Born 2 Bow Hunt

Different animal. I believe ones best chances are very early season while they might have somewhat of a routing if undisturbed or during the rut anytime of day anywhere...mostly where I am not at.

It is hard to pattern them and they often seem to make up their own trails as they go.

Almost all of the pictures of older bucks taken on my trail cams are between midnight and 4 AM.

Rickmur

Are you kidding me? Without a dought.

Justin

Just out of curiosity - how long have you been hunting? I'm interested to know if you're speaking from experience, or just what you've read or saw on TV over the past few years. From what I recall you're pretty young, right? The only reason I say this is that it seems to be the canned response that everyone gives, regardless of how they came to that conclusion. Someoone mentions "mature deer" and everyone in the world starts chiming in with "Yep, 3.5 year olds and up are a different animal." Please don't my question as being derogatory in any way. I'm just asking!

I personally don't believe a 3.5 year old buck to be fully mature. Indeed they are more difficult to kill than a 2.5 year old, but not nearly to the level of a 4.5 year old or above. I believe it was shed who said they're the "tweeners" of the deer world. Smart enough to know not to walk directly into a bad situation for no reason, but once that tingling in their loins hits they loose quite a bit of their common sense. Much like most of us did in high school.

Those 4.5 and older bucks a much wiser and much more difficult to kill. For anyone that watched this past year's WKP production take a look through Todd's season. See how many great 3.5 year old bucks he not only saw, but passed up from his stand. Then see how many 4.5 year old bucks he even saw that year. The difference is pretty astounding.

Most of your "experts" at hunting a mature deer will tell you that those 4.5 and up bucks are the ones that are fully mature and require the most attention to detail and thoroughness if you want to be successful and consistant at harvesting them.

Back to the subject at hand, I don't personally go out in the woods looking to hunt for "mature bucks" only. I pay as much detail as humanly possible to all the variables of my hunt from scent control to stand placement, entrace/exit routes, etc. but no more or no less than if I was targeting 4.5 year old and older bucks. I'll still whack the first nice 3.5 that walks in front of me.

GMMAT

I've seen exactly two animals in that age class since I started deer hunting in 2005. In that time....I've had over 600 deer "sightings". It would be a futile attempt, im my eyes, to target something so rare in the woods I'm hunting. So....I agree with Justin. I don't go looking for them.....and I'll shoot the first one that gives me the opportunity.

So far I'm 2 for 2.

early in

I honestly think a mature bucks elusiveness/wariness is relitive to how he has been pressured as he was growing up. I believe they are products of their enviornment, in that a buck who has seen more pressure and been disturbed more often is going to be much harder to kill than one who led a more tranquil life.
I also think a buck just automatically becomes less tolerant of everything as he gets older, some just more so than others.

rybohunter

I agree with early in 100%

WKP Todd

The biggest issue with mature deer (4-1/2 or older) is that they just don't move much. They become like an old lab - they lay around about 98% of the time. That's half the battle.

Ic2deer

These animals are a species unto their own. I cannot emphasize to people/non-hunters just how mystical a mature/old whitetail buck is to me.

Justin

I've found that is I've "matured" I'm the same way.

silentassassin

First, to answer your question, yes they are a completely different animal. I base that based on my years of experience in the field.



Second in response to Justin's comments:
I mean no disrespect eventhough you did kick me off as a moderator[:@]. I think it depends on the area and the hunting pressure in the area. Just like teens that grew up in rough neighborhoods or on the streets are much more street wise at a younger age, I think the same goes for deer. Ins other words I think 3.5 yr olds in some area are just as smart and just as hard to hunt as 4.5 yr olds in areas with much less hunting pressure. JMO but I have killed 3.5 yr oldsin low pressure areas and in high pressure areas and I believe there is a big differnce between the two. I do agree however that no matter what the hunting conditions that they are all a different animal by the time they reach 4.5 yrs old. But again I think the 4.5 yr olds in a pressure area are harder to kill than the 4.5 yr olds in a low pressure area.