Just wandered by this thread again and realized that though I posted some experiences of deer coming to a distress call, I didn’t reply to the question, which was why deer come. I am cautious about opining on why. At the same time, why an animal responds is one of THE questions we need to be pondering for calling anything. It gets into logic and intuition, more inference than hard data.
As oithers have said, huffing and blowing does, and cow elk that appear aggressive and agitated seem to confirm that maternal protection response is the reason, or at least one of the reasons why female deer come to a distress call. It sounds like a fawn or calf.
On several occasions I’ve had adult desert jack rabbits run up close to me, hesitate and then run away as if to get me to chase them, when using a rabbit distress. I’d guess that’s also a maternal or perhaps a parental protective action. I couldn’t tell if the rabbits were male or female.
Another factor is curiosity, as several have also mentioned. I have a low grade tentative theory that the curiosity attraction works better the higher the intelligence of the animal, so is a little better on coyotes and raccoons. However, caribou, antelope and cats seem to be drawn by visual curiosity to odd moving objects so that may run counter to my higher intelligence theory, at least for the duh-faced caribou.
Sometimes does have acted to me like they were curious, especially mule deer does in the Fall, with their big twin fawns with them sometimes as they approach my distress sound. I think curisoity is the major factor in some bucks coming in, plus maybe some aggressiveness linked more to testosterone than to specific territorial or fight dominance, etc. Mostly that's speculation, though it is based on observed behaviours.
When does come to a distress call, sexual attraction, territorial aggression, sexual aggression (toward rivals), and hunger are probably not factors.
Why do any animals come? That is one of the mysteries that make this fun, both the calling and the speculating. I hope my ruminating and philosophizing isn’t too aggravating as I think about these questions out loud here. Such pondering has made me a better caller (I think).
Each time we figure out a tidbit of why an animal does what he does in response to a call, that gives us an advantage we can exploit. As soon as I can predict an animal’s behaviour in a given circumstance, I can set up that circumstance and set up to “get” him, bounded by legalities and ethics of course.
As oithers have said, huffing and blowing does, and cow elk that appear aggressive and agitated seem to confirm that maternal protection response is the reason, or at least one of the reasons why female deer come to a distress call. It sounds like a fawn or calf.
On several occasions I’ve had adult desert jack rabbits run up close to me, hesitate and then run away as if to get me to chase them, when using a rabbit distress. I’d guess that’s also a maternal or perhaps a parental protective action. I couldn’t tell if the rabbits were male or female.
Another factor is curiosity, as several have also mentioned. I have a low grade tentative theory that the curiosity attraction works better the higher the intelligence of the animal, so is a little better on coyotes and raccoons. However, caribou, antelope and cats seem to be drawn by visual curiosity to odd moving objects so that may run counter to my higher intelligence theory, at least for the duh-faced caribou.
Sometimes does have acted to me like they were curious, especially mule deer does in the Fall, with their big twin fawns with them sometimes as they approach my distress sound. I think curisoity is the major factor in some bucks coming in, plus maybe some aggressiveness linked more to testosterone than to specific territorial or fight dominance, etc. Mostly that's speculation, though it is based on observed behaviours.
When does come to a distress call, sexual attraction, territorial aggression, sexual aggression (toward rivals), and hunger are probably not factors.
Why do any animals come? That is one of the mysteries that make this fun, both the calling and the speculating. I hope my ruminating and philosophizing isn’t too aggravating as I think about these questions out loud here. Such pondering has made me a better caller (I think).
Each time we figure out a tidbit of why an animal does what he does in response to a call, that gives us an advantage we can exploit. As soon as I can predict an animal’s behaviour in a given circumstance, I can set up that circumstance and set up to “get” him, bounded by legalities and ethics of course.
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