth season. They found the deer bedded down 10 feet from a fresh gut pile. They were watching the ravens, and low and behold there's a buck!

[trigger]

Rocksteady is absolutely right. More often than not the deer will spook after shooting one. The noise, the smell, and the critters. I have hunted places 2 days after i have takin an animal and things do go back to normal

[Elkhound]

My first buck was a nice 4x4 blacktail...shot him in the evening. Found out my buddy took a buck in the same place that same morning, and they wandered around this place for 5 hrs trying to find the blood trail of that buck

[MarlinMan]

Yeah, thinking about it somemore - makes sense that deer and other animals die all the time in the woods - wolf, cougar etc. What probably spooks them is the human scent and the noise.

As a follow-up question then - how long before another buck(s) move in to fill the vacancy - assuming they're around in the first place.
MM

[BlacktailStalker]

A dead or shot deer has zero effect on the living deer in the area.