Help With Determining Travel Patterns During Pre-Rut and Rut

[The Silence]

The farm I hunt is primarily rolling hills with lots of pasture, some CRP and lots of row crops. There are a few small drainages and small woodlots but they're separated by lots of open ground. There are a couple small rivers on the perimeter which have a little timber along the edges. The challenge I've been having is that I may see pretty decent animals but it's been hard to determine more well established travel corridors since there are so many options, in so many directions that they can go to get to the various types of cover/bedding areas.

It seems like these deer may have circuits they run to the various doe bedding areas once the pre-rut traveling starts up with much of it being at night for the bigger boys until later. A couple years ago, for about a week (at the end of October, beginning of Nov.) I had a couple of real hogs trotting through a specific area at night several times on their way to other bedding areas. I have ideas where they may be going, but do you guys have any suggestions about how to nail down more specific travel circuits throughout this property. Have you used trail cams set up along possible travel corridors during late pre-rut and during the rut to help nail these down more precisely or is it best just to concentrate on known doe bedding/feeding areas and wait for the boys to show up? Do you set up observation stands at vantage points so you get a bead on where the bucks are traveling and then react accordingly? Or are travel patterns just too random to try to predict at that time?

 

[sep0667]

I have hunted an area similar to what you describe. It was a large area that was mostly crp. I found it frustrating due to lack of trees to put a stand in and I felt like I had next to no cover. Saw deer, and several nice bucks. Much like you describe there really seemed to be no pattern on how they moved through the area, really no trails, they just went whatever way they wanted so much that there was no 'deer trails'. There were really no terrain features that funneled them etc and it was just sort of a crapshoot if a deer would come within range.

If there is a fence row or maybe a small creek etc that might help funnel them a bit better. You could try putting out some cams, but from my experience there was not much of a pattern. Maybe try to observe from a distance. If you know of a feeding/bedding area they are going to or coming through maybe try to set up closer to that in hopes that might pull them closer to you.

 

[Bowtech84]

I would hang cams to figure out what the does are up to. In my experience does are easier to pattern and when they start getting ready to put out the Bucks will be right with them. Focus on the does travel routes from food to bed and look for ambush points to hang your stand(funnel, creek crossing, ect...). Crp is tough but it sounds like you have other options on the farm. I would start there.

 

[madplotter]

Our area is very similar.

Observation stands have worked well for us but they take patience and a good pair of binoculars. From those stands we ask why they are using a certain trail. Old farm entrances (gates), old barns or tree lines that have been removed, etc. I have spent several years hunting just funnels hoping to get lucky with a mature buck. While funnels allow you to see alot of deer up close, they do not always equate to the best deer on the farm for us. One trick those old dogs use is to cut fields and avoid pinch points. I have started looking 75-100 yards either side of a corner pinch point for what I call a cut trail. When the wind is right you can many times see your solid bucks cutting those field corners. I am not as intense as some guys about scent control so I have to be extra careful and approach from different directions when the wind allows.

This is just an opinion but I have recently adopted this strategy for a couple of reasons:

1. I don't care how many deer I shoot

and

2. I let bucks walk that are not shooters to me, but...I do eat tag soup quite often.

 

[The Silence]

Madplotter, I do have one corner that is exactly like that. It is one place where I have seen a definite pattern. This particular area is far off any roads and quite isolated. The main row crops sit up on a plateau and then slope off on the backside into a few small drainages. Instead of staying in the timber near the drainages, they travel from a known bedding area along the side of the slope (which is 75-100 yards away from the timber) until they cross another small drainage which takes them to a shelf that runs along another field. Even though the slope is quite open with no cover they still cannot be seen from the far away roads and seem to feel quite secure. It's really the most direct and easy route to take.

 

[Daver]

If you have CRP that the deer are using in a somewhat random fashion AND you have access to a lawn tractor...then the solution is easy. Mow a path or two where it would suit you and the deer will pretty quickly start using it.

 

[StickersNKickers]

If you have CRP that the deer are using in a somewhat random fashion AND you have access to a lawn tractor...then the solution is easy. Mow a path or two where it would suit you and the deer will pretty quickly start using it.

I've driven thru tall grass/weeds with my truck or an ATV multiple times to try to achieve the same result.