Do Deer Have a 6th Sense?

Sixth Sense?
Some hunters swear that big game
animals have a sixth sense, and they
might be right. But can you do anything about it?
By Dr. Dave Samuel, Conservation Editor
The HECS Suit may very well
help baffle the sixth sense of
deer and other big game.
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OKAY, INITIALLY I WAS not convinced, but as a scientist and former professor, I came home and started reading
journal papers and researching the idea
that human bodies give off some kind
of electric force that animals might
detect (see Sidebar on page 68). This
research gave me a lot to think about.
If you Google “human aura” or “electromagnetic fields,” you’ll find vast materials on these subjects, including papers
that say all living beings have an electrical cloud surrounding them (check out
“Sensing another’s aura” in the Sidebar). Some people claim they can sense
DEER: RALPH HENSLEY/AUTHOR’S PHOTO
Do Deer Have A
O DOUBT IT HAS HAPPENED
to you. You’ve set your stand
to take advantage of the wind,
and trail camera photos show
several good bucks in the
area. It’s a cool November morning —
perfect weather for hunting — and just
as the sun peeks through the trees, a
buck appears on the trail, coming your
way. The wind is right, and your entry
trail is behind you. Perfect scenario.
Then, for no apparent reason, the buck
stops at 40 yards. He stands there for at
least two minutes, never moving a muscle. As quickly as he came, he turns and
walks away, out of your life forever. Why?
In response to scenarios like this, I’ve
heard hunters say that deer have a sixth
sense. In fact, years ago, whitetail authorities and friends of mine Gene and
Barry Wensel told me that deer have a
sixth sense. I didn’t believe it. I’ve always
felt that it wasn’t a sixth sense, but rather
scent. I thought that it had to be odor —
those bucks somehow smell you, and
that is why they move away.
I’ve changed my mind. The reason
originates with discussions I had with
Winner’s Choice president Mike Slinkard
at his booth at the 2010 ATA Trade Show
in January. We talked about his new company, Human Energy Concealment Systems (HECS), and the company’s new 6th
Sense apparel. The theory we discussed,
and the basis for his new company and
clothing, is that our bodies give off electromagnetic radiation — a sixth sense.
“Dave, I’ll send you some literature,
and you decide whether deer have a sixth
sense,” Mike said. “I believe it is clear
that not only do all animals and humans
have and give off electromagnetic signals, but that deer and other animals can
detect them.” We then discussed how
his new garments reduce transmission
of electronic radiation, making it harder
for animals to detect a hunter’s presence.
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this aura and even see it. Scientific papers
describe ways to photograph it. For hundreds of years, Indian religious leaders
have spoken of aura, and ancient medicinal scholars speak of the human energy
field surrounding our bodies.
For thousands of years, Chinese
practitioners have used the Qigong form
of meditation to enhance their human energy field. Masters of Qigong
also developed various forms of martial
arts as well as acupuncture. Remember when we thought such activities
were just the frivolities of the Orient? We
were wrong. One Internet reference indicates that 97 different cultures refer
to the human energy field, or aura,
surrounding living creatures. Sure, the
presence of an aura is debatable, but
there’s enough smoke here to suggest a
fire burns somewhere.
Scientists have known for years that
some birds, bats, fish, turtles, and other
creatures can detect electromagnetic
fields and use these to migrate, in some
cases thousands of miles to nesting,
feeding, and wintering grounds. Other
studies show that cattle, as well as red
and roe deer, have the unique “sense” to
face in a north-south direction with the
Earth’s electromagnetic lines. Research-
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ers at the University of Duisburg-Essen
(Germany) used Google Earth images
to determine this (Sidebar). In addition, fresh snow beds of deer and cattle
showed that the animals “faced a more
magnetic north-south direction rather
than geographic north-south.” They’re
apparently “feeling” it. One study published in a 1991 issue of the Journal of
Bioelectricity demonstrated that some
people have more sensitivity to electromagnetic fields than others. This all makes me wonder whether
some animals or some species have more
sensitivity than others. It also makes me
wonder whether some bowhunters give
out more or less electromagnetic radiation than others, making them more or
less detectable by game animals when
those animals get close. Do relaxed
hunters give off less electromagnetic
radiation than tense or excited hunters
— and thus more efficiently evade the
sixth sense of big game animals?
