How to find escape routes?

[BuckHunter511]

I would like to know how to figure out an " escape route". Out of all the directions a deer can run, how can you say, " Well this is the spot they are going to run when they are pushed from other hunter."? It seems it would be a good strategy for hunting public land, but I have no clue how to go about it.

 

[catman529]

I think it would highly depend on the terrain and which areas deer tend to avoid more because of hunting pressure. Really don't know how I'd go about finding an escape route, seems the deer will run straight away in any direction or circle you.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Might help to think a little "bigger picture" when scoping out escape routes. Obviously, getting away from the immediate threat is the initial response...RUN!! But considering the fact that hunting pressure can have a cumulative effect over the course of a season from dove season and preseason scouting, to small game hunters and rabbit dogs, to deer hunters, hikers, and everything in between.

I've found that one of the best times to look for escape routes and security cover is actually after the season ends. At this point deer have been harassed for months and the sign they've left leading into sanctuary areas will be very clear.

 

[Shed Hunter]

I think it would highly depend on the terrain and which areas deer tend to avoid more because of hunting pressure. Really don't know how I'd go about finding an escape route, seems the deer will run straight away in any direction or circle you.

x2

You're better off scouting for a good spot. Relying on someone to push deer to you is 90% luck & 10% setup. I have one spot where I have this happen once or twice a year. That stand is about 300 yards off of a trail surrounded in small fields. When a truck drives the trail deer run out of the fields. I watch a funnel that the deer will often run through to get to a safer area. Again, this is just random. I sit there because its a good spot, not the random possibility.

 

[BSK]

Some escape routes have to be seen in action to be identified, but often, any "hidden" travel route into thick cover is going to be used as an escape route.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Most all escape routes I have found are only observed by seeing it being used as one......multiple times. Most don't seem to give off anything obvious as to why it is an escape route either. But for whatever reason, it is. We have a bowl on our property that for whatever reason deer flock to after being hit. I don't get it? But we determined this to be a "No-Hunt Bowl". It acts as a sanctuary and we do not go in there unless we are looking for a lost deer. Kind of acts as a last resort when a deer is not found.

 

[Diehard Hunter]

I hunt escape routes exclusively on one of my local WMAs. They are not always easy to find. In fact, some of them I found purely by chance. I look for bottlenecks with cover leading to areas other hunters avoid. Luckily, Oak Ridge only allows scouting on specific days, so I can actually sit and watch what deer do when hunters enter the area. I get in as early as I can, and stay as long as I can. I hunted a new escape route last year...I actually watched another hunter moving around about 500 yes away. He was across a grown up powerline and the easiest path from him to me was a narrow point of a ridge that ran out into the powerline. Everything else was very steep. The deer crossed the powerline, skirted the side of the ridge and crossed the gap I was sitting in, 30 yards in front of me. I found this escape route by accident. I was scouting with my daughter and we were moving slowly, looking for sign, when several deer almost ran over us. After they left, I crossed the gap and went o the ridge line where I saw two other people scouting on the other side of the powerline. I killed 2 deer there on the December hunt last year. I think less than 40 were checked out for the whole weekend. I have another stand out there that is in a narrow strip of trees next to a very wide powerline right of way. I am on the edge of a safety zone, and when hunters pile in there in the morning, the deer pile out, right past me headed for the safety zone. I have killed 3 8-pointers there and several does. I had chosen that stand based on aerial photos, knowing everyone would go in past me to the big woods. A third area I hunt out there is a thick finger leading off the arboretum property to the golf course. It is great the first day, but the deer stay on the golf course after the first day. A fourth escape route I hunt out there is really hard to get to, and it is a deep gap on the edge of a safety zone. Deer file up the old logging road running through that gap all day long, escaping everyone that is walking around on the nice roads at the base of the ridge.

Escape routes can be very productive on public land, especially if the pressure is concentrated as it is at Oak ridge. I use terrain and cover to find them. My rule of thumb is......deer will follow the easiest route they can without being exposed to reach the safety of heavy cover. It has worked EVERY year I have been drawn for oak ridge.

 

[BuckHunter511]

Thanks Diehard, I am going to try to employ this tactic on the Catoosa hunts this year.

 

[Diehard Hunter]

Thanks Diehard, I am going to try to employ this tactic on the Catoosa hunts this year.

Catoosa is a bit tougher simply because of the size of the area, and the relative low hunter density. I will say this, some of the best sign I have ever found at catoosa was in a very inaccessible area in a gorge paralleling a ridge with fields on top. The fields get heavy hunting pressure, and it is almost impossible to get into and out of that gorge from the fields. However, if you are willing to walk about a 1/2 mile in from the other side, you can probably catch deer that have left the fields before daylight, or catch them staging to go into the fields after dark. I will find out this year during the open bow hunt.

 

[BuckHunter511]

You talking Hawn Ridge?

Thanks Diehard, I am going to try to employ this tactic on the Catoosa hunts this year.

Catoosa is a bit tougher simply because of the size of the area, and the relative low hunter density. I will say this, some of the best sign I have ever found at catoosa was in a very inaccessible area in a gorge paralleling a ridge with fields on top. The fields get heavy hunting pressure, and it is almost impossible to get into and out of that gorge from the fields. However, if you are willing to walk about a 1/2 mile in from the other side, you can probably catch deer that have left the fields before daylight, or catch them staging to go into the fields after dark. I will find out this year during the open bow hunt.

 

[BHC]

Natural funnels and escape routes are the same thing, it's just where a funnel connects pressure to cover... So maybe you just find a spot with a lot of cover near where many hunter drive in and out.. Then just find funnels leading to the cover (saddle, bottleneck, bench, etc.). You may find many funnels leading to the cover and all may be escape routes... But one may be the best due to any of many factors, that's what u gotta figure out.. And others have said you gotta see it that's generally Gunna be how many find them is just hunting these funnels and observing deer traveling through after reacting to some type of pressure... Sometimes you can shoot a few deer off a field and they all go the same way.. Likely a good escape route... Many examples but just look for natural funnels...

 

[Diehard Hunter]

You talking Hawn Ridge?

Thanks Diehard, I am going to try to employ this tactic on the Catoosa hunts this year.

Catoosa is a bit tougher simply because of the size of the area, and the relative low hunter density. I will say this, some of the best sign I have ever found at catoosa was in a very inaccessible area in a gorge paralleling a ridge with fields on top. The fields get heavy hunting pressure, and it is almost impossible to get into and out of that gorge from the fields. However, if you are willing to walk about a 1/2 mile in from the other side, you can probably catch deer that have left the fields before daylight, or catch them staging to go into the fields after dark. I will find out this year during the open bow hunt.

Nope....although I do have a good escape route in there as well! If, and it is a big if, people come in by boat at the right spot! Maybe one out of every four hunts they land at the right spot for me, so pretty much quit hunting it. I have more reliable spots out there.