Parallel Trails + Hunting Pressure = ???

[oldrank]

They also like to clear cut along the human trails. So we have long cuts that are maybe only a hundred yards wide... I have also found the inside perimeter of these cuts get hot action. Once the pressure starts the deer will snake through the edge of the transition line.. they attrack more hunters being so close to the trail but if u can find them deep or hit them during the weekdays they pay off.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Singing Bridge]

So what about the location where a buck's parallel trail intersects a main doe trail coming out of doe bedding? Is the spot significant? What about its importance, or lack thereof, to a cruising buck and the does themselves... do you believe the spot has any more importance than 50 yards away on the same buck cruise trail? Should these intersecting trails be easy to recognize, or hard? Would we understand what we were looking at if it was right in front of us? Earlier I mentioned the exact location is often marked with a rub or two, or possibly a scrape, or even both a rub and a scrape... I also mentioned that I often find old rubs from previous years right in the same spot. So if you found a rub and maybe a scrape on a trail exiting a swamp, would you think "buck bedding area ahead" or would you think to look for the little squirrel trail that is t-boning the doe run? Are these same locations REALLY used year after year for sign making by bucks if the habitat isn't changed by clearcutting, or new home construction? You decide-

Here are scrapes where the buck trail intersects a main doe run exiting a swamp bedding area for does. The does bed on an island and their main exit trail passes from the top of the picture to the bottom. This is on the transition line of high ground and swamp, just onto the dry land. The buck parallel trail comes in from the left and passes through to the right of the picture:



I have been monitoring these scrapes for the last twenty + years in this exact location. They are sunk well below ground level after decades of use. Do you think a buck will run this parallel trail and scrape here this fall? The scrapes are a little hard to see because I took the pic during a spring scout with some snow still on the ground. The next time I'm back there I'll have to get a better pic.



I videotaped a different doe bedding area and sent it to Dan... Where the buck's parallel buck trail intersects the doe trail coming out of the swamp from a doe bedding area there are scrapes that I began monitoring in 1978. This spot is so remote and difficult to access no one ever goes there... the scrapes will be there this fall right under the same trees as when I was a kid.

I think this is compelling... what say you?

[oldrank]

Pretty awesome bridge...

[ Post made via Android ]

[Terry]

I have seen the same thing. The terrain is dictating that smart buck use the same parallel trail year after year. Goes to show that different mature buck have the same mindset sometimes. They are choosing to leave sign there for the same reasons as every buck before them, it's a calling card for deer using those trails. If the doe stopped using the same trails the buck would adjust their scrape locations accordingly.

The significance in my book is it allows me to narrow in on exact buck travel routes. The actual parallel trail becomes more visible with a scrape line.

It's one of the reasons terrain has more to do with where I sit than sign. The unpredictable buck become more predictable when you figure out why they travel where they travel and when they do it.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Singing Bridge]

I have seen the same thing. The terrain is dictating that smart buck use the same parallel trail year after year. Goes to show that different mature buck have the same mindset sometimes. They are choosing to leave sign there for the same reasons as every buck before them, it's a calling card for deer using those trails. If the doe stopped using the same trails the buck would adjust their scrape locations accordingly.

The significance in my book is it allows me to narrow in on exact buck travel routes. The actual parallel trail becomes more visible with a scrape line.

It's one of the reasons terrain has more to do with where I sit than sign. The unpredictable buck become more predictable when you figure out why they travel where they travel and when they do it.

[ Post made via Android ]

Its hard to argue the value of these scrapes when they appear in the same location year after year.