Hi, ive always played around with hunting public land here in nc.  Id hunt maybe 10 or 12 days a year out their.  But this year ive decided to hunt public land exsclusively in hopes of becomeing a better deer hunter.  The parcel ive picked is well over ten times the size of my old PL haunt of 500 acres.  Their I just set up close to the cover(laurel thickets, older cut over, and set out pines on the bordering private land) and id see a few deer here and their either coming out or working along the edge.  But here at the new place, actual security cover seems very sparse, and food(whiteoaks and maple browse) are EVERYWHERE.  So ive went to hunting what "cover" I could find and the mostly likely looking key terrain features(the tops of draws, saddles and benches).  Ive only hunted 3 of the spots ive scouted, each once a piece, and ive got several more in the hole, waiting to be hunted and a couple more ive just pre scouted. And so far im 2 for 3 on seeing deer at the spots ive picked.
 But one thing ive noticed is that I dont seem to see alot of trails in this hilly country, which suprises me.  In fact, on alot of nc public land ya dont see many trails.  I may find an occasional trace the looks like it could be a trail, but the usually peter out after 10 to 30 yds. Has this been the experience of others in the big woods???  I keep trying to just trust my intuition and instinct, but with november fast approaching, its realllll easy to want to second guess myself right out of the spots ive already chosen.  What say ye fellers who have chased deer in vast tracks of forrest?  Help a fellar out, please.  

Thanks,
Hunter Smith.

Are there streams you can follow to look for crossings? Follow them from there? Sounds like you are doing all right if you are seeing deer.

Yeah, creek crossings seem to be the ticket.


Thurman? I'm hitting Uwharrie hard the next four days. All evening sits.

Its sorta embaressing, but I dont really know what to look for in a creek crossing.

Look for saddles, ridge points and benches

Check out the books Mapping Trophy Whitetails. It is a book focusing on using topo maps to identify terrain features to focus on when hunting deer. Also a good read is Hunting Backwoods bucks.

"Backwoods bucks"???  Who is that by???  Also, could yall maybe help me out with my original question about trails??  What do yall find in the big woods??  Long well defined trails?  Faint traces in key terrain features??

We usually find trails in the big woods of Ohio, usually on areas of easier travel.  They like old logging roads and natural benches.

The reason I ask is out of curiosity.  Im wondering if this is normal due to "cover" and food being everywhere, they just dont need to wear a trail out???  Just faint trails in areas where the terrain funnels their movement??? Rubs I can definately find, and scrapes and other sign. Im just sorta curious.  Should I even worry about finding trails???   I just need to soothe more analytical mind.

Backwoods bucks by David Bickish. I have found trails along creeks, on benches and along saddles. This is a interesting thread. I have done some hunting in the big woods but have yet to take a deer. I'm trying to learn all I can about hunting big woods deer.

QuoteOriginally posted by Ol'DanBoone:
The reason I ask is out of curiosity.  Im wondering if this is normal due to "cover" and food being everywhere, they just dont need to wear a trail out???  Just faint trails in areas where the terrain funnels their movement??? Rubs I can definately find, and scrapes and other sign. Im just sorta curious.  Should I even worry about finding trails???   I just need to soothe more analytical mind.

I think you nailed it all in this post and probably can't do much better. Terrain funnels. They're what I hunt in wester NY which is very much like Adirondack hunting. I do this in the Adirondacks as well but with ZERO results.  

I hunt Big public tracts almost exclusively and notice that years of high mast the deer tend to meander and just bed right in the food often leaving very little trail sign.  This is due mostly to lack of travel to a dedicated spot since the acorns are everywhere. I still stick with hunting the cover and terrain features though. Just my observation. Hope it helps.

