#1847439 - 03/21/10 10:42 AM
Cross that fence when we come to it.....
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Bottom Hunter
16 Point
Registered: 12/29/06
Posts: 15490
Loc: Hatchie Bottoms
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The talk about terrain and all had me thinking about things that I don't truly understand (for sure) about deer and their habits.....
The topic is The Path of Least Resistance......
I would like to begin with FENCES, more specifically, the bobbed-wire fence.
As we all know these fences do little to keep out hunters and other critters. Unless you have livestock on the property, these fences serve as nothing more than a property boundary. So, what is the benefit in having them? If I bought a piece of land that had a fence around it and I did not intend on keeping livestock on it, I would decide where I wanted to deer hunt and cut the section nearest to my stand OUT. We all know that deer will travel quite an extra ways to walk through a fence instead of simply jumping it. I'm still not sure why.....
Since deer can easily jump the fence, it must have something to do with the fawns , but even they can simply crawl through the fence. Some of the best places I have found to see deer is near a downed fence......I still find that amazing and puzzling.
Another path of least resistance would be shallow places in rivers and sloughs. Deer seem to cross in straightaways because they are sometimes the most shallow spots. The current may be swifter in these areas, but I don't think that bothers the deer quite as much since they are such strong swimmers. Sometimes bends in the river get crossed even though they are not the shallowest place, as well. I'm not really sure why, but I do know that in some bends eddys are formered and the current is not as swift as it is in the straightaways.. The water does tend to swirl in the eddys but not so much on the top of the water even though you can often see little whirlpools on the surface. Swimming may be easier in these areas......The bends seem to only get crossed one way though. I believe this to be true simply because as the river erodes ONE side of the bank down, it becomes very steep while the other side becomes less and less steep as sediment is deposited on the inside of the bend. Hence the deer enter the river on the steep side and exit on the more shallow side. So, if you find a crossing, make sure that you look and see if there are prints coming and going in both directions. If not, then they are only crossing there one way. You may need to put up a camera there and get an idea of when they cross since it may not be a high traffic area , being a one way crossing.
Sloughs are a different beast altogther....Deer tend to cross sloughs at their most shallow spot, IMO. uless the river is up , most sloughs do not FLOW but are stable and often times stagnate. I'm not really sure why they prefer the shallowest spots since they can easily swim it,no matter the depth, OR just jump the thing, in some cases. Again, maybe the does choose these places because when the fawns are small , they may have trouble getting across. Maybe they like these places because they can cross these areas and not make quite so much noise.....slipping down into the water off a sloping bank may be quieter than off a steep bank.......not sure?
Hunting these river bottoms as much as I have, I have learned that water has no bearing on deer movement, in that they rarely leave an area because of water. As long as they can find food and at least get up on a high spot to bed down, or even on a log or stump, they will stay around.... Some years back I was hunting Chaney and watched two young bucks chasing a doe around in knee deep water. Every once in a while they would come across deeper water and even swim a slough, but the water had no bearing on their desire to participate in the rut....One thing for sure, if a buck is chasing a doe through the back water, you can fall asleep and they'll wake you up when you need to wake up....it is one noisey and amazing show......i have visited Chaney many times right after the water leaves and the deer tracks are everywhere. It is obvious that deer call these river bottoms HOME and they rarely leave them and even when they have to, they come back ASAP.......
If they seem to ignore water so easily, then why would they bother crossing a slough at ANY particular spot (the most shallow spot most times) and why not anywhere they walk up to it.??
Another topic that intrigues me is river bottom trails.....
Please allow me to set this up for you.....I'll use Chaney as an example, even though I've hunted other similar places.
Chaney is a 2600 acre block of the Hatchie Bottom "PIE".
Picture if you can, a pie. Any kind will do. Someone tells you to cut a slice out of the pie to eat. You can have any part of the pie. Normally, it would make no difference what part you cut in to because it's all the same, right? Now, if you were able to see down into that pie there may just be some areas of the pie where the filling is richer or contains more of something, such as apples, cherries or chocolate. Without knowing that these areas exist, how would you choose? My guess would be that you would cut out a piece, eat it and never think about it again, right?
When I first started hunting Chaney, it was like I was staring at just such a PIE. I had no idea which piece to cut into.
The only assistance that I got from other hunters was I was told to find a persimmon tree....so, I did. The one that I found was loaded and dropping. Two straight weeks of hunting that tree lead to no deer sightings at all.
My next step was finding some oak trees dropping,preferably white oak. I did. I got the same results as I did with the persimmons, no deer.
My first season down there ws a complete and total BUST.
I came to the conclusion that on that 2600 acre block, there were no OUTSTANDING features. It was like a pie, everything was the same......Also, there were hundreds of persimmon trees dropping annually and possibly thousands of oak trees as well.....So, unless there was low mast/persimmon year and I could find one of only a few trees that were dropping, I had to look elswhere for my clues to success....
I began to be successful on Chaney when I began to notice the subtle things. Using aerial photos, I was able to pick out differences in certain areas. Since there were no field edges, funnels (as you typically think of them)or crop fields I knew that I would have to look deeper to find what I needed to.
And I did.
It took me quite a while to make notes and draw on aerials that I took with me to scout , but I finally came up with a pattern.....Subtle things began to jump out at me....
