CB- There are some good answers, to your questions. I'll put my .02 in also. Where I hunt, Central Alabama, we have a high concentration of deer, however I normally see 10 to 15 all year. That is from Oct 15 thru Jan 31 and I usually hunt a lot because my work schedule allows me to. The things previously stated about hunter movement and activity in the woods sends up a red flag to the deer in my area and they usually move at night. Also, our days are typically warm and if I had a thick fur coat on, I wouldn't move much when it's hot either. Another thing are the terrain differences from the west compared to the east. We have a lot of woods and hills. The woods limit your visability and the hills help to spread your scent around, so they usually know you're in their living room before you do. I don't hunt a lot of food plots any more, b/c the deer in my area usually don't come into them until after dark. They do this for a couple reasons. Food (obviously), their visiblity is better in an open area, and hunting pressure in these areas. Here, the deer can bed close enough to the food plots they can hear or smell hunters arrive and leave and never be seen. A couple years ago, I found the bed of a great buck for this area, that was watching me go to and from my stand and I never knew he was there. He was only seen at night crossing the highway. His tracks were everywhere in my hunting area and I was hunting him in vain. Due to property lines, terrain, and usual wind direction, this buck was impossible to take. A lot of people say hunt the rut, they'll mess up then. This is thier most vulnerable time, I agree. But when the doe to buck ratio is 5:1 and up, the big bucks don't have to go very far to satisfy their urges.
There are some taken that are the exception to that rule, but we're talking about on average. And around here, a big buck doen't get to be big by being stupid. It's really hard to compare hunting out west with hunting in the east due to these reasons and more. Who are the best hunters? I'd have to say the ones who don't go hungry.
