Greetings,
When my Mom was alive, she was a "uncertified" wildlife rehabber.
She started in late 1950s and continued up until she passed about 10 years ago.
It was not uncommon to have 1 to 4 small deer around the farm that was saved from the local hay bailers, or their mom getting hit by a car, etc.
Some hung around, some ventured into the wild on their own, some of the bucks were taken and released into Bastrop State Park.

The rest of the family were hunters and took their share but knew better than to shoot one of the ones with a collar!

Anyway, a fellow who worked with my brother wanted to came out to hunt one year.
He came out on Friday and scouted the area and brought his fancy new pop up ground blind and set it up for the next morning.
When he came back out the next morning, he also brought a Snickers bar to munch on while hunting.

Well, as luck would have it, one of Mom's favorite spikes had a sweet tooth and loved snatching a piece of candy when the opportunity presented itself. Dad didn't help matters as he would often "hide" a malted milk ball in his shirt pocket for the deer to find...

Lynn got out early and went to his blind.
Just after daylight, we heard lots of noise and hollering followed by strings of four letter words that would make a sailor blush.....

Seems he got comfortable and was watching some deer by the feeder when Spikey stuck his head in through one of the curtains, reached over his shoulder and started sniffing for the Snickers in Lynn's shirt pocket.

We still don't know who suffered the most trauma, Lynn after dropping his rifle and tearing thru the blind while trying to get out or Spikey running off with most of the blind firmly stuck to his little antlers.

Last time we saw Spikey was when they took him to turn him lose in the State Park.
I can only imagine the rude awakening of some of the campers who had candy with them in their tents.

When I was 13 I took part in a deer drive. Only I wasn't driving, I was dropped off in front of the line of drivers. Everyone was armed with buckshot.

It was right after Hurricane Andrew and there were lots of trees laid over. I found a nice tree that had fallen so I sat on the trunk and propped my gun up on the roots.

Everyone has VHF radios to remain in contact so we know exactly where everyone is at. About 10 minutes into the drive someone mentions they jumped a bear. Then the next guy in the line says its in front of him then the next and so on. Finally its in front of my dad and after him the bear will hit a pipeline canal and can either swim the pipeline, or move to the north towards me. I hear on the radio he's headed my way. About 5 minutes later I hear something splashing through the water.

I just knew it was the bear, as it got closer I hunkered down behind the roots and was too scared to look up. Finally I hear it start running to me. Then when it gets a few feet away (right on the other side of the roots) it stops. I slowly start peaking above the roots and come face to face with a big old doe literally 2 feet away from me. She stared at me for about 10 seconds and then took off. I missed my opportunity for my first deer. I was shaking so bad thought, don't know if I would have hit her within 10 yards anyway.

Saturday evening I had a doe get to about 8 feet away from me before she saw me... didn't spook, just backed up and went the other way... pretty cool.

We give roping deer a new meaning

Looks like catch and release hunting right there

That's small looking to have such antlers. How about deer by knife hunting?

Sitting on a 10' ladder stand one morning during bow season I had 2 yearlings playing around the foot of the stand. It was really cool to watch how animals play. Just like watching your dog play with another dog.

Also had a Bobcat growl behind me as I was sitting in a ground blind useing a fawn bleet, talk about all the hair standing up on your head, He// even the one's I was sitting on stood up.

I have deer walk right under my ladder stand all the time. No really close encounters on foot.

Wasnt huntin to kill but catch on king ranch one year...biologist used me and a buddy of mine as catch dummies durin hellacopter trapping...jumped off 4weelers onto the backs of some giant bucks... the one i wnt forget was tha bull of a 6.5 yr old that wasnt netted very well and drug me through a group of cactus and a masquite tree...good thing i had 170 inches to hold onto....other than that just 5 yrds or so with deer...made the mistake of sittin on a hog trail one night and ended up with a boar sniffin my neck...he squilled and i screamed like a little girl while we were runnin the opposite directions

Lots of good stories! I've also had a few:

4x4 elk at 7 steps with a bow- couldn't get a shot.
doe sniff my shoe while bow hunting on the ground.
25-30 pigs feed right up to 3 yards infront of me while tucked into a cedar tree bow hunting. This was the most terrifying one!
1 turkey circled us and circled in behind me almost looking over my shoulder from the tree I was sitting at the base of. It was cool.

Had a few deer right up against the pop-up blind, one rubbed against it.

Wasn't a deer but had a coyote jump into the bush with me when I was turkey calling, left powder burns on that one.

Also wasn't a deer, but had a buddy that was attacked in a tree stand by an owl before morning light. He ended up with alot of stitches on that one.

Close enough to feel their breath.

While bow hunting in South Texas I have had a doe take a dump and the pebbles hit my boots. I was sitting on a trail in some black brush when it happened and I also had a javalena at the same place about 2 feet away.

