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.
Up Next in Deer Movement
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Mature Whitetail Buck Travel Range Du...
Dr. Bronson Strickland, co-director of the Mississippi State Deer Lab, discusses the rut’s effect on buck travel range. During the rut you see increased buck movements. The claim that a buck can move miles is true and have even been recorded to move up to 7 miles in a 24 hour period. They are act...
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Does Moon Phase Affect Deer Movement ...
One common theory suggests that moon phase can influence timing of the rut, and therefore peak activity periods. We know the onset of breeding season is influenced primarily by photoperiodism - changes in the amount of sunlight as the days grow shorter. This causes physiological processes in deer...
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How Does a Weather Front or Cold Fron...
Dr. Bronson Strickland, co-director of the Mississippi State Deer Lab, discusses their research on how a weather front may change deer behavior and movement. Through years of research and analyzation of data, they believe that deer movement is relatively consistent except in time of extreme chang...
