Well, I figure its time for me to chime in on this.

As far as deer "learning" about hunters and the dangers associated with them, I don't believe in that, but deer do have "instinct" and they can form patterns. A deers instinct is really what keeps them alive. Deer will usually play on the "safe side" of things. If they notice something that is out of the ordinary they will probably take a different route where everything is as usual. It isn't necessarily that they associate the change with danger, they would rather be safe than sorry.

GMMAT, you stated...

And this is a good question, but the difference is that if a deer is accustomed to hikers going through the woods they will typically associate those hikers to the specific trails they use and they will see that the hikers move out of the area immediately. Rob brought up some great points along these lines on a post a few weeks ago where I guy was asking about using his ATV to get into his hunting area. The deer become use to the ATV noise in an area and they don't associate them with danger, but if that same rider where to turn the ATV off the deer would sense that something is different this time and they would either leave or be on high alert. Last summer when my property was in soybeans and it was easy to spot the bachelor groups in the summer I was able to ride my ATV past very large and mature bucks without them paying any attention to me, but if I were to turn the quad off or stop they would instantly realize that this wasn't normal and they would be gone.

Now as far as "hunting the does for the bucks" goes, I am sorry but I don't believe in this at all. Its not that it won't work, but for me I just don't see it as being the most productive method. Most of my buck sightings last year where not in areas with numerous amounts of doe, and I wouldn't associate any of my buck sightings being because of a doe in the area. These bucks were just cruising through the woods, checking scrapes and patrolling the area. I'm not going to say that this is the standard around the country, but I think too many people delve to deeply into thought and way over-think deer sightings. It seems that most hunters think that there has to be a reason for abuck to move through a certain area every minute of every day, but I have seen most of my bucks that just seem to meander around. Does a buck have to have a reason for being in a certain area, or could it be that he just got up and did it for no reason?

Now, as far as hunting pressure goes, I hunt in "low pressure" woods for my area, but with that said, these "low pressure" areas still probably receive more general hunting pressure than some of the heaviest hunted areas in other states. The insane hunting pressure here in PA has helped to make my areas the hot spots that they are. The land that I hunt is usually bordered by either public land or private land with a farmer to gives and open invitation to anybody to hunt his land because he wants all of the deer gone. My "honey hole" property is a perfect example of this, it is about a 150 acre piece of property with the north 90 acres being posted to everybody but me and the people I choose to take in. Now, the bottom 60 acres of these woods are private property that aren't posted so (like normal in PA) people don't ask permission and just hunt it. Now, to the east these woods are bordered by a 500 acre farm and to the south is a large corn field with SGL's on the other side of that, to the west is my neighborhood and to the north is a maximum security prison and the county jail. This little 90 acre chunk of land that is off limits to everybody but me and who I take in becomes a sanctuary. The deer on the properties surrounding this are pressured HARD and it doesn't take them long to realize that my "honey hole" is a "safe spot". That pressure from the surrounding properties is a blessing in that it puts more deer into my area, but at the same time it is also keeping these deer on high alert and forces deer to go nocturnal. It is hard for people who live in low to medium pressure states to truly understand the amount of hunting pressure in PA. A few years ago when the heard reductions were just started, it wasn't uncommon to sit in stand on the first morning or rifle season and hear 400-500 gun shots by 10 a.m. Give me a low pressure area with fewer mature bucks than a high pressure area with more mature bucks any day of the week. Sure, on paper it may sound like the area with the most mature bucks is going to be the best route to go, but when pressure is factored in the whole perspective changes. I would rather hunt a single mature buck that is easier to pattern than ten mature bucks that are so pressured they are pretty much entirely nocturnal.