Rick, if the snow levels are less than 18 inches, especially down around 1 foot of snow, I almost always see bucks hanging and staying with their past "late season core areas" which almost always are their"pre-rut core areas", too!

Isay 18 inchesbecause for what ever reason, that seems to be the depth that starts moving deer out of my areas once the snow gets deeper than that.

Most bucks here do not have to travel too far to escape the deep snow in the Norths though, so even if I get deep snow..... The southern slopes are just over the mountain ridges or down a ridge etc....almost always they have 50% less snow than the norths or more. Eastern and Western facing slopes fall in the middle ground somewhere and bucks will camp out on the west and eastern faces too until snow boots them. The Ceanothus is everywhere.. even in the norths..so they have so many options..

Many bucks that I target and hunt in Sept and Oct live right were they do in Dec. Especially old mature bucks that have established a safe haven if you will. I see this all the time, time and time again in big woods country. Only unusual snow depths in Dec will drive them out. This is why I tend to find the same bucks sheds year to year on the same mountainside.

Now on another note...the bucks I have backtracked during the rut, for example I watched a big 5x5 cross a clearcut one evening years ago and he went out of sight into the timber. I hiked up to his tracks marked them in the snow and then came back the next day, (this was late november) I walked that bucks tracks all day the next day. I promise you he took me on a ten mile jaunt. I found a total of three spots he bedded down over that juant. Was he in or around his core area at all???? I have no idea and couldnt tell you because he was out running his rutting routes..But what he told me is that he was willing to really travel...He would travel from doe group to doe group....into several doe laiden (tracks) areas. I saw several does that day on that walk and walked up on 3 other bucks.

All this to say, I dont even get excited about a buck coming back to his core area untilthe secondweekof Deconce our rut starts to slow. Some bucks have all they need right in and around their core areas in this big country, some dont. I do believe the older bucks tend to stay at "home" more and are very selective in their daytime wandering even during the rut versus the 2.5s and 3.5's even the 4.5's

Most of the bucks I have found in the summer... end up right back in the same area in mid to late Dec... Bucks here in this habitat....the old bucks.. 4.5 and older almost always establish a core area by that agethat they can live in year around, even if it means moving shop over the mountain to a southern exposure in the winter months.. its still the general area..and the ceanothus combined with many other vegetations.... is plentiful!

Old bucks are like old men, they don't waste a lot of energy or time on stuff they dont need to do. Younger bucks are much more random and less calculated in their movements. They like to bachelor up and hang out with buddies.. Most of the bucks I hunt these days are always alone ... so the hunts are one on one in an area say 150-300 acreas..

I have snow now, I will learn a lot about a few bucks ...scouting them the first week of Dec. I may even bump them, but thats what it takes sometimes to find them..

I've puposely left a specificbuck completely alone this entire season...that I have the onebig shed from...I believe due to his age and the sheds of his found in there....by a couple of my friends (they dont bowhunt him in late season)...if hes still alive he will be right back in that area...in 2 weeks. Time will tell..

edit..add in... "area" it can still be like finding a needle in the haystack..and they the old ones will be on guard from two months of rifle season...just ending..

edit #two after thinking on this sub a little more.. I always feel like I have a chance onceI narrow a core area down to say 50 acres of where I feel he's spending most of his time bedding feeding...the nice thing is..if I dont get a crack athim inDec and if he makes the winter, I can usually count on him living in the same general area come early archery the next season...