Deer was cool to have that close as I am sure she could hear my heartbeat but java was a little scary for me.

I was squirrel hunting one morning and had a fawn bed down beside me and get up and follow me for 2 trees until I shot a squirrel.

Howdy! I hunt and have lurked around here for a while.

One time I was buried up in a bush and had two twin yearling spikes come by on the upwind side at 6 feet.

Another time was sitting at the base of a live oak tree with a lot of cedar scrub all around and had 5-6 does all around the tree from anywhere around 6-15 feet. It was a calm wind but don't know how they didn't smell me. I think cedar is to deer like mentholatum is to us. It just overpowers their nose.

Back when I lived in South Dakota, I was squirrel hunting in with my roommate and a doe walked up to us in the woods. He kept backing away from her until he walked into a tree. The doe then put its head on his chest and rubbed like a dog would do. After that we both petted her and tried to figure out why her back was misshapen. We later found out the neighbor had hit her with his car when she was a fawn, took her to a vet, and ended up making a pet of her. All the farmers in the area knew to leave the hunchbacked doe alone. During deer season he'd keep her in his barn, but let her free-roam the rest of the year.

A couple years ago I put a popup blind on the back part of my place. I'd scatter some corn out by hand each night, and I kept the bag of corn in the blind. Walk up there one morning and the bag is torn apart and most of the corn is gone. The inside of the blind was a mess. After sitting in the blind for about 30 minutes, this doe walks up and sticks her head into the blind with me. Turns out it was the pet deer (orange collar and all) that roamed around the neighborhood. The thing was dog tame, so there was no scaring it off. After that I made sure to keep the door shut all the way on the blind to keep her out.

I've unintentionally walked within about 10' of a wild deer when walking to the blind in the dark. Scared both of us.

During a nv scope 'spot and stalk' hunt for hogs in the middle of the night, I had a nice mature 8 point get to within about 10 yards of me before figuring out he wasn't alone.

It was way out in the country, away from ambient light, and there was no moon and very little star light. I was down wind and staying very still. He never bolted, but his 6th sense was definitely tingling.

Several years ago, I cut out a cedar tree to bow hunt out of. Had a doe come in from behind me and never heard her. I guess she noticed something different about that tree and stuck her nose in it to figure me out. She came in at an angle from my back/right side. I didn't notice anything until she got a few inches from me, that's when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I slowly turned my head to see what it was (to make sure it wasn't a rattlesnake). I didn't relive it was a deer at first, I just jump because it startled the POOP out of me. As I jump, I'm not sure if I hit her or a tree limb but I hit something. I ended up shooting her about an hour later.

sitting on the ground I had a doe put her nose on my boot.

Had a yearling doe walk up and look inside my pop up!!! I could have slapped her she was so close and then she turned and walked slowly away!!! I believe Scent-away does work!!!

One morning some years back out at my uncles place in Parker County, we went out to feed the horses and cows. The night before it had rained like a son of a gun, bad t-storms, high winds, hail, tornadoes the whole 9 yards. As I go to get onto the tractor, our Labrador would not move out of the way of the bucket. Everytime I started the tractor, she would bark and yelp like crazy. Finally, I climb off and see what the heck is going on, and inside of the bucket curled up is a fawn. Thing could barely stand, little on run. Nothing seemed wrong with it, we bottle fed it and daily. Never caged him, never penned him up. We put a big red collar with a stop sign shaped tag around his neck. He loved lollipops and suckers and butterscotch candies. He never left the farm area until he got a bit bigger. He would come up and eat out of your hand. Eventually, as he matured, into what I must say was the start of a good looking buck, he fell into a bad crowd, lol. Last time we saw him was across the creek running with some other deer, then one day we never saw him again. I am sure he was taken out by a hunter somewhere. That was really cool having him around.

Another time, on an old lease out in Wise county, I was sitting in my tree stand, wich was only about 4-5 foot up, had 2 does come walking right up to my stand and start sniffing around my legs. I was using the same old apple scented cover spray that I still use today, thats why I swear by it!

A couple of yards bow hunting.

Close enough to grab them.

I don't recommend it though!!

last year while duck hunting we were at camp one night and had one get so close we were petting it, im going to try and find the video of it

I touched a buck rutting a doe in Cherokee County yrs ago with
a 30-30 borrowed...couldn't make up my mind to hit or shoot..
He ran about 100 yds shot front to back with a hollowpoint.

On the Rafter S in So. Tex. I used to hunt with one of my buddies in the drought in early 80s and had over 200 worn out
mama's go thru a wood rail gate I was sitting behind not 2 ft..
away...Saw some die in the water..Unfortunately, Mary Nan wouldn't let us harvest does...DD