Last season during the rut in a hill country piece I hunted, there was a heavy trail (red line) well below the 1/3rd elevation (yellow line) on a leeward side of a ridge. I didn't see any action anywhere on along the 1/3rd during my sits, and there was a faint trail, but not as beat down like the trail down near the bottom. Could bucks be checking thermals that close to the bottom in the ravine? Has anyone seen cruise trails like this before? What do you think?
Cruise trail close to the bottom of ridge question.
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Cruise trail close to the bottom of ridge question.
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Re: Cruise trail close to the bottom of ridge question.
I see it quite a bit. Especially the more mature specimens. As your figure suggests low spots on points are good crossovers for the low runners. Does like walking side hills to bed/feed.
However the trails are rarely "beat down"...I'd expect those to be doe trails.
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However the trails are rarely "beat down"...I'd expect those to be doe trails.
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Re: Cruise trail close to the bottom of ridge question.
First parallel trail inside the woods is prime cruising in am after thermals start to rise IMO. Especially around low land feeding.
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Re: Cruise trail close to the bottom of ridge question.
Was the buck sign on the red line? If it's just a beat down trail, I'd guess it was a doe trail and the bucks were still cruising up higher (yellow line). But if not, they must have had some reason to go outside the norm.
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Re: Cruise trail close to the bottom of ridge question.
I have a good scenario or two just like that... I see more bucks on those low trails in the early am hunting hours before thermals kick in, and then higher in the 1/3 after they kick in... On one of the spots I hunt a lot it looks just like your diagram and the bucks seem to just cut the corner and drop low rather than follow the bowl of the hill all the way around. In the am at that spot they are almost always low, later in the day its a flip of a coin as to whether they are high or low, but a slight move to the adjacent hill funnels then all thru one spot.
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Re: Cruise trail close to the bottom of ridge question.
Thats what was interesting too, its like a parallel trail and like you said, it doesn't go around the spurs, just up and over them. Maybe the trail goes straight to bedding on the points? It was something I noticed and I probably should have set up lower on those hunts.
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