Originally Posted by
rockport
I'd have to disagree with your analogy 100%.......Do $50 bills seek out certain habitats? Because mature bucks certainly do and they will absolutely be found year after year in these habitats. Nothing is etched in stone but certain areas will hold big bucks every year.
I hunt a 500 acre farm and Ive seen 3 monsters in the last 2 years...all 3 in the same small portion of the farm.
I have to "agree" with your analogy 100%... In fact barring any major habitat disruption "logging, hunter invasion" things like rut lines, bedrooms, and territories tend to remain traditional year after year, and generation to generation of whitetails.
Of course they will change over time as the earth goes threw it's own natural changes, but that may take decades. There's an area I've hunted since 1987 that I can bring you to rut lines that have been re-run every year. We've owned our home since 1997, and I can bring you to rut lines that have been re-run every year since we've been here. I can bring you to bedding, feeding, and watering areas that deer have been using year after year since then as well.
Our home is surrounded by 1000's of acres of Spruce Bog. I can bring you into that bog and show you trail networks, and trail hubs that have clearly been being utilized for decades. Those trails are being utilized buy other game such as bears, and wolves as well, but whitetails far outnumber those other animals, and it's very clear that they are using those trails the most.
Not all whitetail habitat is created equal, and there are reasons they utilize those habitats under normal, or pressured conditions.