You gonna see more 5 year old does that 5 years old bucks simply because there are a lot more of them .

With a 5 year old buck , you gonna kill it and never see it again

Sounds good to me.

Does travel in packs which makes them a little easier to spot and it's the young ones in the group who do stupid things and expose the others.

I think 5 years old is a little bit of a tricky age to pick because from what I’ve seen a 7-8+ year old buck is a totally different creature. I don’t know that an old doe changes quite as much although she may. We call 5 mature but behavioral changes still take place in the years following no different than a 3 year old going to a 5 year old…... They become really reclusive acting. I’ve had a circus preforming in front of me in the street light with does and young bucks….knowing that there was at least one or two mature bucks in the cover but would not come in. I messed with one with a grunt call enough one night that he got pissed off and ran into the light long enough to see he was tall and tight…..and then he dipped right back into the cover and darkness. I have a new appreciation for them to say the least. If you want to kill a buck that’s 7+ then you’re likely gonna have to play chess and not checkers. You might luck up but the odds are not in your favor for sure. ..Even if you play chess then you may still get beat and very likely will most times. I’m about to the point of questioning whether I really want to even play the game that hard anymore. The great thing about this though is that often times with big bucks….less is more…….

I have one deer that’s shpws up out of nowhere late in the season that I’ve seen once each of the last 3 seasons that’s probably 9-10 years old. He has nothing but a big main beam on each side now but he smells like a goat farm. Strong enough that I could smell him at 80 yards. Thermals and sinking air hold that scent down more at night so I think that was part of it. He’s #1 on my hit list this year…..If he were to walk out with a 140 inch buck or something like that it would definitely put me in a conundrum over which to shoot. This old buck would be lucky to score 40 much less 140…..He’d be a rare trophy though that’s far more special than just another big buck. Old age will likely catch up with him before I do. We'll see though...I've figured out how they're dickin me during the daylight and I've got a trap ready to spring this time.

Probably not that many 2 year old bucks out there either.

Smarter til the rut hits

Question, how does one even see a 5yo buck in Al.

Hunt where they are.

One you gotta be fortunate to be in a place where any even exist……which may actually be more wide spread than most would believe……and two you gotta hunt smart and not care about just going hunting whenever…..If a deer ever reaches 6-7+ years old then there’s a good chance he’s never gonna be killed unless it just happens to be dumb luck that gets him. They’re just playing the game on an expert level at that point that’s hard to compete with....they just don't move that much is my theory. ……I think some of the biggest keys to being able to kill them lie in the way the land lays out…..Some spots and layouts are just much better mouse traps that helps to even the odds a little. Some areas and lay outs though….the deer just has a tactical advantage that just about can’t be overcome. It’s like war strategy….he’s got the high ground…..

Now one interesting concept I heard one time that I think may have some merit is that the old 7-8 year old buck wasn’t just smarter than other deer and seeked out that special hidey hole that allowed him to grow to that age…..This guy thought that the deer simply got lucky and picked a spot as a dispersing yearling that was just the right spot. It was the spots producing the big bucks and not the big bucks seeking out the spots…if that makes sense. That was Don Higgins idea he talked about years ago on the old QDMA forum.

I’ve seen plenty of them. Most important part is having one. You can’t see what’s not there and there’s a lot of real estate without bucks that age. Second part is lack of pressure. Keep pressure light and hunt smart and they’re no harder to see than any other age class.

No they are not. There are not a lot of 5+ year old bucks walking around, compared to 5+ year old does.

There’s 5 year old bucks in AL??

One of the things that I’ve seen while traveling around tracking that has really been a surprise to me is how many big old bucks are being killed in areas that people don’t even think about as being big buck producing counties or areas. Certain counties get talked about like Macon and Bullock and Russell because of the number of deer that are there…..but I track for folks killing big ones….let me rephrase that….”shooting at” big ones….. ......in every county around me. Some of the biggest I’ve tracked have come from Elmore and Coosa ….There’s just not as many deer in some places….There’s still big old bucks in the lower density areas though.

That’s why I was saying that I think you’d be surprised how much more widespread it is for old bucks to exist….I think it has a lot to do with the existence of strategic locations that give the deer an advantage over us that we just about can’t beat. I think those spots produce old bucks and they can be anywhere deer exist.

= the "Bankhead Effect"

I tend to think old does are smarter/more wary due to more interactions with people & opportunities to be educated.

I would speculate that the chances of a buck living to 5 without being in the same field/presence of other deer being shot is high. If he would've been there, he would've been shot (or shot at) instead.

A 5yr old doe on the other hand, would likely have witnessed human caused death multiple times... and she has learned from each of them.

I would think that CNCs experience with the old deer and the street light is more evidence that a buck with an aversion for non-natural light will help him live longer than one who isn't light sensitive. Flashlights, spotlights, and headlights will get him killed.

*** Side note, I'd love to see folks taking a stab at aging does on the hoof like they do bucks. I'd imagine most doe "aging" comes at guesses based off of hair color around face.

Bank head would be a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Jackson county is too. Those mountains and hollers give the bucks a big edge. There's some places on the management area....or used to be....where you just about couldn't get to it feasibly.

only shoot does for 10 years (or 70) and see who is smarter. If bucks are so smart they would stop killing each other over some random doe in estrus.

X2

I don't think its correct to call it "smarter"....It's behavioral differences just like in humans. Women and men act different.