I believe it all has to do with how pressured they are. When gun season opens those same bucks At my son in law’s just up and vanish. Not one buck was sighted during gun season - not even on cameras at night. When gun season ends they show up again. I guess they learn and adapt.
Mature whitetails are smart for sure. They are like coyotes, they can adapt and learn to live in almost any environment. I hunt them on a wide ridge (like a mile wide) between two pretty big canyons at about 4300' elevation. My property borders the bigger of the two canyons, I have some flat on top and some of the canyon edge to about a 1/4 of the way down. On top of the other side there are hay fields. The bucks bed in the thick stuff in the canyon during the day through the summer and feed in the fields at night. I never ever get pics of mature bucks most of the year on my side where it is more timber, I can't compete with the fields. I have some does that stay on my place most of the year, they disappear during deep snow and mid to late summer (I assume for the fields as well), but never the mature bucks. They stay in the canyon for the thick cover year round. I only see the mature bucks show up during the rut for the does that I hold. The lower quarter of the canyon on my side and through the middle is Nez Perce Tribe ground, so I can't access it to put out cameras. If I get a mature buck pic it is only during the rut phases. Makes it very interesting hunting, I never know what might show up. Kinda fun, kinda not.
He is very cool. I think I’d probably pass on him if he were symmetrical, but that crazy left side will earn him an arrow if he walks by. He won’t score high, but I’m not normally known for hunting high scores. I keep looking at the pic and I can’t really tell from that angle how many points are in the left side. Six maybe, with three or four on the the right.
