Influences to direction of travel?

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mheichelbech
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Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby mheichelbech » Fri Mar 04, 2016 11:38 am

If a buck has a choice as to make with which way to go to food...for example he had preferred food of the same variety both north and south of his bedding...and most all else being equal, no pressure from hunters, coyotes, etc. and it is not the rut or pre-rut, what are the likely factors which would influence his choice to go to the north field or the south field on any given day?
In my own experience I have not found any patternable factor or set of factors although I have to think there must be. The most obvious, the wind, seems to be the least predictable for me..meaning I have watched them come out in either end in winds of all directions, maybe it's random?

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DaveT1963
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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 12:58 pm

Or it could be that he has had more bad encounters at one, or predators, ease of travel, security, individual characteristics of that buck... Maybe his buds are hanging at one.... There are many variables and older mature bucks are more random then what is often presented.... I.e. they do what they do because at that moment it's what they feel like doing

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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Fri Mar 04, 2016 2:17 pm

If you guys figure it out, let me know.
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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby Mathewshooter » Fri Mar 04, 2016 2:46 pm

I have noticed around me that the deer seem to favor certain fields every fall and it has nothing to do with whats planted in them because the favored fields always seem to change every year. My strategy is to figure out the preferred fields for that fall and then I can make an educated guess on where the deer will be heading. I will say that there is one field in particular that the deer seem to really like every fall and its on private land that nobody is allowed on. I can safely assume the deer dont get harassed there and thats why they go to that field. As for the fields on the public land, its anyones guess as to the reason they prefer one over the other. Pressure has probably got alot to do with it.
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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby Hooks1 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 3:26 pm

I think the buck will go to the field that has the most nutritional soils/plants and lacking pressure from man or predators thus giving him a feeling of security.
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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby mheichelbech » Sat Mar 05, 2016 1:33 pm

Hooks1 wrote:I think the buck will go to the field that has the most nutritional soils/plants and lacking pressure from man or predators thus giving him a feeling of security.

In the situation I am talking about the buck/bucks go to both ag fields which are usually always planted in the same plant...i.e. Both beans or both corn.

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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby Lockdown » Sat Mar 05, 2016 1:50 pm

Great topic.

I'm with Dave on this one.
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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby Hooks1 » Sat Mar 05, 2016 3:02 pm

mheichelbech wrote:
Hooks1 wrote:I think the buck will go to the field that has the most nutritional soils/plants and lacking pressure from man or predators thus giving him a feeling of security.

In the situation I am talking about the buck/bucks go to both ag fields which are usually always planted in the same plant...i.e. Both beans or both corn.

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With everything being equal, then the conditions at the moment that the buck decides to feed, he will choose the field that gives him the best security based on wind and thermals in my opinion.
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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby Bowhunting Brian » Sat Mar 05, 2016 3:26 pm

Just keep switching sides when you hunt it till you kill a buck.

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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby Hawthorne » Sat Mar 05, 2016 3:40 pm

I've hunted farmland for along time. Still haven't quite figured it out myself. Security is the biggest guess IMO. They like to come out into fields where they can't be seen from a house or a road. There's a 200 acre farm by me that the old guy hasn't allowed hunting since the 1970s. I see deer in his field at all times during the day when you see them no where else even during the middle of firearms season when pressure is high on the surrounding farms. And no there is no public land bordering it. LOL

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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby mheichelbech » Sun Mar 06, 2016 3:34 am

Hooks1 wrote:
mheichelbech wrote:
Hooks1 wrote:I think the buck will go to the field that has the most nutritional soils/plants and lacking pressure from man or predators thus giving him a feeling of security.

In the situation I am talking about the buck/bucks go to both ag fields which are usually always planted in the same plant...i.e. Both beans or both corn.

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With everything being equal, then the conditions at the moment that the buck decides to feed, he will choose the field that gives him the best security based on wind and thermals in my opinion.

That's the most logical but I have not observed that these bucks follow that. I've seen then coming into the wind and wind at back or sides into both fields.
I'm just wondering if I am missing some key piece that drives them or maybe they are just being random. When I leave my house and come home for the day, I have 2 options and sometimes it's just a random decision to go one way or the other...get tired of going one way so I go the other and I wonder if it isn't like this for the deer. The propert is small enough that they could cover all of it easily in a night of travel and probably do.
There is a fair amount coyote activity and I wonder if that doesn't have a lot influence on where they end up and how they travel.

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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby Stanley » Sun Mar 06, 2016 3:50 am

I would be a bit surprised if both food sources weren't being utilized at the same time. Deer often spread out with the exception of yarding up in cold weather.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Influences to direction of travel?

Unread postby Zona » Mon Mar 07, 2016 2:21 pm

Stanley wrote:I would be a bit surprised if both food sources weren't being utilized at the same time. Deer often spread out with the exception of yarding up in cold weather.

Are you saying a single buck would use both areas in a given night Stanley? Sort of like he was running a circuit?

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