The adult doe is the matriach of the family and as she goes, so do the others. Young bucks are tossed out like yesterday' s salad and the adult buck is a solitary creature. These deer were taught everything about their territory... the food source, the cover areas which areas off the highest level of security. Because they know every branch, rock, stream etc, they are very reluctant to move. Even with high hunting pressure, deer will head for the cover and will leave the area only as a last resort. That' s also why deer will come back to the same general area after being spooked by hunters. Once they feel the danger no longer exists, they will return because they want to stay on their home turf. They would be reluctant to go to another unfamilar area.

I don' t look at deer as smart, but I look at them as being " deer" . We cannot compete on their level when in their back yard and they are deer 100% of the time. It seems they never let their guard down (exl the rut). There is nothing mystical about the whitetail deer except sometimes we may give them unnecessary advantages while we hunt and this really tips the scale in their favor.

How smart are they?...A buck can outsmart many hunters during any one given hunting season. I believe in the expression......." A wise old smart buck didn' t get that way by being stupid" . Yet this same deer will step out onto a road at the height of traffic. Doesn' t soung too smart to me....yet this is exactly what makes a deer a deer.

Trying to keep the odds in my favor while understanding the world of the whitetail is something I try to do each and every time I go into the deer woods. Hunting from dark to dark, always being mindful of the wind, putting my scouting into my strategy etc...I try to learn all the time and sometimes I win but most of the time I' m out of my league. If deer could talk, I think I know what they might be saying about me. Yet, to me, that' s what makes this hunting. Occassionally I' ll win, but it really doesn' t matter because I' m doing what I love more than anything. Learn as you go and enjoy it, that' s what it' s all about.