Leaderboard

Yes I have seen wise old bucks, and also some very stupid big bucks. I suspect that most of us have seen nice bucks moving along on the trail of a doe with his nose to the ground in broad daylight without a single care about being sneaky or hidden. Think about it. A buck shows every hunter its presence and even its movements with scrapes and rubs. How smart is that? On the other hand, I have seen does that leave nothing but their tracks. They hang around in bunches with all those many sets of eyes and ears. It's not so easy to draw a bow with several sets of eyes and ears checking things out in every direction. There are times when I think the better trophy is a doe. I am convinced that if there were as many big bucks available in the woods as there are does, it would be the bucks that would be the easier prey. Sometimes I wonder why we prize so much all that bone on a buck's head. a lot of them really are not necessarily the wisest, and most intelligent animals in the woods. Many are not the sneakiest. They just are the most scarce because everyone wants that bone stuck to their head. Yes some can be as smart as any doe, but they do have a mental weak spot when it comes to their need to breed.

I have yet to form an opinion on this subject after 35 years of deer hunting. When I believed something to be true, it changes. One thing I do know, never give up the ability to learn from this magnificent animals.

In a small village near Albany a certain Buck was considered a Trophy but the local hunters could not figure out where it went during hunting season , until a couple days after the season ended a hunter spotted the Trophy Buck coming out of an old abandoned barn ! Smart Buck ! Apparently he holed up there during the day !

Its the extreme temperature swings. My steel barn would do it for the first few yrs in summer like a rifle shot and then eventually settled. The deck boards pop when its cold over night and then during day as it warms up.

Senile? I think youre confusing Trump with Biden!!

I dont have a chance to chase them much anymore, but they are some of the first critters scampering around in first light. Once the sun is hitting the tree tops they like to soak up what they can. Then the last couple hrs before dark.

I find if the weather is not too bad and snow is not deep they will be up and about throughout the day with peak activity early and just before dark. Al