An interesting thing I could add from NJ hunting. It has to do with the ability to legally bait, and the use of trail cams. I among other friends bait a certain spot religiously from august right through the season. in August and Sept. you will quickly identify the herd in that area and I D the bucks as well on the bait pile. In my case I was able to account for about 15 different bucks on my bait pile, and would check the cam once a week. Early in the season these bucks would show themselves in the daylight, young bucks more but even the 2 and 3 year olds at times. after a couple weeks of hunting pressure (minimal) the camera tells the story. those same bucks are there but primarily at night, and the mature bucks only after dark. Then when the rut kicks in heavy the bucks seem to disappear all together off the camera (they stop eating I guess) but that is when the bigger bucks are chasing 24/7 and i will see them in daylight.. But for every day I hunt and not observe the bucks during daylight, the bait/camera tells a different story at night. I guess what that means is an educated deer is a hard deer to hunt. If i didnt have bait and a camera, I would swear some days there were no deer at all.
They are a great challenge to hunt, and I guess thats the reason why we do it.