I ran out and took a quick picture of one branch in question. Again, this tree was collected in '04, worked in '06, and will be left alone now for two years. The bud to the right is the furthest one back on this tree, but most branches have buds that go back 5-7 years worth of growth, while this bud is about 15 years back. While looking at another tree collected last year, there are new buds popping on old wood, about 9-10 years back, on multiple branches.
Sorry about the lack of detail. I circled and then arrowed to the new buds that popped on this branch. I can get a close up of the one bud, if needed, but I think you get the gist. It is approximately 7" or 15 years of growth from the branch tip to the bud on the right.
The Jackal method I mentioned was published in the ABS Journal in Summer '99. It is basically a fall candling technique that works to increase backbudding and ramification. Some have had good success, some not so good as it severely weakens the tree, so it should only be done on healthy trees and not every year. I think on this tree I got about 60 new buds on old wood, needle bundles and branch ends. Again, haven't really worked with ponderosa very long and I have no benchmark, but this was a test tree and I think this was a pretty good start - we'll see how the year shakes out and the tree responds.