Can't go wrong with that IMO. I would never question a hunter going by his "gut" feeling. I throw logic to the wind and follow mine a lot (with success). Oh and one thing I've learned over the years is deer don't have any rules. If they do, they sure as heck don't know about them.
If I only hunted based on the "rules" that I hear on videos or read in magazines I would not kill as many deer as I do. What I've learned to do with the information I get from forums like this or what I read or watch is to not apply the specific information given, but to take how the information is gathered and apply that to what I am doing. By using proven methods of gathering information and scouting on the properties I hunt I have become a more efficient scouter and thus a hunter armed with better information that applies to my spots, not some guy's spot in Iowa.
My Friend Bob Fratzke once told me, right when you think you got them figured out, they make an ass out of you Johnny. Seams to have held true more than not.
I did once take a 'script' out to the woods and stuck it to a tree so the deer would know what to do. Apparently, they didn't get the memo.
The only rule a deer follows, is that they do their best to survive each and every day. From that point on, like gri22ly said, they have tendencies that you can pick up on. This fall, I had 2 hunts where good bucks went up/down a steep hill that I never would have guessed any deer to travel. That's how these guys had survived though. They weren't following any "rules", they were just surviving each day.
I definitely agree with that. I have to hunt the Ohio deer much differently than Indiana deer. Only 20 miles apart from each other, but many factors come into play that affect each herd. So yes, I agree with the fact that deer behavior can change drastically from one property to the next.