Yeah, I reckoned if I could take a deer consistently in the big woods itd mean id learn a little something.  I counted the two times I seen deer out of the three ive hunted, a success.  I hunted what I thought would be my best spot yesterday.... but zilch.  Lol.  I do believe that having plenty of options available will help contribute to future success.  So im constantly scouting.  Theirs one spot in particular im curious about.  Until I get a good wind though, ill just have to wait.  Its a big huge knoll with a long skinny ridge(maybe 100 yds wide at the most) running NE.  Where the hogs back runs into the knoll there is a deep, deadfall choke ravine running SE. Theirs a narrow 40 foot corridor that leads from the hogsback between the ravine to the left and the big knoll to the right, down to a 5acre bench full of whiteoaks below, and a small creek bottom on down beyond.  I thought I detected a little run across in that narrow little corridor.  I didnt find much sign in there except the "maybe" trail in the corridor, a few fresh beds up high toward the eastern crest of the knoll, and old scrapes from last year down on the bench. When I scouted it, I apprached from the south and spooked a couple deer down on the bench, now they deer beat it up through the little corridor which is encourageing.  I wanted to hang a stand on a old loging rd running the length of the hogsback or w/e u call it.  But my instincts kept tellin me to set up at the "maybe" trail runnin through the corridor.  Im gona just go with my gut and not look back.

Yeah, I reckoned if I could take a deer consistently in the big woods itd mean id learn a little something.  I counted the two times I seen deer out of the three ive hunted, a success.  I hunted what I thought would be my best spot yesterday.... but zilch.  Lol.  I do believe that having plenty of options available will help contribute to future success.  So im constantly scouting.  Theirs one spot in particular im curious about.  Until I get a good wind though, ill just have to wait.  Its a big huge knoll with a long skinny ridge(maybe 100 yds wide at the most) running NE.  Where the hogs back runs into the knoll there is a deep, deadfall choked ravine running SE. Theirs a narrow 40 foot wide corridor that leads from the hogsback, down past the ravine to the left and the big knoll to the right, down to a 5acre bench full of whiteoaks below, and a small creek bottom on down beyond.  I thought I detected a little run across in that narrow little corridor.  I didnt find much sign in there except the "maybe" trail in the corridor, a few fresh beds up high toward the eastern crest of the knoll, and old scrapes from last year down on the bench. When I scouted it, I apprached from the south and spooked a couple deer down on the bench, now they deer beat it up through the little corridor which is encourageing.  I wanted to hang a stand on a old loging rd running the length of the hogsback or w/e u call it.  But my instincts kept tellin me to set up at the "maybe" trail runnin through the corridor.  Im gona just go with my gut and not look back.

Bucknut, thank you sooooo much.  It does help, I really really appreciate it.

Big woods with trad gear is a tough game, I hunt in north central PA big woods .if you just get close enough for a shot you made a accomplishment . Try and find there food source early season ,I'm convinced the big woods deer don't have patterns like the farmland deer do .hunt the rut when the buck are running had my best luck hunting the saddles where mountains join.

I think the answer to your question is that whitetils are "edge animals." They like to orient themselves to some type of edge be it terrain change or cover change. Even the most subtle change in cover can be an "edge". Edges are not as evident in big woods but they are there and might take time to find. In the mean time you can start with stream crossings as mentioned, old logging roads, old fence lines and the usual terrain features mentioned. Another thing worth mentioning is mast and browse both of which can be tough to find in mature stands of timber. Might take some time to find but when you do you're golden. A lack of defined trails may mean the deer have to cast about more to find food.

When deer cross a creek, they exert more force when going down in and up out of the creek bed. That will break down the edge of the walls of the creek. Deer are creatures of habit and will use these same trails running to and from food, shelter and water.

So there is no particular set of features that they prefer to cross at???  Just walk the back lookin for for slides and concentratiins of tracks?

I hunt thousands of acres of public land. There are plenty trails. In your case I would find the natural funnels and use them, especially with rut closing in. Sounds like you are doing pretty well though with 2 out of 3 hunts seeing deer on public.