Why on earth does everyone think there's anything special about the deer? It's just a forest that belongs to his family that has (Shika) deer in them... Why can't they be the caretakers of a forest outside of Konoha?

Have the deer actually done anything at all? No.

And haven't we only seen the telepathic link when they sit down to communicate? Perhaps it involves handseals which could be quite tricky to accomplish in Hidans current state, and if nobody knows where he is then it's safe to say they wouldn't find him. And his family should be relatively strong since he himself planned the takedown of no less than two Akatsuki members on his own...

This/these ep(s) had too many sporadic flashbacks and explanation scenes for my taste...