does the trail cross the river?

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Dan T
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does the trail cross the river?

Unread postby Dan T » Thu Apr 06, 2017 6:52 pm

I had an interesting observation at the end of the season last year worth mentioning. on a late season hunt after the first snow of the year I was floating a local river in a canoe to access an area I found big buck was pressured into at the end of the previous season. I noticed what appeared to be a very well used trail crossing the river. On both sides of the river tracks from all sorts of deer were going both directions, a beaten path going into the river on one side and the same thing directly across on the other side. Naturally I figured all of these tracks were deer crossing the river, that's what all of the sign seemed to be telling me. I contemplated setting up right there as the snow was recent and there were several different sets of tracks, and one appeared to be a very heavy buck. I decided to stick with the original plan and head to the area down river where I had a trail cam photographs of a heavy buck 4 out of 6days, in daylight during the last week of the previous season, after all I had been losing sleep for 12 months since then and was really looking forward to hunting that spot and the conditions were perfect for it. I had two trail cameras with me and decided to put them on the new found river crossing before I continued. I thought it would be neat to get a pic of a buck crossing that river, I set one camera up where the trail entered the river on one side and faced it out into the river, the other I put on time laps mode and took the time to put up in a tree overlooking the general area. I retrieved the cameras about a month after the season ended, and was amazed at what I saw. During all that time, only one deer(a doe on a dead run tail up) had crossed the river, however several deer including three shooter bucks at various times around the clock day and night,had come and gone from both sides of the river seemingly for no other reason than to drink water. Some would come and take a drink and leave readily, others guzzled for several minutes and some would wade out up to their chest lapping water at the same time as if the just ran a marathon, all went back the same way they came. I was just amazed that, what I'm sure anyone would have considered a definite river crossing based on the sign, was not being used that way at all. I thought this was worth mentioning to remind us that thing are no always what they seem, sometimes the most logical visual interpretation of sign is not always the case.


matt1336
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Re: does the trail cross the river?

Unread postby matt1336 » Thu Apr 06, 2017 7:15 pm

Good observation. Thanks for the post
UofLbowhunter
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Re: does the trail cross the river?

Unread postby UofLbowhunter » Thu Apr 06, 2017 10:34 pm

Interesting, i would have figured that deer would have crossed more often. Its making me wonder if its used more in rut time period, or for a particular food souce window. Reguardless, it sounds like you may have found a possible watering hole set up for when its dryer conditions. Could be a spot worth putting a camera back in there,during earlier part of season,if that spots not to far from where you were hunting already. could give you some intel you may need for a certian wind or something of that nature,sound like its worth a shot to me. :think:
I would have to follow those wore out trails to see where they were goin, may to bedding or food, track them down.
Bucks,ducks, turkeys,and bass!
Kokes
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Re: does the trail cross the river?

Unread postby Kokes » Fri Apr 07, 2017 12:58 am

thx for posting,,,just curious was there a band in the river or any other geographic feature that would explain why the deer were coming to this specific spot in the river to drink?
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strutnrut716
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Re: does the trail cross the river?

Unread postby strutnrut716 » Fri Apr 07, 2017 1:33 am

Very interesting and thanks for sharing... 8-)
Dan T
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Re: does the trail cross the river?

Unread postby Dan T » Fri Apr 07, 2017 3:35 am

UofLbowhunter wrote:Interesting, i would have figured that deer would have crossed more often. Its making me wonder if its used more in rut time period, or for a particular food souce window. Reguardless, it sounds like you may have found a possible watering hole set up for when its dryer conditions. Could be a spot worth putting a camera back in there,during earlier part of season,if that spots not to far from where you were hunting already. could give you some intel you may need for a certian wind or something of that nature,sound like its worth a shot to me. :think:
I would have to follow those wore out trails to see where they were goin, may to bedding or food, track them down.


I definitely plan to scout the heck out of the area once the snow disappears, there's still 3-4feet in the woods where I am, most rubs and sign of interest are still below the snow line. I wish I had scouted some when I pulled the cameras, by the time I saw the footage it was not possible to get back to the area. I will do a follow up to this thread once I scout the area and spend some more time scratching my head in there.

Kokes wrote:thx for posting,,,just curious was there a band in the river or any other geographic feature that would explain why the deer were coming to this specific spot in the river to drink?


Nothing in particular stood out. There is a small island about 200 yards up stream and a brook flowing into the river about 100 yards down steam. The river is straight as an arrow in this section, is about a waist deep riffle with uniform bottom and about 75yards across.


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