"You can age them by teeth, how about oldest ones?"
How many folks do youknow whocouldactually age whitetails by their teeth, especially deer that are actually a mature 5 1/2+ ? I assure you, the number is VERY minimal.It's only a simple process for animalsup to 3 1/2 and then it becomes amuch more difficult task for the average joe.
"From what more experienced deer hunters say they are supposed to be as smart as mature bucks."
"Supposed to be"..... LOL, that's an understatement!
I believe that maturity plus maternal instinct plus never having a mind clouded byrutting behavior actually makes a matureDoeTHE most alert and difficult animal in the woods to tag. I have been fortunate toobserve, pass on and even tag a fair number of respectable bucks and I rarely can remember any of them looking up at my location. However, mature Does don't seem to let anything get by 'em. No distractions in their lives,only the instinct to survive. It doesn't seem surprising to mosthunters to get picked off by mature Does.
However, I can assure you that ANY mature whitetail is a survival machine regardless of sex butjust because males carry antlers does NOT make them smarter then their female counterparts by any stretch of the imagination. All things considered, the average Doeshould seem to be MUCH smarter then the"average" buck simply because the "average" buck is a naive yearling or 2 1/2 year old! It's not the fact that an animal is a buck or doe butit's maturity and life experiences that makes an animal more wary then others, regardless of sex, it's just thatolder Does have a lot more on their minds thenbucks.