DeerandbearhoG

I think some people think waaaaaay too much about the behavior of deer not realizing theyre just stupid animals with brains the size of a lemon. There is only one reason why one deer lives longer than another and thats because it didnt happen to step in front of a hunter or car as soon as another during the course of its life.

Sport4

Uhhh, I think this thread is dumb, but I think what this guy said ^^^^^^^^^ is even more dumb. He must not have had much experience with a mature buck before.

StealthHtr22

I couldn't agree more with you...word for word.

DeerandbearhoG

Yeah Ive never killed a deer over 4.5 or one over 120" The ones in my profile album are the best Ive killed, then again I dont live in IL either.

So tell me since youre such an expert on mature bucks, how many you killed "sport"? while youre at it, explain how it is that you killed such an intelligent creature? could it be that they just happen to walk within range of your stand while you just happen to be in it? explain to me how mature deer get killed by inexperienced hunters? how do they manage to get hit by cars, or get hung up on fences? Youd think such an intelligent animal would only ever die of old age, right? Wrong, mature deer die every year for a myriad of reasons, i think its simply because their luck had finally run out.

JakeGrice

Sorry buddy but you couldn't be more wrong. Mature bucks are killed by hunters usually because of the rut. Usually mature bucks are smart enough to stay in thickets and standing corn because they know it is safe. How often do u see a monster buck step out and feed in a bait pile? And big bucks do get hit by cars your right but that doesnt mean there dumb animals at all. they may have been chasing a doe or had been spooked. Usually Nice bucks will come and feed after dark because they are more mature and know better.

WVCritter

Big bucks can make themselves scarce because they are scarce. If there were as many old bucks as there were old does, you'd see them all the time. The biggest buck I ever saw was eating corn from a feeder out of a neighbors yard. He eventually got hit by a car.

JakeGrice

Must not have been during hunting season? Rare to see a big buck eating from a corn feeder unless its right at dark.

bigbulls

You haven't seen many hunting shows have you. The big bruisers walk around out in the open food plots at all times of the day even though the majority of the deer killed are killed on those food plots.

JakeGrice

Im not talking about bucks on ranches. Thats a totally different story and in my opinion is deer farming...not deer hunting.

DeerandbearhoG

and your credentials to determine that are....? I dont expect many here to agree with me because most hunters want to believe their beloved whitetail is so smart and and crafty only a superior buckslayer such as themselves can kill one. some of my biggest bucks sightings while hunting werent even in november and they were usually in the middle of the day. I dunno, we cant bait in NY but from what I can tell deer in general stick close to thick cover, like WVcritter said, you dont see as many big bucks because there arent as many to see. That said Ive seen plenty of big bucks feeding along the side of a road or field while driving during daylight hours, in fact I really dont see much difference in the behavior of "mature" bucks than any other deer. deer get hit by cars all year long, what does the rut have to do with it? deer step out in the road for many reason but mainly cause theyre dumb animals that cant figure out that cars can kill them, I drive through a(non hunting) st pk every night, the stupid bastards hang out and lick the salt on the roads and jump right out in front of me when I drive by em, theyre not spooked or rutting, theyre just dont know which way to run. All deer are pretty much more active at night.

Comon, lets use some common sense for a moment, Im sure some deer are smarter than others, but isnt it highly possible that some "smart" deer dont make it to maturity because they just happened to get wacked before they could get big, and some less smart bucks make it to 4,5,6... years old and grow huge racks, simply because they managed to dodge the grim reaper for a while longer?