Scientists know that electronic charges
zip through human brains because they
can measure them via an electroencephalogram. Lots of people have irregular
heartbeats caused by bad nerve pathways
over the surface of the heart. Doctors can
go in there and measure those electronic
pathways and then laser the bad ones. In
fact, it was via such a surgical procedure
that I suffered an irreversible “mistake”
that has negatively impacted my ability
to hunt forever. That’s been a journey that
I’d love to forget, but cannot.
Research also shows that it’s possible
to block a person’s electromagnetic field
(EMF) by placing the person in a metallic enclosure known as a Faraday Cage,
which can be built of solid metal, metallic mesh, or other fiber materials. (For
details, Google “Wikipedia,” “electromagnetic field,” and “Faraday Cage.”)
WITH THIS BACKGROUND, let’s look
at the results of tests done with EMFblocking garments. Researchers wanted
to test the theory that EMF, even at very
low levels, could be blocked or reduced
to lower the potential of detection by
animals. First, they determined if the
garments changed the electromagnetic
readings of people wearing them. Using
a Trifield Natural EM Meter, they found
the average of 10 readings was 4.24 microteslas for test subjects not wearing the
garments and 1.98 for those wearing the
garments, a reduction of 53 percent.
continued on page 68
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continued from page 66
Next, researchers used individuals in
camo clothes, with as little movement
as possible and facing into the wind, to
observe cattle, horses, and mule deer. I’ll
report just on the mule deer studies. Again, test subjects observed mule
deer from positions 12-20 feet to the side
of known travel routes between bedding
and feeding areas. For observers not
wearing the garments, the average closest distance deer got before detecting the
observers was 48 yards. And 67 percent
of deer groups (10 tests), or individual
deer within groups, detected observers
and gave alarm calls. For observers wearing the garments, the average closest distance before detection was 14 yards, 54
percent of deer detected the observers,
and none of the deer gave alarm calls.
In a second study, researchers watched
as a person stalked directly at mule deer
in an open field. For three tests, the average distance at which the deer first reacted to the stalker was 176 yards, and the
closest the stalker got without detection
was 168 yards. For stalkers wearing the
garments, those numbers were 120 yards
and 52 yards, respectively. In a third study, a person not wearing the garments stalked deer in an open
field, moving only when the deer had
their heads down, feeding. The average
detection distance was 143 yards, and
the closest distance was 124 yards. For
stalkers wearing the garments, average detection distance was 65 yards,
and the closest distance was 32 yards.
In conclusion, it sure seems that humans give off an electromagnetic radiation of some kind, that animals can detect this, and that specialized garments
can reduce the level of radiation. And
even though the sample sizes for the
mule deer observations are small, the
numbers show that wearing these garments improves hunters’ potential for
going undetected. The author of the
study did note that detection, with or
without the garments, was less when the
“hunters” did not move. That’s nothing
new, but looking at the numbers, I predict we will hear a lot more about HECS
6th Sense apparel in the future.
RELATED RESEARCH “Developmental
origin of shark electrosensory organs,” Evolution & Development 8:74-80 (2006). Vertebrates have evolved sensory organs to detect
electrical stimuli in their environment. This
paper talks about how these have evolved
and function in sharks.
“Glycoproteins bound to ion channels mediate detection of electric fields: A proposed
mechanism and supporting evidence,” Bioelectromagnetics 28:379-385 (2007). You
need to be a medical physiologist/physicist
to follow this complex paper, but it basically
shows the complex mechanism that allows
many animals to detect weak electric and
magnetic fields, via electroreceptor cells.
“Sensing another’s aura,” www.schoolforchampions.com/senses/aura.htm. Humans,
animals, and plants have an electrical aura
around them.
“Magnetic alignment in grazing and resting cattle and deer,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, August (2008).
“The human electromagnetic energy
field: Its relationship to interpersonal communication,” Journal of Theoretics 4 (2)
(2002). Discusses the complex way that
our thoughts and emotions cause electromagnetic changes in our bodies.
“Electromagnetic field sensitivity,” Journal
of Bioelectricity 10:241-256 (1991). Controlled study showing that certain people are
more sensitive to electromagnetic sources
from their environment than other people
are. Does not discuss whether some animals
are more susceptible or have more sensitivity
to electromagnetic sources than others.
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