Deer blink, but you wouldn't blink to much if your entire nature was to look out for something running up to kill you would you, and I bet your grand kids would blink even less if you had that situation. I don't know about sleeping I figure though if a person can do it a deer probably can as well.

 

We used to have a drunk dude at work who could sleep standing up, so I suppose a deer could sleep with it's eyes open.

 

I have found fawns in the spring, that have their eyes shut while sleeping. So I know that the fawns do, I don't know why that would change as they get older, but don't know for certain.

 

I have read several deer biology studies that determined that deer rarely ever sleep, as we know it. They do go into the equivelent of a daydream state in which they rest. Actuall sleep (laid head down and closed it's eye's sleep)was only recorded one time during extreme exhaustion, 1 buck 15 does in 1 pen during the rutt(get it). And that sleep lasted less than 1 hour.

My 2 cents of 2nd hand info.

My opinion. I've never seen a cow or horse with it's eyes closed either. Prey don't sleep, only hunters do.

 

I was sitting in my tree stand during prime time rut one year when this small buck laid down next to a scrape 20 yards from me. After awhile his head would droop, then he'd catch himself, look around, then nod off again. After a half a dozen times of this, he finally must have said piss on it and laid flat out, like a drunk at bar time. He laid there, dead to the world, for a good 15-20 minutes till he heard something, got up, and trotted off down the hill looking for some more action. Must have been the animal equivalent of a power nap. Pretty entertaining.

Al