WOW! Good stuff!
Things I took from the thread......
Mature bucks in the types of areas they hunt are, I am ready to take a hit on this, simple to kill. - J.E.
While I am ready to give the guy who kills these animals his"justly" duecredit.....the atmosphere in which a LOT of these animasare taken proves John "correct". Watch TV for a while......and see where they're being taken. It' sno fluke.
The quantity of mature bucks in lightly hunted areas also make them less nocturnal during the rut phases because their rut is so competitive for breeding rights.
Herd dynamics playing their role.
"Crepuscular"? Never heard the phrase.....but it makes sense. More pressure (AND individual buck "personality") would also lend to more of them being perceived as "more nocturnal". I haven't read anything that makes me believe they get to that point by nature, alone, though. Do "I" think some of them are more nocturnal than others? Sure. Can we pinpoint "why" (Definitively)? I don't think so. Age? Maybe they get more "efficient" with age.
Does pressure make them become more nocturnal.....OR....will pressure simply force them to displace to a less pressured area. I can't recall who asked this....but it's a hellva question.
Hunting pressure (in my eyes) isn't even relevant to an "area".....if you're not going to include property lines into the equation. A40 acre woodlot that has NO (or very little)hunting wouldn't have ANY/much "pressure". Would the deer, there, adapt to this and become more "at ease" during daylight hours? I think we all know of instances where this would be true. I see it.
That hunting pressure is absolutely critical to bowhunting success on mature bucks in most areas, however, has been largely ignored by the well-known whitetail “experts”. The reason for this is simple. Recognition as a whitetail expert in the hunting community usually comes in direct relation to the number of large bucks a hunter has killed, or following a career as a wildlife biologist. Killing the number and quality of bucks required to do this is easiest in areas with light hunting pressure, and the vast majority of well-known whitetail hunters hunt in those areas. They do not have to deal with hunting pressure, and therefore have no idea how to hunt in such circumstances. Their advice is usually as follows: if you want to kill mature bucks, travel to the places where big bucks are easy to kill. This is realistic advice, but impossible to follow for most bowhunters. We are not in any way suggesting that the “experts” lack the desire and dedication for what is needed to take big bucks in the areas they hunt, we are simply saying that those same practices will simply not produce big bucks with any regularity in pressured areas.
Awesome. Simply awesome.
And I , admittedly, hunt in lightly pressured areas. THIS is a testament to the guys getting it done in areas heavily pressured. Kudos.