If they hear it all year and dont get harrassed then i dont think they care too much. But if you are never on the property then come hunting season, you show up and drive every weekend, it bothers them more. Id rather have them get use to me always being there, then hunting is no different. Maybe ifyou left feed each time you drove out, but took different routes the stand they would think of an atv as a dinner bell.

Mature deer are just like us, each one is different. Mature deer that live where they seldom hear atv's, i'm sure are more scared than ones that here them all the time. One thing to think about, is when you walk a long way to your stand you are leaving a lot of human scent behind. I have watched deer in thick cover haul ass when someone walked by, and then just stand there when someone drove by. Do atv's put off scent, yes, but not so much human scent. I don't drive to my stand, but I also don't walk 500 yards to it either. Usually I drive slowly to within 200 yards of my stand. This limits my scent, but doesn't get too close.

If you're scaring deer off with your 4-wheelers, then you need to use a gasoline with a higher ethanol content.

Deer will become use to their surroundings. That’s why you see big deer in subdivisions just like that show in Atlanta where the guys are hunting near houses. At Swan Creek I have watched deer right beside stopped trains or close by when a train comes by blowing their horn. Didn’t phase them. I don’t drive up to my stand but walk anywhere from 2-400 yds from my ATV. I know in clear cuts they sure do use the ATV trails to move about.

I believe it all depends on situation.. we have a main road that runs through our property that we have shooting houses on. I have been sitting in one of the houses, had one of the members drive by me and not 5-10 minutes later have deer step out. We also had a member a couple of years ago that had foot problems that couldn't walk distances so he would drive to the shooting house, park 4 wheeler under or behind it and he killed 2 of the bigger deer that we have killed. So it all depends.

I choose to believe it doesn't spook them. This is largely in part to me being a fatass and really, really, really, really not wanting to walk a mile to my stand.

I do think hunting land that has roads/highways nearby does help to get the deer used to the "sounds of man", but I've got no data on that

Mine won't run on corn juice, guess that's why they high tail it!

To be honest, I have no idea. I will say this, a few years ago, I booked an outfitter in Pike Co, IL. He drove a full size suburban. As we approached a greenfield, it was already loaded with deer. He drove me to the base of my stand. He said "they will be back". I got out, climbed the ladder stand, he left, and in about 30 min, all deer were back, and walked right under my stand. Granted, none in the field were shooters, but, it did happen none the less. Here in AL, I think they are extremely "weary" and whatever we can do to mitigate sounds, can only help.

Gotta admire the honesty!

a few years back i was hunting a food plot about 150 yards off the highway. woods were between plot and highway. At dusk i had 2 does in food plot. I heard an atv crank up and was heading in my direction. I could see the camphouse from my stand and thought one of the guys was coming back early. The does looked in the direction of the sound and changed their direction and started feeding back towards the way they had came. Took about 10 seconds to leave the field. Turned out it was the neighbor who was scared of the dark and always left his stand early. Even though these deer were use to the road noises, that atv spooked them a little. His 4 wheeler sounded just like the sxs we used.

That being said later that year, i shot my biggest buck to date after some of the other guys in camp drove through all the plots pulling sd cards, on the SxS. He followed doe out into ag field.

conclusion, they definitely are aware of it and are more skittish of it than normal vehicles. but it doesnt run them out of the county. Mature deer can definitely pattern the hunter who uses them though.

I completely agree!

The quieter, the better! Gas powered ATV/UTVs are louder than my Tundra. I'm looking into a UTV and seriously considering going electric due to the noise factor

anyone try those ATV/UTV silencer deals? basically looks like a 2nd muffler........always wondered if they made a substantial difference

Years ago I had some friends the had a place in coosa co on hatchet creek. They would see a few deer and kill a few but nothing like the other people around them. The hunted with ATVs and would drive to about 100yds from the stands. They would always notice deer tracks in their boot tracks when they would go back in the afternoons. They tried hunting mid day and still nothing. An old nieghbor told the to go to the stand in the morning with 2 people. Have one leave on the ATV around the normal time they would leave and one stay in the stand. They did it and he told me that he could still hear the ATV when the deer came out into the plot. The deer had them patterned by the sound of the ATVs. They started using the trucks and walking all the way in and they started killing more deer. Got to remember we are in their world.

watched a show on african safari high-$$$ hunting where the guide said their SOP is to run the truck up to the ground blind/stand & drop the hunter off while they got into the stand & got all settled in, their noise & scent covered up by the truck -- and then they'd leave on the truck & voila, here came the wildlife back into the area ...