Question for ya Troy. I believe a buck in the farm country I hunt in has his safe zone he goes to when the tough gets going (hunting pressure). I've got neighbors a mile away who see's the same buck I do the very next night on his camera during the rut. Never does he see this same buck I'm talking about in September or early October, only I see him on camera. Just in Late October or early November is when he see's him on camera. It seems once the rut kicks in the small core areas everyone talks about is kinda out the window if you ask me. I think there core area expands allot during the rut unless obviously they have a hot doe in the woods there in. Am I way off thinking like this?
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Steve, I wontargue with you there, I dont hunt farm country or your area and I have no idea how big of an area a buck is gonna hold tight in out there where you live.. we have such different variables to punch into the equation.. But I would wonder if he has more than one option he uses as a safe zone, all bucks I would think have more than one...unless of course he has one that just gets no pressure at all.. What kind of predators do your deer deal with on a yearly basis?

Here a buck has to have options and space in his core living area. He can not just retreat to one smallsafe zone. The reason isnt predominatley a human threat, instead its the pressures he recieves bythe hvy and I mean hvy predation. We have a very healthy population of moutain lions (deer killing machines), wolves, yotes anda lot of bearsto boot. If a deer ofany type "holed" up in one spot for many daysfrom pressure, they would become sitting targets over time to the predators. Instead deerhere, doe family groups included have a big area they use as a core living area and within that area they have options to escape and bed in...forthe many different pressures they receive, including hunters.

Its a good thing the habitat offers thick beddingoptionsand feeding options combinedjust about everywhere in every direction because if they all just went to a destination feeding source the mountain lions would be licking their chops and so would the wolves as the picked them off over and over....Instead I see a lot ofcyclingmovement for the most part within about a 200-300 acre area for the doe families and younger bucks...and 100-200 acres for the big bucks.

as for core living areas fora buck here during the rut.. Bucks will flat out abandom them heredue to the fact that doe famly groups areoften milesaway....spread out...we dont have a lot of deer per sq mile.. very low compared to what I experienced in ND, AB, Sask and Montana River bottom country. Buckshave a bigrange (5 up to 10 miles) out in these mountains.

Steve I often wonder in your areas where you have so many does and concentrated food sources...so close to a bucks core area if he can breed all night and get back to his core area over and over, doing most of his work under the cover of darkness??? Is your neighbor getting him on film at night or during the day too? Its physically impossible here for abuck to return to hiscore area in some cases here where he's miles away he'd be wasting a lot of energy and time...A buck is gonna go werean estrus doeand bed with here if hes the dominate buck or even if he hopes to get in on some action.. I saw 8 bucks one time on one doe, and they all were acting like they had a chance..I doubt all of them were near their core area.. I dont think core area is even a part of his vocabulary when hestending to and breeding a doe.. This explains the monsters that come out of the wood work every year across America and Canada ... and end up on some magazine covers...

back to core areas...By Dec 10th or so here.. the bucks that survive the rifle season and the rut...almost always show back up. I can always find them easily this time of the year because I have snow to pick up their tracks in....they thenplay the snow levels and temps in regards to where they are going to bed/feed and pretty much lay up and rest as much as they can.. this is when the predators really get after them ...Jan and Feb are tough times here..

Does this buck your referring too.. always come back and show up on your cameras in DEC? Is he around this same area in the summer once you can distinguish his antlers and tell its him?