Being most people on here agree that a 3.5 year old buck is considered mature. Can any of you tell the jump in intelligence from a 3.5 to a 4.5 year old whitetail buck assuming you know the age of the bucks your comparing? To me its a night and day difference!!

I know I've SEEN a lot more 3.5's than 4.5's. That has to say something. Yes.

Most definately. Although I do see some 4 1/2s that still act like 3 1/2s, but I never see any 5 1/2s and older that act anything but old and wise.

I don't know if it would be proper to call it intelligence, but maybe more so of a situational or surroundings awareness.

If a buck reaches the age of 4 1/2 in my area, odds are he will be the top dog for his home range, and odds are he was probably there as a 3 1/2 year old (that is usually as old as deer get around here) so that means for possibly the first time in his life he has been in the same area for the last couple years. Basing this loosely on an several articles I have read on how far a yearling buck will go to get out of his birth area (5-10 miles) then once he gets there that might not be the spot he ends up in....

So getting back to the question, he is starting to be more like a doe in that has been born and lived in the area, ever notice how them old does always pick you out? They know what does and doesn't belong. Wonder what would happen if you put a dummy or maniquen (sp?) and leave it in a stand all year long on a busy trail, then take it out when you want to hunt that spot......

I am unable to make that distinction for bucks around here.

That would basically be like trying to tell the difference between a person with a PHD from MIT and a person with a PHD from harvard.

The MIT guys will be geekier, and the harvard guys will be snobbier.

they are almost a completely different animal

I likethis answer. I think we read the same articles....and I was intrigued to learn a mature buck's home range gets SMALLER as he ages. So it would make sense he would become more and more familiar with his home range and especially his core area.

That is something to consider, for sure.

I wouldn't have any way of discerning if the only 4.5 yr old I've seen was any smarter than the only 3.5 yr old I've ever seen.

I'm also not sure I would call it intelligence, but they definately seem more in "tune" with their habitat. They seem to do things with more of a "purpose". For instance, during the rut, they don't go around running willy-nilly chasing does. They seem to find 1 doe that's in heat and stick with her until he breeds her then goes and finds another. They seem to be more willing to travel during the middle part of the day instead of just sunrise and sundown, in fact may not move until dark and midday.
I would call it more of a reaction to stimulus received from past hunting seasons, ie., getting shot at, maybe wounded,getting bumped by hunters, noticing the increase of human odor during the season. It's like how you see a big bruiser during thefirst part of the season but never see him again until after the season is over. He's probably responding to the stimuli ofhuman scent and knows what worked in the past and knows it's time to rely on those "haunts" that saved him in the past.

Jeff you nailed it, the core area. You read that article in D&DH about how some mature bucks are just so lazy the even during the rut they won't leave their core area?