TRACKS
AND TRAILS – WHAT DO THEY TELL?
Deer Track Quiz, Part II
EDITOR’S NOTE: You’ve heard talk that a
big buck is feeding in a green field, but despite watching
from dawn to dusk, you haven’t seen hide or hair
of him, just some does and small bucks. What’s
wrong? As long-time deer hunter Larry Norton of Butler,
Alabama, explains, "Big bucks, especially in the
South, rarely come to green fields in daylight hours,
even during the rut. They don't have to come out in
the open and show themselves to find a hot doe but instead
can walk along a trail 30 to 40 yards off the downwind
side of the field and still smell the does. Generally
they'll wait until dark and then move out into the fields
to eat." So, you haven’t seen the big buck
because he’s not using the same trail as the does
and the smaller bucks. The lesson: deer use several
different kinds of paths or trails. If you know what
to look for and where to look, you can take a stand
and drastically increase your ability to find and bag
deer. Let’s take a look at some of those trails,
and try a short quiz that’ll help separate rumor
from reality.
5) Question: If you see the dew claws in the deer's
track, is this any indication that a buck has made that
track?
Horace Gore, a wildlife biologist from Texas, says,
"No. Often the size of the animal and the medium
the track is being placed in will determine
the depth of the print and whether or not a dew claw
is apparent in the print. In soft mud or clay, even
the track of yearling deer may reveal a dew claw. In
a freshly plowed field, the print of a dew claw can
be present as part of the track. However, a very large
buck walking across rock or hard clay may not leave
a big tracks at all or dew claw prints in the tracks."
6) Question: Why is finding a trail with tracks going
in both directions important to success when deer hunting?
Dr. Bob Sheppard of Carrollton, Alabama, an avid deer
hunter who also teaches deer-hunting seminars, has learned
that discovering a trail with tracks going in both directions
often signals he's at a deer hot spot. "One of
the best places to find this kind of trail is in a funnel
area where the terrain is necked-down by two different
types of converging habitats. Deer will move back and
forth along this trail all day to get from one section
of woods to the other part of woods. Before when I've
set up my tree stand near a trail with tracks going
in both directions, I've seen deer throughout the day.
To me, a trail with two directional tracks is one of
the best places for a hunter to take a stand."
Bob Zaiglin, a wildlife biologist who manages several
Texas ranches, emphasizes the importance of locating
trails that meet or intersect to see more deer. "If
the trail goes in two directions, you don't know where
the deer are moving to – right or left. In certain
geographical areas, trails come from all different directions
with a pivot point where they
cross – generally the most-productive place to
concentrate your hunting." As Horace Gore mentions,
"Obviously if you find a trail with tracks going
in two directions, the deer probably are going to a
food supply and coming back to a bedding ground. Then
you can adjust your hunting times. If the tracks only
are going one way, then you don't necessarily know what
the deer are doing."
7) Question: How important is locating deer tracks
to a successful hunt plan?
"Obviously, you want to see some deer tracks to
reassure yourself psychologically there are deer around,"
Zaiglin mentions. "But on many places with dry,
rocky terrain, like southern Texas and Mexico, you won't
see any tracks, even though plenty of deer may be in
an area. As both a wildlife manager and an avid deer
hunter, I don't like to see too many tracks, because
that indicates too many deer are on the land. Too many
deer mean the animals lack quality and few, if any,
will be trophy bucks." Horace Gore considers seeing
tracks as very important to a deer hunter's scouting
successfully. "Seeing deer tracks when you're scouting
out a hunting region reminds me of the old saying, 'If
a deer is there, he's making tracks.' If you're scouting
a spot looking for trails and deer sign but don't find
any tracks, perhaps no deer are in the region."
8) Question: Can you identify the track of one
particular deer in an area and from its track continue
to hunt that same deer for several years?
Wildlife biologist Horace Gore is skeptical about a
hunter's ability to determine that one particular track
has been made by the same deer year after year. "If
the deer's track is exceptionally big, you may be able
to say year after year that the same deer has made the
track. In Texas where I primarily hunt, deer tracks
don't mean that much in helping to denote one deer from
another, due to the ground's being so dry and hard.
You may have a better chance of distinguishing a specific
deer's track from another in places like Mississippi,
Alabama and/or East Texas, where much of the ground
is soft. Still the deer must have an unusual track –
perhaps crippled in some way or a somewhat different-looking
foot – to be discernible."
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