Railroad tracks

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fishlips
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Railroad tracks

Unread postby fishlips » Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:47 pm

I know I have seen some mention of railroad tracks on this site, but am wondering how people notice how they affect deer. I have started to notice a few properties that I hunt that have railroad tracks that go through them. A number of them have small slivers of woods that boarder the tracks and jet out into the marsh. Has anyone noticed that deer use these slivers of woods? I a sure that they are not all created equal but after walking past them and not really diving into them, I began to wonder if these can be good spots to set up.


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PK_
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Re: Railroad tracks

Unread postby PK_ » Tue Jul 16, 2013 1:22 pm

Bloodtrailed a mature buck to his bed between RR tracks and a creek once. He was bedded on a sliver of ground that might be 15 yards wide. Not sure if these locations would be 'primary' bedding but I do think that bucks seek out these areas when the pressure hits.
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Re: Railroad tracks

Unread postby dan » Wed Jul 17, 2013 11:18 am

if those "slivers" of woods are mostly ignored by other hunters you can bet they could likely be the over looked bedding spots we talk about frequently.
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Re: Railroad tracks

Unread postby Crazinamatese » Wed Jul 17, 2013 8:07 pm

In my area, while Im out glassing, I notice many of the heaviest trails I see from the road go cross railroad tracks.
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Southern Man
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Re: Railroad tracks

Unread postby Southern Man » Wed Jul 17, 2013 11:38 pm

Railroad tracks run across the back of my property here at the shop. There's alot of deer across those tracks along the creek down in the bottom. They'll come to the crop fields at night up around the shop. Those tracks seem to funnel deer just like a creek. There are defined crossings and they use them continually. There are a couple small strips of woods along side of the tracks and they use them also. Nobody wants to set up by railroad tracks, but it's a great place to hunt at the right time.
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Re: Railroad tracks

Unread postby Stanley » Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:29 am

Railroad tracks are a great barrier. There is normally a fence the tracks and another fence. Deer just moseying around won't go the tracks direction. The tracks are an excellent escape route. It takes a deer a couple of seconds to jump the fences and tracks. So don't think it's an impenetrable barrier for a deer.

Deer that live in the area little pay or no attention to the noise of a passing train. That seams hard to believe because trains are noisy. I have hunted close to and around rail road tracks a lot. I like the noise of a train to cover my approach/retreat noise to and from a stand site.
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gjs4
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Re: Railroad tracks

Unread postby gjs4 » Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:23 am

The family farm is bordered by an abandoned set and an active set. The active set is a blessing for access due to cover noise but can be a curse at quiet times due to the ballast/stones being noisy. I see at least a couple deer killed on these tracks every year. They absolutely bed on them but it typically is a short period when the pressure increases and the ditches dont fill up from the fall/winter rains. The deer dont lift their head for trains however if one of the utility trucks rides the rails- you are snake bit within earshot of the tracks for a few hours.....the deer run for their lives despite never having seen any interaction between the two. Rail beds, by me, are a big source of trespassing and property infiltration due to the ease of quad and vehicle entry- deer along them sit like a woodcock before a flush during most of the day.

My folks own a portion of the abandoned section and some citidiots own about half the farms worth. when they hunt their 110' (by 1 mi long; yup thats it 36 yards wide with a stand every couple hundred yards in length) section they kill the nature and daytime movement of the herd.

Just some random RR thoughts...
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gjs4
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Re: Railroad tracks

Unread postby gjs4 » Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:26 am

oh yeah- our active one is steep (maybe 20 feet above the surrounding ground) and travel runs more parallel, where as the abandoned (which obviously has way thicker growth on the sides) is near grade for app 50% has more perpendicular movement..though there are a number of movement factors involved
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