I may go into more details later, but for now I'll just say that even though I found a pattern, it does not necessarily mean that I understand what I found, just that I did find something that has definitely proven to be a working strategy for me.
My question would be.... why do deer have well established trails along a river bottom that has NO OUTSTANDING FEATURES. How and why do they pick a certain way to travel even though everything around them is so similar. You would think that when you walked out into the woods, all you would see is scattered deer tracks going every which way, but you don't. Without funnels, defined ridges, saddles or any sort of difference in terrain, deer definitely CHOOSE certain paths......even though they may not have anything to do with LEAST RESISTANCE.
BH
Edited by Bottom Hunter (03/21/10 10:48 AM)
_________________________
There are some people who always seem angry and continuously look for conflict.
Walk away; the battle they are fighting is not with you, but with themselves.
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#1847541 - 03/21/10 11:29 AM
Re: Cross that fence when we come to it.....
[Re: Bottom Hunter]
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bowriter
Non-Typical
Registered: 08/31/02
Posts: 40305
Loc: Lebanon,TN USA
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Just don't have time to reply. Too shakey today. All I will say is this: A deer can jump a barbed wire fence anywhere they want to. Has nothing to do with fawns. Has mostly to do with danglies. All deer would rather go under a fence than over one. Pretty easy to figure out why.
And Bh-just because it has no outstanding features to you doesn't mean it has no outstanding features to a deer.
_________________________
Constipation has ruined many a good day. Not as many as stupidity, though.
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#1847693 - 03/21/10 01:08 PM
Re: Cross that fence when we come to it.....
[Re: Rowdy]
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Bigg'un4214
8 Point
Registered: 05/10/04
Posts: 2395
Loc: east tn
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Its not just deer. Animals have travel routes that have been used for generations. There are areas here that bear sightings are higher than other places even though the area is developed. Long time dog hunters can tell you close to where an animal will cross depending on where the chase began. Some of these travel routes have been used longer than any of us have been alive.
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Tennessee roots over 200 years deep and growing.....
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#1847801 - 03/21/10 02:40 PM
Re: Cross that fence when we come to it.....
[Re: Bigg'un4214]
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citico_tim
10 Point
Registered: 10/02/02
Posts: 4504
Loc: Knoxville, TN, USA
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From my limited hunting at Hatchie NWR I am beginning to understand what you mean about the subtle differences to look for in that type of area. As a E.TN mountain hunter I find that place fascinating. I have also wondered if subtle streams in air flow might also be a key to where they travel. And I really don't mean wind as we normally think of it. More of a slow movement of air, not prevailing winds. I think it may have more to do with differences in air densities due to slight differences in temp at times when there is little or no "wind".
In E.TN we get used to cold air funneling down underneath rising warm air at night. It gets so strong that you would consider it "wind" but it's really more dense, cold air being drawn under rising, less dense, warm air.
In great flat areas such as Hatchie, to us humans this movement of air would be imperceptible, but to a deer it could carry scent in a way that they could easily be used to their advantage. And with the almost imperceptible changes in elevation at Hatchie I can see where "streams" of this moving air could occur. If it does, and I suspect it does, this could provide deer with a reason for establishing travel routes that are difficult to notice.
As for fences, I have known the value of fences since my first shot at a deer. At about 16 I thought "maybe a deer will walk through here", and it did! And I have experimented some with it on my property. When we moved here the place was fenced and cross fenced all over with wire of various ages and condition. In places I have removed it I have seen shifts in how they travel. And in one place where I cut one section, it took about 2 years, but they now use it almost exclusively as a travel route and it is probably not the easiest overall route for them if they didn't mind negotiating a fence.
This year I am actually thinking about stringing some new wire, nothing extensive, just some strands tacked to trees, to see if I can further funnel them.
But when I'm hunting a new area and find an old fence, or working one for that matter, I will pay close attention to it for crossings.
_________________________
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.” ― Alexis de Tocqueville http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
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#1847828 - 03/21/10 02:57 PM
Re: Cross that fence when we come to it.....
[Re: citico_tim]
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Football Hunter
18 Point
Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 24565
Loc: Wilson Co/Perry Co
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You dont /or wouldnt have to cut a bunch down,just the top wire being cut would make a difference to the deer.
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The best day to plant a tree,IS TODAY!
You wont know,if you dont go!
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#1848059 - 03/21/10 05:46 PM
Re: Cross that fence when we come to it.....
[Re: TN RDG RNR]
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gator-n-buck
16 Point
Registered: 10/22/08
Posts: 14908
Loc: Knox, TN / Palatka, FL
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Very good post... 
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#1848658 - 03/21/10 09:45 PM
Re: Cross that fence when we come to it.....
[Re: gator-n-buck]
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whistlinwingman
8 Point
Registered: 07/11/05
Posts: 1824
Loc: Morristown
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A farm I hunt has an old fence that runs the northwest end of the property. There four places where the barb-wire is completely down. I have a stand around two of these. The two are right at pinch points or "funneled" areas at them. The other two have a trail through them but limited deer crossings. I think deer are like us humans, I'd rather walk a few or several yards to go through the clean opening rather than try and cross the fence and rip my clothes or hang my family jewels on them.
_________________________
"I'm a great believer in luck, I find the harder I work the more I have it" -Thomas Jefferson
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