Here is how I rate deer in the IQ department:

#1 Old Doe
#2 Old buck
#3 doe
#4 button
#5 All bucks during the rut!

Fred Bear said the smartest deer he ever killed was an old doe.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

Taz, You got'er! A "herd" or dominant doe has it all over the rest of them. I have had several experiences with "smart does" in northern WI. I have been picked out of tree stands in white pines that offered very good concealment (wind was good and I wasn't moving).

"Semper Fi"

I would have to agree with the guys who say an "older, mature ,wild, dominant doe" for smarts. I hunt a huge swamp and amazed how even the first day of rifle season how quickly these animals are back into some of the thickest cover there is. There #1 job is to keep those fawns alive. Alot of guys think mature bucks are the smartest simply because they hardly ever see them. There may only be 1 of these animals within a several square mile area so seeing one is rare in heavely hunted areas like PA.

Large older bucks are also very noisy animals when moving through thick cover and this can give away their position where larger does move very quietly.

I would agree that the older doe seems to know what is going on. Lets face it bucks aren't really that smart when it comes to rut time. They may seem a little more weary, but thats because they have to protect there area and they do get into alot of fights. They are more interested in who's out there instead of eating and just walking around. Now as far as there IQ test go I'll have to get back to ya there is a little button buck that is giving me trouble in the classroom He keeps running around with his head down and knocking all the desk over<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle> Sorry Mauser I couldn't resist

Nothing smarter than an old doe. That old doe will pick you out and than give the command for every deer in the county to run off. An old buck may be smart but he will usually get his but out of danger and not all the deer in the woods.

I had a group of 15-16 deer come in. A good variety of deer were present under my stand. That damn old doe never took her eyes off of me for twenty minutes. When I finally made a move to grab my bow she squaled out and all the deer fanished.

GO PACK!

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Deer are not stupid. Some just have more natural instincts than others (my opinion). Also, Who said deer don't look up? They do where I hunt!

Not that I ever hunted a deer, but the answer &quot;a buck because their hunted more&quot; assumes that they can tell that by being &quot;male&quot; they are the target and not that the species as a whole is the target.

It seems though that if the male is hunted more, then there would be less of them to survive long enough to gain real experience as opposed to the females who are hunted less, would assume that the live longer and had more experience with hunters because not being the target they survive more hunts.

I think it all boils down to age. Most of the older deer are really smart and their sex doesnt have much to do with it. We have all seen those old bucks that get huge because they know how to move and avoid hunters and were to sneak around. But then you have that old lead doe that all the other does depend on to get them through the woods safely they follow her cause they know she knows the ropes. So i think it all comes down to age and experience.

In most places, people shoot 5-10 bucks for every doe. Therefore the bucks better be smarter or they are history.

You would call a doe that walks near you or sees you and doesn't spook a &quot;dumb&quot; deer, but if no one shoots at her, she has nothing to fear, so why run. She has never had a good reason to become nocturnal.

In our area, we hunt does hard, and for many years have killed more does than bucks (about 1.5 does for every buck killed). Even though the night survey counts still shows about 2 does per buck, you see more bucks than does during daylight hours. Why? Because does have been hunted harder and have become more nocturnal.

In other words the class of deer hunted hardest will wise up over time.