Spend enough time in the whitetail woods and you’ll see some wildlife behaviors that are unexplainable (birds included). The 33-second Facebook video below is a perfect example.
I don’t know the background story, so you’ll have to draw your own conclusions. It appears to me that a deer hunter (or simply a person out for a winter hike) is moving through a hardwood forest and spots a bedded whitetail doe. The deep snow is soft, which allows him to quietly approach the deer. Of course, even with the soft snow a bedded doe would normally hear the hunter, so she must have been sleeping.
Keep in mind that although whitetails often spend a significant amount of time each day bedded, they don’t sleep for long. Think of it as light dozes of only a couple minutes at a time; otherwise they are alert. They don’t experience deep sleep for lengthy periods like humans.
What is especially interesting about this video is how the doe reacts after the hunter begins to pet her. The doe lifts her head; she’s not sleeping anymore (I don’t think). But who or what does she think is stroking her back? My only guess is she must think there’s another deer bedded beside her that is nuzzling her. Wild!
Finally, the doe turns her head enough to identify the stranger, and she flees immediately. Check out this amazing video and be sure to turn up the volume for best viewing.
