Dr. Bronson Strickland, co-director of the Mississippi State University deer lab, discusses the typical home range of a whitetail deer. A deer at the beginning of its life typically disperses away from its birthed area and establishes its home range elsewhere. Once the home range has been established by the deer, it will typically stay in a 600 to 1,000 acre area, if the habitat quality is good enough to satisfy that deer’s needs. However, Dr. Bronson says that a deer will move more or less if the habitat either forces it to or can satisfy its needs within a smaller area. Once the breeding season begins, a buck will sometimes double its range looking for estrus does or focal groups of does.