Read a short article last night (I'll post the publication after lunch.....but it was in a question/answer type quiz section) referencing more about a buck's home range.
The question was dealing with bucks....and why they DON'T disperse.....if there's not a reason to do so. It stated if a buck had everything he needed in the area he was reared......he wouldn't have a reason to leave. The cited telemetry-based studies that showed a buck might not travel outside a Home Range as small as a "few dozen acres" barring the rutting season.
It aslo stated that the further west you go....the more they seem to travel......due to various reasons (proximity of food and does). The home ranges, naturally, are larger, there (and other places where doe density and food is not in close proximity).
Well.. I find your first paragraph hard to read Jeff. Are you talking about dispersal.. or home range? And then are you talking core area or home range in paragraph 2..??
But.. I could easily agree that a home range would be larger out west than in lets say.. the south. Foliage changes to the landscape.. preferred food sources.. heavy snows/lack there of.. all would help to contribute to larger or smaller home ranges.. makes sense.. common sense.
Now dispersal of young bucks is totally different. Interestingly enough its for the benefit of the herd.. or natures way of less inbreeding which would impair whitetails over generations.
Now.. I do believe a core bedding area can be very small.. followed by a core area thats much larger in size.. and then a home range that deer lives in throughout all 365 days.
But I do not believe any whitetail buck.. no matter where.. to have a home range of just several dozen acres. He would have to have adequate amounts of food, water, cover, and females. Not to mention a social hierarchy.. which he simply won't just have on 30 acres. No way.. no how. A core bedding area of 30 acres.. sure.. absolutely... but not a home range.