During summer scouting, i drive around alot and take videos of local deer. I usually stay within 5 miles of my hunting property, even though i know alot of the deer i see and film will not be on my land come season (though its still early). Lets take a MATURE buck that i am hunting and use him as an example: I have personally seen this deer in October 1 mile north from where he spent most of his summer months (evidence backed by trail cam pictures). Then he was seen in December within 1/4 mile south of his summer grounds (1 1/4 miles south from where i saw him in October). What do you believe the average home range for a mature whitetail is? (taking into consideration the terrain, barriers and stuff of that nature) And, Is there a particular shape that most deer use in their home range? Or is it all based on terrain features?
Caleb, I think it would surprise you if that buck were collared and tracked, Charles Alsheimer had a great follow up article to an earlier article on two does that lived near his farm for the years they were collared. Although they were seen quite a bit one had a range of 550 acres in 8.5 years and the other had a range of 1300 acres in 12.5 years she was collared. I'd be one to think that bucks roam more. I, like you have had a certain buck around for all times of the season and would like to think that he hangs close to the property, but it's likly he doesn't. Check out the artical. D&D is a great mag.
Follow the food. The deer follow the food sources, and for the magic month of rut, no rules apply. Out west deer can cover several square miles, urban bucks here locally can be confined to areas as small as 2-300 acres unless they enter heavily populated subdivisions (which they don't). I think it has everything to do with FOOD, terrain, and cover. Any answer more specific would be purely a guess IMO.
I would LOVE to post up a map of his are so we can point things out, but for obvious reasons i will not. The problem is, this deer has access to EVERYTHING he could ever want, and most of it is being supplied by the huge farms that don;t allow hunting.
Generally from what we see - a 1 mile radii is pretty typical of a whitetails home range. As a buck gets more mature, this shrinks. The trouble is that this changes from season to season. It may change by miles depending on food source, cover, and pressure. When you add individual deer and personalities into the equation - it can be very difficult to track them. We have many ghosts that come and go at different times of year with no rhyme or reason.
