Brad 225,
You actually pointed out a rather interesting and much overlooked factor, "that they are trying not to get shot". I served on a Department of Natural Resources committee for several years and we were shown statistics that a high percentage of car deer accidents not only occurred and coincided with the hunting season but were in fact directly linked to hunting activity in the early morning and early evening, during hunting season which is exactly when hunters are most active within deer zones themselves. The rut actually lasts much longer than the hunting season but statistically the deer car accidents spike big time during the early morning and early evening of the actual hunting season. As for smart deer, I have a couple that would change your mind as to how smart they are. We had a couple of deer brought to us when my wife was a wildlife rehabber and one of the deer watched me flip the lock on the gate into the deer enclosure. After I walked out and went into the house, I looked out at the enclosure two minutes later and saw the buck flip the lock open with his teeth and walk out of the enclosure. I thought it was generally accepted that deer could not problem solve, but I guess that perception was wrong. We had to put a double lock on the gate to discourage him. We had a second deer that was a kleptomaniac and he would steal anything that was not tied down when it came into the enclosure. He would take hammers, nail bags, screw drivers, anything and everything that he could carry off in his mouth. if you want exercise try to catch a deer when they are able to run in a 5 acre enclosure, you can't catch them. But you can get them to return by calling them and offering a treat, kind of smart on their part. We also discerned every deer that we cared for had a distinct personality with unique behaviors and attitudes.
We even had some that took a shining to music and liked to play with lawn sprinklers. I never played my Logans outdoors but their were two that liked to come up and stand next to the window in the barn and seemed to listen to the music. Anyways, the original warning that started this post still stands. Beware of Deer they may be running for their life and literally don't see a car as a threat as big as a human and a rifle.
