How Fast Can a Deer Run?

There is no way of telling how fast the deer you are hunting will run, as it wholly depends on the deer itself and the kind of situation. On record, the speed of the fastest running deer is about 30 miles per hour.

When hunting any animal, you must know the strengths and weaknesses that they have. Hunting deer in its habitat is challenging as they are born speedsters. Every deer relies on speed to outrun its would-be predators such as the coyotes, wolves, among others. However, speed is not the only survival instinct a deer has. Deer can also leap and spring as quickly as possible to escape whatever danger that is on their way.

Unlike other animals that would get tired running for its life, a deer is able to maintain its speed for an extended period. When running away, the deer runs in a zigzagging motion accompanied by fidgeting impulses. It is a defensive maneuver that enables most deer to sense and avoid predators that are also fast from catching up and attacking them.

A deer is sometimes witty and can use its environment to camouflage. The deer can blend with its habitat and hide after creating distance from its attacker which makes them good at interpreting danger and how to escape without expending lots of energy. 

Besides running fast and hiding, another defensive trick that the deer often uses is jumping or leaping high into the air. As excellent jumpers, the deer can jump as high as seven feet from a standing position, and more than ten feet when the deer is running and at high speed. It is easy for a deer to create distance in any direction as they can cover as much as 30 feet in one leap.

How Long Can A Deer Run?

Deer are quite fast and can sometimes reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. As excellent swimmers, they are also fast in the water and can reach top speeds of up to 13 miles per hour. Because of the whitetail’s long strides, they can jump distances of up to 25 feet.

Is A Horse Faster Than A Deer?

If you have been to a racetrack then you have witnessed how fast horses are. They seem like animals moving on wheels and engines as they are fast and agile. There is hardly another animal that can compete with a horse except for a few. Unfortunately, deer is not one of them and hence a horse is faster than a deer. Though both sets of animals have different uses of speed deer are much swifter but less fast. 

Horse Speed

The horse is a speedster because it has four gaits that it can choose from. It has a four-beat walk that can average at least four miles per hour. The horse can also settle for a two-beat trot, that averages around eight to ten miles per hour. 

The three-beat gait is called a lope or canter or lope and can average up to 12 to 15 miles per hour. The last is the gallop and it is the fastest as a gallop average between 25 to 30 miles per hour, however, when a horse sprints it kicks at higher levels and can easily reach speeds of up to 55 miles per hour or more.

Deer Speed

As much as the whitetail deer can reach maximum speeds of over 30 miles per hour it is challenging to maintain the same pace over longer distances. As a bonus to their speeds deer is also a great jumper and can leap high into the air. A deer can easily clear a 7-foot height from a standing position and get to 10 feet when running.

Tips on Hunting Running Deer

If you don’t know, the whitetail deer is the most abundant in the US, and therefore it is probably the most sought after. Now that you understand some basic facts about the deer instincts, it follows that you should also know how to hunt a running deer. 

It is not a challenge you can overcome easily, and some people may even find it impossible however it is feasible. All you should do is follow these tips:

Unfortunately, if you are hunting deer without hunting dogs then you may not be able to outrun or catch up with a running deer. Running at the same speed as the deer for hours on end is next to impossible. You have better chances of hitting a moving whitetail deer with lots of practice and knowing where to aim once you get a good position. You can either sit, kneel, or stay in a prone position. Another advantage is using a rifle that can hit and kill its target even at faraway distances. 

Always aim at the deer’s back of the head so that you can hit its neck or the shoulder as it is fleeing. But you must be able to judge the distance an