Determining Exit and Entrance Trails

[Czabs]

One thing that I have hard time doing is determining the exit and entrance points to a bed. How do you determine where a buck exits his bed in the afternoon and what trail he takes to come back to his bed? I go through all the scenarios in my head and try to act smart but I really don't ever have a positive feeling about my final decision. The exit trail is a little easier to determine depending on food source locations, but the entrance trails are a tough one for me.

I try to see what way the rubs are facing also and I can't really come up with a liable answer to it. I'm thinking a lot of it is trial and error. Going out there and making mistakes and learning. Just wondering if anyone has anymore info on this topic. Thanks.

[Singing Bridge]

My best indicator, when getting a visual on travel direction is not possible, is tracks and the direction they face. Tracks are available to analyze 24/7, 365.

In heavily pressured areas, scouting cameras / raked out trails / funnel watching all carry risk and have to be used very carefully.

Rubs and rublines can be valuable clues if the targeted buck is making a number of them.

[Singing Bridge]

I want to add that monitoring and deciphering tracks is so valuable to me I would feel quite lost without being able to do so. Tracks are "free" to monitor... scouting cameras are nice and expensive. Tracks can give us inside information as to buck travel routes and tendencies all year long- how a buck enters and exits its bedding area(s)... which feeding areas he is currently utilizing, which water sources... which funnels he goes through, the doe families he visits... essentially tracks don't lie and can tell us every single move a buck makes. The ability to read tracks is becoming somewhat of a lost art, however...

Here is an excellent article from Dan on interpreting deer tracks- it is lost in the hunting articles area of the Beast. I am going to PM him to see if he feels it would be a worthwhile "Sticky" for the scouting section- I sure feel it is!

viewtopic.php?f=159&t=1327

[jlh42581]

What dan said in marsh bucks has always rung true to what I see. When determining where the bed is lets say there are two trails. You follow the one trail and it looks like he stops to eat stuff, thats usually where hes staging, if the trail comes right back to the bed and it looks like things are not nearly as mowed down as the other trail, thats likely his morning trail.

They showed quite well in that video also how deer make a circut

[dan]

Exit trails are easier than entrance trails because deer are not nearly as predictable in the mornings. Often mature bucks will circle or hook to a bed so that they come to it with the wind to there back and can determine if they are being tracked. As winds shift, so does the way they enter there bedding area. I think entrance direction and changing wind might have something to do with shifting beds too, so they can smell tracking predators.

[Czabs]

in some terrain tracks are sometime not present. Like in the marsh most of what I'm walking in is water. You can tell the trails but not the tracks. Most beds I've found have multiple trails 4-5 coming in and out. I try to go through all the scenarios and cover as much trails as possible before they branch out. Good info guys.

[dan]

A lot of it is common sense and educated guesses. Generally they head towards food when they get up in the evening. Sometimes they go the wrong way, or down a trail you can't shoot. You just need to think about where he should go, and take your best guess.