SB. That is interesting that your bucks react so differently and it made me think about when I first starting hunting OH.
When I first started hunting OH. I knew that I couldnt take for granted that how I hunted,scouted etc. to be successful in PA. would work in OH. I knew that deer from different area's have different habits and react differently to things like hunting pressure.
I thought because where I live and hunt in PA. the hunting pressure is so great (were I live we have more more bow hunters per square mile than any place on the planet)and the fact that the hunting pressure in OH. is light that I wouldnt be able to get away with lingering human scent, my climber making the accidental clanging metal sound an hour before light etc. as I climb a tree etc.
Here in PA. I found that our bucks because they get so much pressure and are bumped from their bedding area's constantly
do not relocate, If they did, they would never bed in the same area. For the most part they stay in the same area's, they do go 100% nocturnal though (which nocturnal is my most hated word in the english language
) I learned by accident when I was still a teen, that most mature bucks here in PA. tolerate being bumped, They will run a certain distance and stop and look back, I started turning in the opposite direction and walking directly away from them at a fast pace even jogging. One time I was walking to my stand in the snow and I jumped a 3.5 year old 10-pt. bedded 20 yards from my stand, I had no clue that deer was in the area, well after saying a few choice words under my breath
I decided to climb up in my stand anyway even though the buck made so much noise vacating the area that every deer in the county knew I just bumped him. To my amazement 15 minutes later the same buck appeared and I shot him 10 yards from the bed I just bumped him from!! After the shot he exited the area the exact same route that he did when I bumped him, He only made it 65 yards but his tracks were in the snow from where He ran when I bumped him. Because I was still in shock at what just happened I followed his tracts, they made a large circle and of course ended right back where they started. When I got home, I called my friends and told them I just shot the dumbest buck in the state of PA., but that night the more I thought about it, the more I realized how smart this buck really was, after he survived on public land to the ripe old age of 3.5, and there was no telling how many times he had been bumped, shot at etc. chased by bird dogs hunting grouse, or how many times he used the exact same escape tactic and survived.
But when I started hunting OH. I thought the mature bucks would be alot less tolerant to human scent, So starting out I treaded very lightly, But then after a while I thought to myself this is stupid!! In OH. we have a tremendous coyote and bobcat population and they are hunting our deer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 12 months a year. So me checking my cams at night every 4-6 weeks isnt going to pressure them or cause them to relocate any more than the predators.
So I started out testing my theory in one bedding area, and didnt see any adverse affects,and havent since. Pike