mtk, you are right. If he did realize I was there, he was probably scared. The mixture of my street bike helmet and the black leather biker jacket would have been perplexing as well. I had never had the chance to really be close to a live deer, and I just wanted to see what was wrong or help him somehow, obviously I couldn't help in any way.
No need to turn this into a hunting debate, that's not the intent. I'm not into shooting animals, but i'm not anti-hunter either. Actually we could probably use more hunting here to keep the population down. No high powered rifle hunting is allowed in Iowa, the limited range of other weapons combined with the terrain makes the hunting a challenge.
In Iowa there is plenty of corn and other vegetation for the deer to eat all year long. I don't think too many of them starve. Sometimes if they get overpopulated, disease will spread, which can have a significant impact on population.
When a deer crosses my path (which is very often), I normally do not go out of my way to chase after them, but on the other hand I don't stop in my tracks or immediately do an about face either. On some days, you'd be constantly changing course because they are everywhere. Normally, they don't stay on the same trail more than a short distance anyway. That's part of what was strange about this guy's behavior...he ran right down the main path, like there was no other option, sort of like a rabbit would do. This time I was just trying to get a closer glipse of him before he frolicked off into the woods, but before I knew it I was right on him...