Why the dawn shift is worth the alarm

Deer are creatures of the half-light. Their eyes are built for it, their stomachs run to a rhythm of feeding at first and last light, and by mid-morning they will almost always be lying up in cover, chewing the cud and watching the world go by without you. That means the two or three hours around sunrise are your best chance by a very long way — and it is not a close contest.

In high summer that could mean being on the path at half past four, with the wood still dripping and a mist hanging over the rides. In November you can park up at half six, walk in for twenty minutes and be in position before the rooks have properly woken. Check the sunrise time the night before and aim to be in place at least half an hour early. There is no point arriving as the light arrives; the deer have already heard you.

Conditions matter as much as timing. A damp, still morning after overnight rain is close to ideal: wet leaves muffle your footfalls and heavy air holds your scent low and close. Dry, breezy, bright mornings are much harder work. They are still worth doing, but expect to see backsides rather than faces.

Get the wind right before you take a single step

A deer's nose is its real alarm system. Its ears are good and its eyes are sharp, especially at picking up movement, but scent carries furthest of all and travels into places you cannot see. A red deer can pick you up at a few hundred metres on a steady breeze, and it will not hang about to explain itself.

So check the wind before you leave the car. Wet a finger and hold it up. Drop a few blades of grass and watch where they fall. Look at which way the mist is drifting, or the smoke from a distant chimney. Then plan a route that keeps your scent blowing away from where you expect the deer to be.

The old stalking rule is worth remembering: keep the wind in your face and the sun behind you. Practically, that means heading into the breeze rather than walking with it pushing at your back, and choosing your approach so the deer are downwind of you rather than the reverse. If the wind is swirling — as it often does in woodland — slow down further and expect to be caught out.

Move like someone with nowhere to be

Rushing is the single most common mistake. A walker striding along a path at three miles an hour is a series of loud, rhythmic signals; a person taking four slow steps then stopping for a minute is just background noise. Use the wood's own soundtrack. While the pigeons and blackbirds are chattering, you can get away with a little more; when everything suddenly goes quiet, that is your cue to stand still.

Think about what is under your boots. Gravel and dry twigs are the worst offenders; leaf litter is noisy but manageable; moss, short grass and wet mud are your friends. Walking on the grassy strip at the edge of a ride is often far quieter than the middle of the track. Avoid kicking stones, and resist the urge to snap dead branches out of the way.

Keep your own smell down, too. Heavy deodorant, fabric softener, minty gum and a flask of strong coffee all carry further than you would think. Plain is better.

What to look for, and what they will show you

Deer are masters of the standing-still trick, so train your eyes to search for shapes rather than animals.

• Horizontal lines. A deer at rest is a dark bar of shadow in a wood of vertical trunks.
• Heads and ears above the bracken or bramble. Roe in particular will show one ear and an eye, then vanish.
• White rumps. A fallow's bold black-edged patch or a roe's cream one is often the first and only glimpse you get.
• Movement that is not quite branch-like — an ear turning, a tail flicking like a windscreen wiper.
• Field sign: cloven slots in soft ground, oval droppings, frayed saplings, bark rubbed bare, and a neat browsing line along a hedge where everything below about a metre has been nibbled.

Knowing your reds from your roe

Red deer are our largest land mammals, standing around 1.2 metres at the shoulder. Stags carry big, multi-tined antlers and roar in October. Hinds and calves gather in herds, and you will often see them in glens, on moorland edges and in open parkland.

Roe deer are much smaller, russet in summer and grey-brown in winter, with a neat white rump patch and no visible tail. Bucks have short three-pointed antlers. They are usually alone or in twos and threes, and their sharp bark is a sound worth learning.

Fallow are the spotted, palmate-antlered deer of the lowland parks and forests, often in large herds. Muntjac are tiny, hunched, and noisy — they bark like a hoarse dog and are increasingly common in southern and central England.

Binoculars, kit and staying comfortable

An 8x42 pair of binoculars is the sweet spot for woodland — bright enough in low light, wide enough to find deer quickly. A monocular saves weight if you are walking far. Carry them on a harness rather than a swinging strap, and clean the lenses before you go.

Wear dull colours: olive, brown, grey, dark green. Skip rustly shell fabrics if you can; fleece and wool are quieter. Decant your snacks out of crinkly packets, silence your phone, and take a small head torch with a red setting so you do not blind yourself or anything else at first light.

Finally, look after yourself. Tuck your trousers into socks in tick country and check yourself properly when you get home, as Lyme disease is a real risk. Midges in the west of Scotland and the damp uplands can be ferocious in summer, so take a repellent. And carry a flask — there is nothing like a hot drink in a quiet wood at six in the morning.

Distance, dogs and leaving it as you found it

Watch deer at a respectful distance — think 100 metres or more, and let the binoculars close the gap rather than your boots. If a deer lifts its head, fixes you with both eyes and stops feeding, you are already too close. If it stamps, barks, or raises its white rump, back off slowly and sideways, without a direct stare.

Be especially careful in the rut, when red and fallow stags can be unpredictable big animals, and never get between a stag and his hinds. In late spring and summer, does will hide fawns in long grass and watch from a distance — never touch a fawn you find, and keep dogs away from that area entirely.

• Keep dogs on a short lead around deer, and from March to July for ground-nesting birds.
• Stay on public footpaths and permissive paths, and close every gate behind you.
• Take all litter home, including fruit peel and sandwich crusts.
• If you find an injured deer, do not approach it — note the location and call the landowner or a local wildlife rehabilitator.

Do all of that, and you will see more deer, see them for longer, and leave them undisturbed in the wood where you found them.