So now the A zone “winter range” is simply where the does live?
Again the only thing that blacktail in a zone do differently in winter is, since they aren’t being hunted and it’s not 100+ degrees, they actually come out of their nocturnal hide and relax a bit. They spent the fall chasing does and in winter are trying to take it easy and put weight back on.
“Winter range” is not the rut, it’s not even a thing in A zone.
It’s the same as saying because you see them out in the open when in velvet that it must be their “spring range”. When in reality they’re just not being pressured and are focused on feed, same as right after the season, no pressure, focus is on pussy. Winter time, no pressure, focus is feed. These times of year they are out and about, not holed up prepping for rut. During season, they have nothing to do but stay alive, stay cool and Work up neck muscles and testosterone and they do most of it at night..
I’m just not convinced of this whole winter range thing. If anything they have a summer range and that’s basically just a nocturnal period where we as hunters focus most of our time on their behavior. When we don’t see them we start trying to over analyze what’s going on, asking ourselves where did they go? Talking about winter ranges in a zone, things like that.
It’s just the cover of dense brush and darkness that’s hiding them, nothing else.