Hello,
In one of my new hunting areas there are a few trails. They are far enough apart I can't hunt them all at once.
This being a new spot and about the end of the season I haven't been able to pattern them well.
One thing about the trails that is easy to see with the snow on the ground, Some are straight line type trails that are only about 6" wide and trampled right to the ground. Others are wider (2' or so) and meander through the woods.
Both types are fairly well used judging from the individual tracks.
Is there a correlation between trail width and relative "straightness" that gives the trail away as a night use trail or some other important info?
Thank you
:thumbsup:
My guess would be the well used, wider trails are used primarily by does and other family members and the smaller one are possibly buck trails. Generally, in my experience, the buck trails parallel the doe trails but unlike the does they like traveling alone.
QuoteOriginally posted by Pat B:
My guess would be the well used, wider trails are used primarily by does and other family members and the smaller one are possibly buck trails. Generally, in my experience, the buck trails parallel the doe trails but unlike the does they like traveling alone.
X2
Thank you for the thoughts guys.
:thumbsup:
The skinny trails do sorta parallel some of the wider trails from about 60yds away.
I have often seen that a main trail (wide wore out trail) will have a less obvious trail that will parallel it at a distance of 10-50 yards.
I have also seen that the less obvious or parallel trail is often used by bucks early in the season and pre-rut. However when the rut comes all bets are off.
I Hang most of my stands between the main trail and the secondary trail. If you pay close attention you will more than likely see that the less obvious (parallel trail) will either have more cover or be closer to thick cover. I think that is why the bucks prefer the parallel trail.
That is my 2 cents worth. Happy Hunting!
The wider one that wanders, check to see if the deer are browsing as they move.....does and yearlings. Also see where they lead....to bedding, food, it can be like a book, you just have to read it!
I agree with Gen273 and would add that terrain will at times create narrow trails where steep and wider on more level ground. Drew
Tough call without seeing the whole area. Good advice here, just have to see if it applys to that particular area.
I once found a straight as an arrow trail that went for about 50 yards. It was late summer and pretty dense foliage. The rest before and after was very meandering. I couldnt see any reason why, the terrain didn't change, etc. I found out! As I followed it, about twenty yards in I started to see yellow jackets. There was a big underground nest about 30-40 feet off the deer trail. I think they were putting the pedal down in that one spot to get past those hornets...pretty cool.
My thoughts are wide and deep trails are usually used by does or family groups and without snow they are usually more obvious on steep slopes etc. Now buck trails in my area usually don't parrell the doe trails although sometimes they do in thick areas but mostly they intersect them. These will be faint and not so visible trails but usually there will be bucks rubs at the intersection depending on the year and mast conditions. Your first thought is to put a tree stand up right there! During the early season this may work but usually your ahead to back track the faint trail closer to a bedding area where it usually fans out and find something that acts like a funnel there. JMHO>
i agree with lc!
A single deer using a trail daily can cause a narrow one, but so can the terrane and cover type and change. I have seen a single yearling doe lay down a heavy narrow trail like a buck. There are many variable to trails, and how deer use them..
Another version is that the straight trail is there because they are going somewhere, like now. The other shows a more wandering pace. One may be positioned where there is browse and the other no browse. Or any of a dozen other explainations.
ChuckC
QuoteOriginally posted by Pat B:
My guess would be the well used, wider trails are used primarily by does and other family members and the smaller one are possibly buck trails. Generally, in my experience, the buck trails parallel the doe trails but unlike the does they like traveling alone.
Yep....and you can redirect trails so that you DO have more than on in range.
I use to hunt a place that had 2 trails in range and a 3rd just out...so I used brush to redirect the trail to were it was in range. I also disturbed the ground around the brush to make it look like deer had been traveling it till it intersected that 3rd trail again. I also put down doe pee in it. Worked like a charm.
cool idea Terry!
I can think of two things I've experieced.
1. The more narrow trail is used by fewer deer and likely bucks as has been written above. However, you suggest both trails (wide and narrow) are used by an equal number of deer? I would expect the "buck trail" to be more lightly used. Of course when bucks are trailing does, I'd want to be on the heavier one.
