hoytman62 Posted February 9, 2014 Report Share Posted February 9, 2014 Just read that it is recommended to place your tree stand or Ladder stand as far away from a deer core area as possible. What is the meaning of a deer core area? Thanks.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maine Hntr Posted February 9, 2014 Report Share Posted February 9, 2014 If I were to guess it would be a bedding area, although I don't know if the correct wording would be "as far away as possible", usually you want to try and catch them coming from bedding to food or food to bedding... On a travel corridor.. Just guessing, where did you read that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted February 9, 2014 Report Share Posted February 9, 2014 To start with, you do not want to get "too close" to the bedding area, until you have a good idea where they are traveling to and from food and bedding. When you have a pretty good idea of travel route you can then set up closer and stay downwind of bedding area. What you really want to do early in the season is find the "staging area"...that's where they mill around just before dark near a field edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoytman62 Posted February 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 I read it online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) Not sure what the author of that article you read meant by his use of the term core area. Many so called gurus use the term in different ways. Typically the definition of a whitetail buck's core area is considered to be that part of his home range where he spends at least 50% of his time. The core area includes his bedding and feeding area. The size of that area changes during the seasons. It's typically a lot smaller in the summer months than it is during the fall. That being said, the core area will change depending on the buck's feeding pattern and time of the season. His bedding pattern could very well change too. From my experience...it does more often than not. I disagree with anyone that says "stay as far away from the core area as possible". Why the heck would a hunter want to stay as far away from an the area where a buck spends at least 50% of his time. If you have a good feel for where a buck is more than likely bedding, I would want to be able to hunt entry and exit trails to and from the bedding area where I could get into and out of a stand undetected by a buck in that bedding area. Those positions would most likely be between whatever his preferred food source is at the time and his bedding area. I would also want to have the option to hunt close to where he typically enters the feeding area or his staging area. His preferred food source can change quickly too so you have to keep that in mind. It could quickly change from say...a bean field to acorns. How close I would hang a stand to hunt to a bedding area would depend on the cover in and especially around the bedding area. Your goal is to be able to hunt him without the buck knowing he's being hunted. Now...once rutting action begins to kick in all bets are off doing that. Then you want to hunt where bucks are going to be moving to locate receptive does. With all that said, I'm mainly a bow hunter so for obvious reasons I have to choose my stand positions to be a lot closer to where I hope to encounter a buck than a firearm hunter does. If your mainly a firearm hunter you can certainly back off further than I would. Edited February 10, 2014 by Rhino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Walking into an area where you know deer bed or are even at a lot will often cause them to move due to the scent you leave. Deer know - especially big bucks. Once you know where the deer bed or are at frequently put a stand in a location that allows you to slip in quietly and without leaving scent on a deer trail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Tree Stand Placement Guess i would have to read to understand what they are getting at. A deer's core area is the area the deer typically lives in in measure of square miles. Many places core area is approximately 1 square mile. Would make no sense to get outside the core area. Bedding area would make more sense. Some do very well with setups near bedding areas, things need to go right with those type setups though. Ideally if you have an area you can leave alone as a sanctuary and hunt the edges going to food that would be a good location for a stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Guess i would have to read to understand what they are getting at. A deer's core area is the area the deer typically lives in in measure of square miles. Many places core area is approximately 1 square mile. That's actually the deer's home range William but can easily be confused with the core area. The core area is a smaller area within their home range where they spend the majority of time, which is usually for bedding and feeding. You will probably see a lot of acreage numbers thrown out for core areas within a deer's home range depending on what guru's article you read. I read in an article some time ago from radio tracking surveys during the summer months here in MS the core area was as small as 40 ac. The size varied depending on the preference of the deer's individual nature and the availability of its food sources. It's at least double, probably more during the fall and can easily be an entirely new core area within the deer's home range than the one used during the summer. IMO it all depends on the individual tendency of a particular deer. Some are more apt to roam in a larger area while others don't. I recall one extreme from a radio collared buck where his home range was totally different in the spring/summer months than the fall/winter months. Took them 2 seasons to locate the buck but he moved 7 miles from spring/summer home range to his fall/winter home range. They never discussed his core area within them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 The writer couldn't be more incorrect saying stay as far as possible from a core area. Really pay attention to what Rhino said. He's spot on about explaining the difference in core area to home range. In Indiana my deer seem to have core areas around 20-80 acres. His bedroom is much smaller than that(I mean typically 1 acre or less in different areas depending on conditions where he beds). I'd stay out of the bedroom areas but I want to be in the core area as much as possible without alerting him. Here's the other kicker, it's probably going to take you multiple years if not a lifetime to really understand how to hunt a core area correctly. My best advice is to locate a bowhunter who consistently tags mature deer and become a sponge with him. Those guys know more than 99% of hunters out there. It's not luck to repeat this feat year in and out, unless you go to outfitters or have others do the work for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 You are right Al, definitely some confusion with terminology even with the experts. Some interesting articles out there on this topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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