Road Map to Whitetail Rendezvouses
Funnel Deer to Your Hunting Spot
Editor’s
Note: Effective hunters utilize a combination of various
road maps to bag their bucks because they know that
four driving forces – food, water, fear and sex
–cause deer to move in a direction or toward a
destination where a hunter can intersect with a buck.
These outdoorsmen also understand that whitetails are
creatures of habit using the same paths and performing
the same routines every day, except when changes in
the weather and the availability of food affect these
routes. They are aware of the deer’s acute senses
– good hearing, a keen sense of smell and sharp
eyes. Although color-blind, deer can detect the slightest
movement of a hunter. Here are routes to follow that
will direct you to a whitetail rendezvous this winter.
Road Map #8: If deer are using several trails to travel
to
their feeding areas, funnel the animals to the spot
where you’re set up. “Usually, when there
are three or four possible trails the deer can use to
get to his food source, I go into the area I want to
hunt three or four days prior to the day I plan to hunt,”
Dr. Skip Shelton of Mississippi, explains. “I
build natural barriers utilizing limbs and branches
across the other trails, so the deer have to funnel
onto the trail I want to hunt. This tactic is especially
useful for bowhunters who have to bring deer in close
for a shot.” Generally, a whitetail won’t
attempt to leap these barriers, although a deer can
clear an 8-foot hurdle from a standing position when
it’s frightened.
Road Map #9: Know the best places to hunt a preferred
food source, based on the time
of day. Since deer are primarily nocturnal feeders,
the best time to hunt a preferred food source is either
in the morning when the deer are leaving their feeding
areas, or in the afternoon when the animals are returning
to their feeding regions. “If a hunter moves into
a feeding area before or at daylight to take a stand,
the chances are extremely-good that he’ll spook
the deer already feeding in the region,” Shelton
says. “The morning hunter will find a better place
to hunt, if he takes a
stand on the trail from the feeding area to the deer’s
bedding site, or anywhere along the route from the food
source to thick cover or a bedding spot.”
Many afternoon hunters choose to hunt over green fields
or agricultural crops. These sportsmen will sit on the
edges of the fields and wait on the deer to come from
the woods into the fields to eat. However, outdoorsmen
who want to hunt in the afternoon should consider the
advice of longtime hunter, Ron Fowler. “The hunter
who finds the deer’s trail from the woods will
be far more successful in bagging a buck than the hunter
who depends on the deer’s coming out into the
field. The larger bucks often will stay 20 to 30 yards
in the woods and wait until nightfall before they come
into the fields.” So, the hunter who meets his
buck on the trail leading to the field may kill a bigger
and better buck in his region than he would if he waits
on the deer to step into the field.
Tomorrow: Let the Does Do the Work
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