2. Of course if the terrain/cover is more diffuse in one area and thick in another, I'd expect more of a meandering trail in the diffuse (open) area than in the thick area.
I have tried to direct trail use three times in 40+ years with varying success.
In Northern Indiana (Kingsbury FW Area) I put dirty socks on two parallel trails that were too far from my my stand. I watched, that first night two different deer "bounce" off the sock-laced trails and come right to me on the close one -- I missed both deer, barely.
Another time I built a brushpile (not tall enough)on a trail that was 6-7 yards further from me than I wanted and up against a government fence. The first doe to come down this trail and hit my barricade ....jumped the dad-burned brushpile. Foiled again. I was surprised the doe would go to the trouble of jumping when she could have walked around it and meet my arrow.
A couple of times I've tied strands of barb-wire (where the landowner wouldn't mind) together to create a low-crossing.
Great info everyone.
I guess I don't know enough to include the important details...not really sure what the important details are I suppose.
Thank you..I have a lot to learn.
I have had good luck doing as others have said. I also have had good luck finding the pinch point in the area the trails are traveling. This could be anything from a fallen tree to a steep hill,creek, fence etc. You can also find where those trails intersect if you can do so without spooking or scenting up the area. The real key is dont disturb them while doing so if your hunting the area.
Good luck
From one Michigan bowhunter to another...the most beaten and used trails are almost always used during the non-hunting hours.
A new area is always a challenge to decipher.
The snow is a great help.
I recommend hunting the rest of the season as best you can, and then put your feet to work, and figure out where they are going when the season closes.
I have found "straightness" to be a major indicator of a nighttime trail. They are just making tracks and getting to a destination. The easier the better for them.
Beaten paths, and straightness often go together.
Snow is a gift...until after deer season.
This is a VERY educational thread. I'm glad to have stumbled across it! Great info/opinions everyone!
If you are hunting for anything and not just trying to zero in on bucks, especially since it's late season and the rut is all but a memory........I would hunt the trails with the most tracks in it and the most well used.
That's where the best chance of seeing deer will be, and even if by some strange chance there is still a doe in heat, she may just bring that buck right down the trail past you?
I'll take a doe trail anyday, unless it's early season before the rut and that's a whole different animal.
The wider meandering trails indicate that you are getting close to bedding areas.
Narrow trails = deer on a mission.
I gotta disagree. The closest trail to the cornfield will be the biggest . It is the same for humans. You leave work, get on the freeway, next a major highway takes you to a secondary county road and finally to a small road that leads right to your house. I have aerial photos that bear this out. Smallest trails closest to beddind areas getting larger as more deer congregate near feeding areas.
You guys are both right, all depends on your particular area. Hunting deer sure isn't a turnkey activity is it??
are there bait piles in your area ? Another kicker ?
I have seen trails straight as can be.. from one bait pile to another.
ChuckC
There is no agriculture where I hunt, just big woods. The trails are narrow between bedding and feeding then spread out in feeding ares.
You can tell when they are feeding, so if the trail widens and meanders with no major feeding sign....bedding close.
That's what it is here anyway, but I can see where you are coming from onewhohasfun.
5 or so years ago we had a hit and miss acorn crop. 5 white oak trees on the place I hunt had nuts and the rest seemed barren. The trails were straight and deep between the 5.
I hunted in the snow this weekend and trailed a cagey big buck (I actually saw him) from one patch of dense cover to another, nearly straightline. As we approached the dense cover, the trails were very obvious, straight and were probably made just by him. I crossed dozens of other meandering trails along the way. His bedding areas were extremely well chosen and nearly unapproachable. I'm sure he doesn't move much in daylight right now.
I hunted the same ground last weekend and found where terrain forced all the deer through a saddle in a ridge. The meandering trails all funneled into a single trail for half mile. This single trail was like a cattle trail, muddy and deep. That's what you are looking for if you want to kill any deer right now and especially during the rut if you are waiting on a buck.