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The Nose Knows
By Bob Humphrey
Q: While bowhunting this fall I heard a deer making a sound I’ve never heard before. It was kind of like a snort, but not like the blow a deer gives when it smells you. It was more like a quick sneeze, and it did this several times. Do you know what this might be?
A: It’s difficult to say for certain, but it very well could have been a sneeze, or something close to it. A sneeze is involuntary and usually caused by some sort of nasal irritation. Deer do get nasal bots (fly larvae) that might cause an involuntary sneeze, or a deliberate effort to rid them of the parasite. Like deer, dogs use their nose for scent detection and you may have heard a hunting dog sneeze, possibly to clear out their nasal passages for better scent detection.