Activity centers around a nest and food cache. In terrestrial prairie subspecies, a nest is constructed just below ground level in its own burrow or one abandoned by another animal. Forest dwelling subspecies construct nests near the ground in stumps, logs, brush piles, tree cavities, reconstructed bird nests, tree bark, or even cottages or outbuildings. Home ranges of P. maniculatus range from 242 square meters to 3000 square meters. Home ranges of males are larger than females and show more overlap.
Males use their home ranges for both access to feeding and nesting and also to reproductive females.
Females use their home ranges for feeding, nesting, and rearing young. Reproductive females are more aggressive in territory defense than males, and their territories overlap less, suggesting that they have a greater investment in territory defense than males. A mature male, a few mature females, and several young constitute the basic social unit of the deer mouse. In the winter, groups of ten individuals or more of mixed sexes and ages may huddle together in nests to conserve heat. Habitat Peromyscus maniculatus occupies many different ecological zones throughout its range.