RE: Help me understand.....
 

Hands down its the monster bucks period. I hunt some place that are loaded with does and with quite a fewhuge bucks. I can't count the number of does orhuge bucks(with ingun range) butI can count on one hand the number of huge bucks with in bow range. Does may bust you becausethey smell you and/or notice that mass shouldn't hang off that tree. The only way they know this is because they were stupid enough to come in there in the first place! I did kill one doe because she came in with her little ones one time and wouldn't leave while keeping me from moving for 45 mins. She pissed me off that much I shot her. I had one other doe that had she shown up a third time a bust me and hang for a while, she was going down as well. I didn't see her the third time.

RE: Help me understand.....
 

I've read that the really old bucks don't even participate in the rut much. Oftentimes they will have few if any scars from sparring. They don't chase many does and do not breed often. I guess they're so old and experienced that they've decided that staying alive is more important than sex. These bucks may only be seen once a year and rarely even show up in trailcam photos. Can't remember where I read this,but it makes sense.

RE: Help me understand.....
 

Who enters the feild last !;)

RE: Help me understand.....
 

i saw a doe that was so smart theat we put out ear corn and she would NOT come out on the corn pile just stick her head out of the edge of the woods and pull an ear back in and eat it and almost got busted by her 4 times ol does are smart ol bucks just dont come out that often that is the main difference if you ask me

RE: Help me understand.....
 

Scientifically it is very simply. We shoot deer. Therefore the deer we don't shoot must have some advantage whether better since of smell, sight etc. We are selecting these deer that have not been shoot to breed with other deer and pass along those genes to their offspring. Then those deer have it and so forth. By us shooting young or old bucks (mostly we get the suggested dumber deer or deer that lack some special trait to help them survive the hunting season) this leaves the smarter deer (ones that have an advantage) to breed and pass along those traits. It is like darwin said, the strongest will survive. In a round about way these deer are harder to kill because of us...

RE: Help me understand.....
 

A mature doe is a worthy adversary! In my home area it is difficult to come to a conclusion because of the herd balance being so out of whack.There are so many more doe's than bucks that the sheer numbers have the doe's being so much more likely to be killed.
I definitely believe that a 41/2 year old buck or older is the most astute and aware deer that exists.It will respond to pressure immediately and is the most cautious and amped up deer there is.
I do believe though that doe's will become increasingly more difficult to kill as the season progresses and they are subjected to more and more pressure.I have seen doe groups become almost nocturnal and secluding themselves in the thickest cover they can find.
Last night I was glassinfg a field that had several deer in it.I was on a tree line with pretty good cover,the biggest bodied doe in the field saw me at over 200 yards away and stared at me for several minutes before she would go back to feeding.There were several younger doe's in the feild who never saw me and a 21/2 year old eight pointer who never saw me.She was so much more aware then these other deer.