From my experience, bucks MAY rub to remove velvet in or near their core areas, but also along rub routes, and near evening, nighttime and morning "high use" areas, meaning food sources, trails and rub routes. So, you may have to do some more investigating to determine if you are within a buck daytime corea area (the description and boundaries of which may be subject to personal interpretation). According to deer researchers description - a daytime core area is the total area in which a buck spends the majority of its time during daylight hours, so lets say from sunrise to sunset. BecAuse it send so much time ther, it often contaisnsome lfeeding and watering ares, but definitely bedding ares, thermal cover, and escape cover and routes.

I personally do not like to hunt within a buck's core area, because it is where it spends the daylight hours, often resting, where it will also have its prefered bedding sites. If you go in there too many times you may run the buck out of it, and you may not locate its new core area that year.

Since bucks often change their seasonal home ranges in response to food availability and the thermal cover needs of the deer during the different seasons of the year, there is a good chance the buck will change its core area, or at the very least, its travel patterns (in the late sunmmer / early fall) to reflect those changes and needs.
I've found that in southern Minnesota bucks often change from summer home ranges to fall home ranges / breeding ranges sometime between Sept 10 and Oct 15, which means you may have to hunt the deer in a different area after it moves.

But, because it may stay in its current area for a week or more, you may be able to pattern it along its curren travel corridors and rub routes - getting as close to the core area as you can to setup to hunt it, without spooking the buck out of the core area.

You can, if you KNOW you are good enough, go into the core area and hunt the buck. But, I often leave this for a last ditch effort - for many different reasons - and there are many reasons I can use to justify going into the core area. .

If you know when the buck generally leaves and enters the core area, you can get in there before it does in the morning, hunting it along its rub route as it comes back in within 1-2 hours of sunrise. Or you can setup along the rub route (which may be completely different) as it leaves the core area in the evening, again getting as close to the core area as you can without spooking the buck.

I hope that this helps some of you,

God bless,

T.R.

You can find my artricles all over the internet, just use Google to search for "TRMichels" or "T.R. Michels".