How many times have you read that, or something similar in a hunting magazine? For years outdoor writers and so-called whitetail experts have told us that once the rut begins, mature bucks spread out over the landscape like refugees leaving a war zone. You may catch a foreigner trekking through your happy hunting ground, but all those big bucks you scouted through the late summer and early fall are long gone, looking for love in all the wrong places. The good news is, that's not necessarily the case. In fact, there's a body of evidence suggesting quite the opposite may be true.

Dispersal Truths
There are several reasons for this misconception being perpetuated. For starters, a substantial amount of scientific evidence demonstrates that bucks do indeed disperse. However, it's primarily yearling bucks that are packing up and leaving home. Various studies found between 50- and 80-percent of yearling bucks will disperse to establish a new home range. Most of this dispersal occurs just before or during the rut, when bucks are roughly 18 months old; and research suggests they are driven out by older, more aggressive bucks competing for breeding. Some yearling bucks however, disperse in their first spring when, it is speculated, maternal females drive them out.

The other reason for misunderstanding is that bucks--all bucks--do expand their home range considerably during the rut. While they generally stick to smaller core areas most of the year, they travel much farther and wider during the breeding season as they search for hot does. How far a buck may travel will depend on numerous variables including local deer densities--if they can find enough does nearby they won't travel as far.

The good news, according to some recent research at Maryland's Chesapeake Farms, is that while the big bucks do travel more, they still operate in and around their core areas throughout the rut. The Farms is a 3,300-acre wildlife and agricultural research area owned by DuPont and operated by DuPont Crop Protection. By monitoring radio-collared bucks, researchers there found that adult bucks increased their movement within home ranges significantly during the rut, presumably in search of hot does. However, even these major excursions seldom took the deer more than a mile or two from year-round core areas. More importantly, most bucks were back in their core areas within 15 to 32 hours.

Real Homebodies
The key here is that if you're targeting a specific buck or bucks, you shouldn't give up on your home turf when the rut kicks in. In fact, this may be the second best time to hunt them (the best is early in the season when they're on a regular feeding pattern within a small core area). If you've done your scouting, you already have a pretty good idea of where your buck's core area lies. He may not be in there as much or as often, but he will return, particularly if there are does in the area.