Dealing with access roads/fire breaks

[jonsimoneau]

Ok guys here is the deal. I'm hunting a 10,000 acre piece of public land in the Midwest. I have scouted what I thought would be good areas and have found beds, feed, edges, etc. There WOULD be plenty of remote areas to hunt on this piece if it were not for the fact that the whole 10,000 acres is riddled with access trails/fire breaks. Essentially if a guy is willing to walk, he can go anywhere in this place with easy walking. My question is how do the deer deal with these fire breaks? I found one good bedding area within view of one of these lanes. The bedding is there due to the topography (slight hump in a sea of flat timber). This bed is used often. During season I imagine the deer simply bed here and watch the fire lane for predators hunters with the wind coming to their back protecting their backside. But aside from that I am wondering how deer relate to these fire breaks during daylight movement. Even though the fire breaks offer easy movement to nearby crop fields, I would assume the deer would not use them during daylight hours. However, in the bedding scenario I just described, the deer can literally rise from his bed and parallel the fire break all the way to a standing cornfield. This way he would be able to use his eyes to scan the open fire break and he would be able to utilize a cross wind or quartering wind to the field. Now all of this seems to make sense to me (let me know what you guys think) but I am having a hard time convincing myself to hang a stand 30 yards away from a fire break on public land! Am I crazy?

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[dan]

Sign don't lie... Sometimes you need to hunt 30 yards from a road or trail.

[Singing Bridge]

Essentially if a guy is willing to walk, he can go anywhere in this place with easy walking. My question is how do the deer deal with these fire breaks?

A lot of the public I hunt is riddled with access trails, woods roads, etc. When you have to deal with this it is time to make lemonade from lemons... these roads allow you to monitor tracks and buck activity, as well as the herd in general, in the areas you have scouted. I can assure you there will be hardly anyone, if anyone at all, monitoring buck activity in this way.

But aside from that I am wondering how deer relate to these fire breaks during daylight movement.

It always seems to come down to hunting pressure. A lot of pressure will keep the bucks away from these roads, and about all you will find is tracks crossing them at night. Again, it can help you monitor activity in your area, as pressured bucks move very little away from their bedding areas in daylight. If the pressure is very low, it normally comes down to the trails that the buck has encountered human scent on. The trails with hunter activity will normally be avoided.

Even though the fire breaks offer easy movement to nearby crop fields, I would assume the deer would not use them during daylight hours.

If there is hunting pressure, they will cross them but typically after dark. The first week of November I usually encounter a bunch of buck tracks on these roads as they chase and monitor does... but again it is after dark. Knowing the buck bedding areas is key in areas with a bunch of hunting pressure.

However, in the bedding scenario I just described, the deer can literally rise from his bed and parallel the fire break all the way to a standing cornfield. This way he would be able to use his eyes to scan the open fire break and he would be able to utilize a cross wind or quartering wind to the field... but I am having a hard time convincing myself to hang a stand 30 yards away from a fire break on public land!

They won't typically "follow" the road a distance away to monitor it- rather they will utilize edge cover that allows them to escape from predators if they encounter them on the way to the standing corn. They couldn't care less if the road is "in sight". Cover and topography will normally give away their travel away from the bedding area. In areas where there is little hunting pressure, they may utilize the trails differently- but not around here.

Am I crazy?

Yes, you are crazy. J/K hope this helps a little...

[jonsimoneau]

Thanks guys. I went and did some lite scouting in the area yesterday. There is indeed a trail leaving the bedding area and paralleling the fire break all the way to what is now a bean field (I thought it was going to be corn). The trail has some large tracks. Obviously the deer will switch to corn when season starts. The cornfield is on the other side of the woods. My plan is to follow the trail back towards the bedding area and find where the trail branches off towards the cornfield somewhere close to the bed and will setup there. What do you guys think? I'll try to post a map if I can figure out how to do this.

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[jonsimoneau]

By the way guys. I don't know for sure if this main bed is being used by a big buck, a little buck, or even a big doe. There are big tracks on the trail leading in and out but the woods in this area is made up of a lot of pin oak and rubs are hard to come by to verify the presence of a buck. However, I believe this bedding site is the very best one around and it is occupied often. This is more of a trial and error type of thing as I try to learn how to better predict and hunt known beds. I placed three trail cameras along the bean field hoping to get an idea as to what is using the area. The bean field is about a quarter mile from the bed. The cornfield is also about a quarter mile from the bed at a 90 degree angle from the beans. The bedding area is centrally located in a patch of otherwise featureless woods. The bed itself is situated on the "steep" side of a 5 foot hump in otherwise flat and homogenous pin oaks. Because of the way this one is laid out, I think it will be a good one to test and to learn how to properly hunt beds. If I am successful then I will be able to apply what I have learned to the numerous similar situations I have found through scouting. One of which I am certain a shooter buck is using.

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[dan]

The trail has some large tracks. Obviously the deer will switch to corn when season starts. The cornfield is on the other side of the woods. My plan is to follow the trail back towards the bedding area and find where the trail branches off towards the cornfield somewhere close to the bed and will setup there. What do you guys think?

I think your going about it backwards... You should start at the bed and scout the trail leaving the bed and set up as close as possible, not start at the food source and scout back.

[jonsimoneau]

Thanks Dan. That's actually what I'm gonna do. Just worded it wrong. This is a bed that I have scouted well last season and this winter. If I remember right I know where the trail I'm looking for is. I will hopefully get in there one time, probably at night, to pick the exact tree and plan my access. This is a mistake I made while originally scouting it in the winter. Not picking an alternate tree for changing food source. I had a tree picked out and ready assuming the field would be corn (it's almost always corn). But now that the food sources are different I think I will have little choice but to pick another tree.

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