I have found that deer do not depend on any specific sense for identification of enemies, but verify the findings of one sense by the other two, and that as a rule they will not resort to flight until all of their senses dictate that flight is necessary. This gives the hunter an opportunity to approach, even if the animal is aware of the hunter's presence.

This identification trait may be observed by checking a deer's actions at night when it is blinded by a light. Perhaps this is not a fair test because the effect of a strong light may slow its reaction to smell and sound.

Two of us approached a deer one night until we were standing within four feet of the animal and could have touched its nose with our light if we had wanted. We talked to each other in a normal tone and there was no question of the deer's not hearing us and it must have been able to smell us at that distance. Nevertheless it stood there until I removed the light so that it could see us. It was not alarmed, only curious, until it had

identified us with all of its senses.

I watched a group of deer on a moonlight night as they fed in an apple orchard. There was a crusty snow on the ground. These deer arrived in the orchard singly and in groups of two or three until there were at least fifteen deer there at midnight when I stopped watching them. Each time a new group was heard approaching the orchard, every deer there would stop feeding and face the direction of the newcomers. They would hold this position of alertness until the new group was positively identified. Another hunter and I were walking a woods road one morning when he sighted a feeding deer that seemed to be approaching us. We stepped behind a small fir for concealment waiting to see what the deer would do. It came along, feeding on young hardwood twigs until it was within a hundred feet of us before it detected our scent. At this time it stopped and tested the air in all directions, trying to locate our position. After deciding on the probable direction of our location, it withdrew to a low ridge that was about fifty yards to our right, still in sight of our location, and stood there without moving, but with an unmistakable attitude of alertness. It stood there until we made our presence known by stepping from our hiding place.

These and many other similar experiences have convinced me that deer do not depend on one sense alone to tell them of danger; that sight is the least dependable of them; and that scent is the one which they are most apt to rely upon.

One defensive quality which the deer have and which they use very effectively is their ability to blend themselves into a large variety of backgrounds. People that are not accustomed to seeing deer in their natural habitat cannot realize how perfectly nature's camouflage will conceal them while motionless. Under some conditions, deer walking in the woods will blend into their surroundings so well that the hunter who sees them will be uncertain as to what he has seen. Often when the light is not too bright, deer can apparently disappear while grazing in an open field if the background is favorable.

Hunters can take the advantage from the poor sight of the deer in the night when they go for hunting. But in the other side, there are times that the hunters fail to identify the deer because of the scene. It is important for the hunter to learn to identify the deer.