I haven't hunted much flat land but I would guess the terrain would play a part. There are some places that deer can go up/down that humans can't unless they have rope! Also places where deer just cannot go up nor down. I am somewhat clueless to flat land deer though, even in Illinois I catch myself hunting deep hollows instead of the fields like my buddies hunt.

What makes the deer in the mountains act different than the deer not in the mountains?

I don't know that they do. I do know after the first few days of gun season till about the 20th of December, not many mature bucks seen or killed.

Do you think it's because the woods are so open?

But there are folks who do it..been keeping an eye on the harbin page on FB.

I know a man that does it and does it all on public ground. They may not be high scoring deer, but they are old, mature bucks. I'd love to show his wall off but he's an off the radar guy.

I know he spends ALOT of time in the woods. He's an old man that will out walk any young man I know. I hope when I get his age I know just half of what he knows about hunting these mtns.

Not with any regularity , by the same persons, year in year out early December. There has been several good ones killed early this year. I'll bet $ luck and/or forced movement in most cases. There's no patterns this time of year, rut is not rockin', not much movement in daylight period.

My best set ups over the years are all very similar. They all had clearcuts on top, big woods on the side, and crop fields in the bottom. All were classic between-feed-and-bed scenarios. The deer would feed in the bottoms at night and would work their way up to the cutovers in the mornings. My best stands were always on the top bench, just under the bluff. Any further down the mtn, and the deer would get by me before daylight. Throw in a point or a saddle or some other "structure" and it gets even better. I don't know if your land presents any of these scenarios, but try to find out where they feed and where they bed and camp out in between. Watch the thermals as much as you watch the predominant wind direction. On a "calm" day, the thermals may over ride the lateral winds.

Like others, almost ALL of my older bucks were killed in January. It took me a long time to learn not to burn out my best spots before the time was right. CD.

The land I hunt is a lot like this, only its ag fields in bottom, select cut on sides and untouched big woods on top. So it pretty much thick cutover type stuff on the sides. They can literally bed on the entire side. Makes it kind of tough to home in on a particular spot, but do have a few areas that funnel deer. Not the best managed land either. But I know there's a few nice bucks out there.

What makes the deer in the mountains act different than the deer not in the mountains?

And with the exception of a few I know most of the guys you listed and we all have some pretty good ground to hunt on. I know folks who kill giants every year and only bow hunt but they have some of the most prime land in Alabama. The club I'm I'm now is terrible, pressured really hard, shoot everything that walks, drive 4 wheeler right to stand and I don't have one buck on camera. So where you hunt and how it is hunted is as big as anything.

I'm from SE Madison County but I've hunted Jackson County my entire life. Cut my teeth at LA Hunting club in Stevenson when my family leased it. Learned a lot about mountain deer on the 6k acres in the 18 years we leased it. I mainly hunt PRV and family land now.

If a non Jackson county fella is allowed to add his .02, this is the most underrated post on the topic. Hunting good land is the primary key to regularly killing big bucks. I'd say time in the woods and know how, are tied at 2nd. Ability to seal the deal is 4th. A lot of mediocre hunters kill a good buck or two most years, by spending plenty of time on jam up land. Same with turkeys