Anyone ever try this?

[Liv4Rut]

I was wondering if anyone ever tried to make a natural funnel in there deer hunting woods, like making a V on a ridge that you cant cover with tons of brush that deer cant go through except for about a 20 yard opening in the point of the V where the deer have to go through. then set two stands on each side of the opening for whatever wind you have for the day and hunting it. I noticed that while hunting around parked trains that there is always a one car break in them, that 95 percent of the deer cross right there, which makes it fairly easy to determine where to hunt. Ive also noticed on two public hunting areas, that there are bridges accross steep gullies that when there is snow you would notice tons of tracks crossing the bridge. or like when you have a tall barb wire fence, and you cut a 6 foot hole or take one of the top strands off, and all the deer use that crossing. Just wondering if anyone has made their own funnel, and ever had any success? I would never be able to try this due to where im hunting, the lands not mine, but ive read of this being done in a hunting magazine years ago, and just wondered if anyone tried it is all

 

[Bowhunt]

I have pile brush over deer trails or layed down some trees with a chain saw over trails. It works just do it in march or april, by deer season they have no clue it was ever done.

 

[River1]

Yep, making your own luck is sweet when it pays off. I shoot recurves, so I'm always trying to figure out how to get em that extra few feet closer.

Moving dead timber to tighten up a funnel or just bringing em' around for that nice 10 yard shot is always a good move.

Digging a very small relief under a fence can work just like tying a fence down. I think most deer would rather go under than over myself. If you can establish a good doe crossing this way, the bigger deer won't think twice about jumping over if they can't get their rack through.

 

[duckaholic]

Never tried making one, but always hunted the funnels. I do 90% of my hunting in a natural funnel. My honey spot is where 2 creeks come together to form 1. On both sides of the 2 creeks the hills are too steep for deer to climb. My stand is right on the point of where the 2 creeks meet. Sounds like what your talking about would work great!

 

[Daver]

Yes, I have done this with good to very good success in the past and will certainly do more of this in the future too. Primarily I have piled brush in specific spots during the late winter/early spring time to subtly redirect deer movement to a preferred stand location.

The other technique I have used successfully is to clear a "better" path on or near existing deer trails via clipping/removing brush to make a more preferred path of least resistance. Similarly, with a modest amount of "dirt work" you can easily manipulate an otherwise steep creek crossing to be a more gentle, preferred crossing. I have been known to cut a few saplings and pound them in the ground vertically on a creek bank and then use some others horizontally to "hold" dirt and form a rudimentary "step". In a nutshell, you are just making a better path and the game will follow it.

Another idea I have for this year is to throw a couple of drainage culverts down in the bottom of a steep ditch to continue to provide a means of egress for the runoff and then shovel enough dirt over them to fill it in enough to where the deer will now have a viable ditch crossing. A "natural" bridge of sorts. That this crossing so happens to be perfectly aligned with a couple of good stand locations is purely coincidental!

A similar theme is this... now is the time to prepare next years stand sites AND the routes to them. Make it easy to get in and out silently to your stands now. This just may make the difference for next year.