Bucks that travel

I had a mature cull twice a day during Sept and half of October. He was harvested last night 5 miles away by a young hunter. I have not had a pic of this deer for 30 days and much of what I have has changed. This is contrary to some articles that I have read about a bucks home range annd core offseason area where they feel safe. Opinions wanted

It isn't uncommon for them to have different Summer & Winter ranges. Some will just roam and they will drive you crazy trying to put a pattern to it.

I do know bucks will travel some, 5 miles seems a bit extreme or on the far end of what would be considered normal for whitetail. I wouldn't bat an eye about a couple miles though.

I also know all about feeding someone else's trophy bucks all summer only to have them disappear come hunting season. I had regular bucks all spring/summer/early fall (it was too dang hot this bow season as they all came in during the night) which have been no shows all gun season for two years in a row so far. I am still holding out hope they might show up late in the season, if they made it, but don't feel that is super likely. Winter range vs summer range vs hunter pressure vs whatever, it just means I don't get to see what I have been seeing nearly every day prior to gun season starting....rude deer.

I guess they just know they won't live to see another day if they show themselves.

this is very common for our place in Concho County.

I hunt on the same ranch as Ramsey and have been there around 20 years. 5 miles isn't the norm for a whitetail's range, but it isn't uncommon on this place and we have documented them even farther with TC. We hunt on a 10k acre ranch and know some of the neighbors.

30 years ago, there was very little cover and few deer in that area. Dee naturally roamed and if you bumped one, it would run 2-3 miles to the nearest cover. The theory is that the roaming behavior was bred into them over the generations, similar to that of a retriever or pointer. Not sure how much stock I put into the theory, but it is nothing to watch the deer travel 2-3 miles in one morning hunt from certain ridges. That afternoon, you can watch some of the same deer travel 2-3 miles the other direction.

In Kansas, which has similar terrain (with bigger trees) as our area used to have, it is the same. Bucks being located or killed over 5 miles from a location they were seen isn't unheard of.

In both instances, you still have the deer that seem to pick an area and live their life there. I have multiple years of the same buck in the same area.

Terrain, herd, food sources, rut and dominance play a big role IMO.

I think a lot of people would be surprised how far the buck they are hunting will actually travel at certain times of the year.

TREX you need to add one of your Kansas bucks to your signature line

Yep they will travel. On one place, 7300 acres, some of the bucks will move from one end to the other, but some wont. On another place we will have pictures of bucks in October, and then no more. You will think they were harvested across the fence. But then they show back up in January.

Drives ya Krazy!

Some bucks will travel much more than others. I have bucks here that will leave in mid Oct and not return till around Jan 1st or till the next fall. Some never return but many return. I have some bucks that were here all of last year from Jan till October eating protein and drinking water from a trough at my house. This year they were not here at all till mid October when a couple of them have come back a few nights a week. I had one buck that was here for 3 straight years till I killed him archery season last year. Seen him every week during hunting season or on TC at a feeder for 3 years. I have also seen TC pics from a ranch I hunted on of the same buck at three different protein feeders in the same night that were all just over a mile from each other. So he traveled at least 3 miles that night. He was killed at one the next morning on opening day of the season.
I will say this about the area Ramsey hunts, those deer are the flightiest deer around. I have seen ranches where you drive in a pasture to make a round and turn down a fenceline to see every deer in that pasture running down the fenceline ahead of you. 5 miles is not that far to a deer in open country. 5 miles in thick cover is much different.

Hunt in SW Taylor county. 3rd year on this place. Every year our mature bucks disappear from even game cams. Several mature 5+ yr old bucks on camera (at night) all summer and then in early October, right after they shed velvet.....they disappear. Very frustrating to say the least. I think our place is where alot of bucks live, but very few doe actually live on the property. They use our ponds, food plots, wheat fields and corn, but live on the neighbors land. Late season after the rut, the bucks come back....if they survive, but usually busted up.

This is why it pays to stay alert & ready (while in the blind) to pop that HUGE one that comes running thru (that you've never seen before, and never on cam), not all the way to the feeder, but within sight to 'scope out the ladies'... !!!

RIght now with the beginning of the rut, a lot of the bucks are putting in miles looking for that first doe to come in heat and later on, they will be looking for that last doe that comes into heat. The bigger the country, the more they travel. The fewer deer per acres, the more they travel. Just like people, some are home bodies and others are road warriors. We had a deer on camera with a very distinctive point killed 5-6 miles from where we saw him. It was the same deer. We trade info and pictures with our neighbors to let each other in on what is going on. Some years the long rangers are the only one that keeps me hunting. The chance is there, so I am in the stand making the most of that chance.