A few more thoughts on negative experiences impacting a deer’s behavior and the analogy I was using with tracking dogs having their behavior changed due to negative experiences with E-collars and getting charged by wounded bucks…… Again I know dogs aren’t deer but the underlying principle here is still the same. We see evidence in both species of behavior being impacted and changed due to experiences that occur during their life……
Where there is likely a difference in dogs and deer is in their sensitivity to it…..or in other words……how easily is their behavior impacted by negative experiences…..How severe does it have to be for it to be “traumatic” and have one single event change their behavior for life?? This is a complete guess but if I had to put money on one or the other being more sensitive, I’d go with the deer because they’re a prey species while dogs are predators. Quickly adapting behavior to negative stimuli would be an evolutionary survival mechanism for prey like deer. So I’m guessing they’re probably pretty easily influenced by something they perceive negatively…….and just like in the dog analogy, I’d bet that a severe negative experience(s) while they’re young has the real potential of causing a certain behavior for life as a result of one single event.
So with that being said and keeping in mind that a young dog can be impacted for life by one negative experience with a misused e-collar or charging buck……How much of a bucks behavior later in life do you suppose is a direct result of the things he experienced when he was a young dispersing yearling trying to find a new home?? Just consider the amount of potential negative experiences that a young buck could encounter that’s roaming for miles across the landscape without any idea of where to go and where not to go…..what’s dangerous and what isn’t?? I’d say its highly likely that a lot of the unique behaviors we see in bucks is a result of the unique experiences each one had while dispersing……
Now, if that holds true then there’s another factor to consider about a bucks early days that may have an even more substantial impact. What about bucks who are orphaned when they’re just a few months old and suddenly their sense of security is gone. That buck fawn's experiences early on and how he perceives them are likely to be drastically different than a buck fawn who stayed with his mother for 1 ½ years. The fawn who still has his mother probably never has a care in the world and he moves just as much as the doe group does learning what is a threat and what isn't from his mother ……..I doubt the orphaned fawn leaves a really small area and probably sees the world as a scary place for a while without the security of mother…….all this happening when he is really young and probably most likely to have his behavior influenced long term by such experiences. That may very well be one of the reasons why he’s a nocturnal ghost later on….
Again, I completely agree they are born with differences…..But there’s a lot more influencing their unique behaviors than just what they’re born with….I guess when you look at the combinations of different possibilities that each one may be born with and experience in life early on….it’s very true to say that each one is an individual…..the reason why though is way deeper than "just because"
