It is more of a wheeze. They do it by exhaling very loudly through their nose. It does not always mean your day will be shot. I've had them blow at me, then 5 minutes later more deer will show up.

Wait till you've had one do it to you, at about 20 feet away, in the pitch black hours of the morning when you are walking to your stand in the dark. It'll scare the bejeezus out of you. Its one step up the pucker scale from stepping right in the middle of a bedded covey of quail on your dark morning trip to the stand.

Guns don't kill people....Its those pesky little bullets making lots of holes that all the blood leaks out of.

You were asking if it was gender specific...the only deer that I've ever had blow at me were does. That's not to say that bucks won't do it but I've never had it happen in the 9 years that I've been hunting.

It is an alarm thing too by the way. From what I've heard, they do it to try to scare you into moving (which I did very obviously the first time it everr happened to me from about 20 feet away).

Where were you hunting?  The reason I ask this is that some exotic deer, especially axis deer, have a different 'snort' or wheese than a whitetail.  The pitch is much higher with an axis deer and it can make things even more confusing.

I have had younger bucks snort at me and it sounds just like the does. I had a nice 8 pointer at 10 yards while I was at full draw but he just did not have the width I wanted so I passed. When I let off the draw he took off snorting into the next county. Old bucks just seem to move real slowly away without making noise. That's has been my experience.

GO CLIMB A TREE, TIM

If you think that is a weired sound wait until a fawn is calling out for its mother! That will give you  jolt if you are really tired!

GO CLIMB A TREE, TIM

Thanks to everyone for the help.

I have been hunting in the Sam Houston National Forest, and am sure both deer where whitetails.  The first deer was a tall spike who took off blowing through the trees after I lost a lengthy staring contest.

The second, happened last night and I think something else not me scared it.  I could here it working its way through the timber towards my stand then it took off running directly at me.  Just after it hit the edge of the clearing I was hunting it made a hard right and started blowing and didn't stop untill it was out off earshot.

It was just before dark, and if I didn't already know it was a deer, I might have spent the night in my treestand.  It scared the crap outa me.

Also, E.TX. your posts on hunting the national forest have been extremely helpful.  I did fill my buck tag (small 8 point) and am now after a doe or hog.

Stanton,

Smaller bucks will snort...usually the big ones are paranoid enough where they don't want to give away their position.  Like Tim said, they just slink away.

At times you can get doe to quit snorting.  One method is to just be still and hope they did not get a good look at you...sometimes they'll just quit and keep an eye on you.  The second is to use a grunt tube.  The key there is to not let them see you move while you're grunting.

do you use the tube to let them associate the movement or your presence with a friendly sound?

David,

I used a buck grunt to bring in the buck I shot, but I will have to get a doe grunt. 

Also, my girlfriend got me a climbing tree stand for Christmas, how high do I need to climb to avoid being seen?

Years ago I was hunting a tree stand on a hillside.  A game trail came down the hill, past the stand.  A doe happened down that trail from behind me and apparently caught me moving or smelled me.  Anyway, she stopped and snorted non-stop for several minutes.  I waved at her, threw my hat at her, clapped my hands too.  Nothing I did would scare her off.  She kept blowing/snorting. 

Well it was late in the season and I was hunting bucks or does at this point.  Since she wouldn't shut the HE-double hockey sticks up I opted to shut her up.  One loud boom and then silence returned to the woods. 

As I recall, she was pretty tasty. 

hahahaha............nice story FishFearMe!

Brandon,

I've never really used a grunt tube as a means of calling a deer in, but mostly as a means to convince a deer that I was another deer, or like you said earlier trying to get a deer to associate my movement with a non-threatening one.  We also use grunts to try to get a deer to stop so we could shoot it. 

Stanton,

You mentioned that you needed to buy a "doe grunt"...I think you're referring to a specific estrous doe bleat replicated in products such as "The Can". 

Climbing stands are great (I own one), but I'd suggest you get totally familiar with it before you ever take it into the field.  Practice climbing, getting situated in the tree, and coming down in your back yard or some place where you can work up gradually.  Also, with their tubular steel construction most of these things have a tendency to be noisy, at least in my experience (I've had mine for a number of years so maybe the newer ones aren't so bad).  With the one I had we eventually had to use some spray insulation inside the climbing aid to quiet it down.  Whatever you do though, wear a climbing belt or harness every time you go up.  A friend of mine was on a climbing stand several years ago and fell asleep.  When he did he also fell out of his stand, and because he wasn't wearing a harness fell to his death.  He broke his neck when he landed on his head and it killed him instantly. 

And, most folks will tell you to get at least 20 feet up in a tree to avoid being seen, although there are some bucks that have learned to look up into trees.  Hope this helps.