Deer are a prey species, They live by spooking soon and spooking often. It doesn't have to be any noise you make. It can be the dropping of a dead branch in a tree 30 yds away where you can't see or hear it. Or it can be a mouse scurrying in the leave at the deer's feet! I have seen deer in quiet pastures jump up in the air for no reason at all, that I could see frm the edge- They rarely run very far. If they are spooked by a hunter or something big like a dog, or coyote, you will know it because that is when the after burners come on and they put trees and hills between themselves and the perceived danger before stopping to turn around and check to see and hear if they are being chased. If not, they will often resume grazing, or even simply lay down. They may not be predictable to us, but that is only because we don't have their sense of smell, and their acute hearing, and, of course, we don't know what their feet are telling them, either.
