Your "regular" bucks and their home range...

[Hockley]

There is a buck that we have seen for the last three years that has been a regular on our place every year. We have seen him multiple times and even found both sides of his sheds all three years. We see this deer fairly regularly and we know that had anyone else in the area seen him last year he would have been killed so we always thought that our place was home.

This would be the fourth year we have seen him (guessing he is a 5 1/2 yr old) and the year we wanted to kill him. I had my cameras up all summer long and only had pictures of him on two or three occasions with the last one being in mid August. About the middle of October I took my cameras up just to leave a little surprise in my life and to maybe take a little pressure off the deer since we weren’t seeing much. I don’t think cameras scare deer, but I wanted a change so I figured why not. As of last weekend we haven’t laid eyes on this deer. I was not totally discouraged since the last year the deer waited for the best of days to come out when the conditions were perfect, which hasn’t happened yet.

Fast forward to yesterday. I had some pictures emailed to me of this deer that we have been waiting on. Supposedly the pictures were taken somewhere between 3.3 and 4 miles from my place somewhere towards the end of October. In my opinion our first ruts starts around the first of October with the second rut coming around the first weekend of gun season. While the land that the pictures were taken on is not hunted, there are some other obstacles that he has to get around. To where it is not a straight shot to my place. He could conceivably stay on the land that is not hunted during the entire 4 miles back to my place, but there is a high fence on part of that trip so if he chooses the wrong side of the fence I may be in trouble because then he would have to walk by hunted land along the way.

Do you guys think this deer will make it back to me or should I start looking for other options? How far do you guys see deer like this travel? It scares me because I “thought” that our place and the immediate area was his “home”, but now it doesn’t appear that way…

[bsimm78]

I'm interested in this. I've always wondered about the "home range" of a deer.

[JMG]

I would think he would make it back to his home eventually. Good luck on him and hope he makes it back.

[tkuehn5410]

We've had the same deer show up about 2.5 miles apart on our cameras. I remember a study in the TTHA where they had home range size, and just as pre-rut is beginning a buck will have an average home range between 1400 and 1600 acres if I remember correctly. That's a lotta ground. However, during peak rut it decreases back down to 500 acres or so. Hope that helps.

[Kruger14]

I have experienced a similar situation for the past 3 years. I have a particular buck i have been watching and letting walk. Every year i get velvet pictures of him but then he just disappears around mid october and i always think he is gone but then around the same time every year in late season he will show back up on camera almost every day. This year he disappeared around the same time as always however last week i saw a nice buck in a power line clearing 4 miles from my house. I picked up the binos and it was him. Hopefully he ventures back to my place in late season like in previous years.

We also had a buck on our 800+ acre ranch during opening weekend of rifle season that was seen and videoed in the same morning by all 4 people hunting the property.

[txsteele]

He may have been pushed out by a dominant buck.

[Bone Thug]

Our lease is 10,000 acres and we have bucks they regular travel a HUGE area. One of our 10pts traveled a 6 mile triangle on a regular basis, hitting every protien feeder in that area.

We have Google Earth some of our bucks travel routes...some have a very small range but most are traveling 1-4 miles.

Some come back and settle back in there "home" area while most are just moving all over the place still.

Our Trophy class tend to be easier to pattern than the Culls we need to kill.

[BigTree]

Bucks can and will roam far and wide as the rut approaches. They can also move their core home range at any time depending on pressure, food, does, etc. I don't know where you are hunting, but if it is in north america, there is no way your first rut is in the first week of october. Young ones might start chasing does then, but your peak breeding does not occur at that time. Your buck might come back. He probably will in december, but there are no guarantees. I have seen bucks miles apart, and if they don't get killed they usually come back.

[Reaper]

Bucks can and will roam far and wide as the rut approaches. They can also move their core home range at any time depending on pressure, food, does, etc. I don't know where you are hunting, but if it is in north america, there is no way your first rut is in the first week of october. Young ones might start chasing does then, but your peak breeding does not occur at that time. Your buck might come back. He probably will in december, but there are no guarantees. I have seen bucks miles apart, and if they don't get killed they usually come back.

I hunt near him, the rut starts first or second week of October...

[M16]

I don't know where you are hunting, but if it is in north america, there is no way your first rut is in the first week of october.

Really? Your knowledge concerning whitetail deer is lacking.

[BigTree]

M16,

I'm not trying to start a fight...the only place he could be hunting that would be possible is around Houston on the coast. Here is a TPWD study showing peak bredding dates for every ecological region of Texas.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/hunt/planning/rut_whitetailed_deer/table/#coast

[Oz_Ag]

Bucks can and will roam far and wide as the rut approaches. They can also move their core home range at any time depending on pressure, food, does, etc. I don't know where you are hunting, but if it is in north america, there is no way your first rut is in the first week of october. Young ones might start chasing does then, but your peak breeding does not occur at that time. Your buck might come back. He probably will in december, but there are no guarantees. I have seen bucks miles apart, and if they don't get killed they usually come back.

Wrong, in southeast Texas (Houston area) the rut begins in late September. I have saw a buck mounting a doe the first week of October.

[Oz_Ag]

More thean likely he'll be back. Bucks rutting areas tend to be different than their homing areas, especially if they aren't the dominant buck. I have bucks that I have been watching for 5+ years that do this same thing every year.

[M16]

M16,

I'm not trying to start a fight...the only place he could be hunting that would be possible is around Houston on the coast. Here is a TPWD study showing peak bredding dates for every ecological region of Texas.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild...r/table/#coast

Neither am I but Houston and the coast are in North America. You said it wasn't possible in North America.

[okietaxi]

This deer

This one traveled South from this position 7 miles. I saw 5 bucks last night and this morning they were 2 miles away and that distance is nothing. I see does that range 7 miles in a giving day, but we are open country.