That explains a lot. The land you get to hunt is what shapes your views and opinions on deer and hunting. A yearling buck on land that has low or no hunting pressure will be a lot different then a yearling buck in the heavily hunted public battlefields. The buck on low pressure land may never have even seen a hunter yet or heard a shot from a gun........the buck in the battlefield probably has a few scrapes on him from close calls last year and had to run for his life numerous times. The buck on low pressure land can walk all over the place without a care in the world because even when he does make a mistake and happens by your stand it doesn't matter because nothing happens anyways............he doesn't know the difference between when he screwed up and when he didn't. The buck in the battlefields KNOWS danger could lurk around EVERY tree. He has seen the human shapes, heard the shots ring out and been shot at himself. He knows what areas to avoid and when to avoid them because he's already been there and done that. Sure a yearling is not some crusty old veteran of the woods but you have to understand that not all bucks behave the same and the enviornment they are in is what shapes that behavior.

Here is a perfect example..........I live in area that is NO hunting. I also live right down the street from a local park with a bunch of woods that are LOADED with deer. They are EVERYWHERE around my house. I have gone out plenty of days to hunt and seen deer in my yard............get skunked in the woods..........and see deer in my yard again when I get home [8D]

I also feed them from time to time if the weather gets bad enough or just to keep them off my bushes. Anyways.........I have had several mature bucks in my yard over the last 3 years. I have had them standing 10 yards from me as I do yardwork or even when I shoot my bow. Now I could easily say to a guy like you that mature bucks are stupid and the easiest animals out there to kill because the ones in my yard ARE stupid..........but WHY are they stupid?? Because humans pose no threat to them and in fact most of the time give them food. Turn the tables and start shooting at those deer in my yard or the park down the road and you will see a DRAMATIC change in their behavior.

Don't let your view through rose colored glasses fool you into thinking that is the way it is EVERYWHERE Buckeye