Guest TheNumber1Young1 Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Its a good idea, but you better do it in March or April, so that by hunting season the deer will have time to adapt, no they will not move out of the area. Down at my hunt club we did the same thing, we cut a trail straight through the thicket, and deer love that area still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIwhitetailhunter Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods I don't see why that wouldn't work. I agree with #1young1...do it early in the spring. Good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods i would do it sounds like a sound plan of action to me. I would cut it right after season, so its not so hot out for you, so the deer get used to the new trails, and they will use it if its easier and pressure is right, also you can see farther in the winter to see how much to cut. I think its an excellent idea, i cut many spots out for hunting and works to my favor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckee Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods [ QUOTE ] Will cutting walking trails where the deer trails exist push the deer out of that area? [/ QUOTE ] No, it will make it better for you instead. Cut the trails early like mentioned above and yu'll have yourself a deer traffic jam in there. You could even cut a few different trails and have them all cross at a point of your chosing, and I'll bet the deer start using them. Have fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Born2Hunt Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods Any trail you cut will be better for you and the deer. Just don't wait for deer season to come before you cut them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTbowman Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods Cut em early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smo Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods I agree with everyone else. Do it in the spring. An old hunter told me one time that deer are lazy by nature, and that they will follow the trail of least resistance, provided there is plenty of cover to make them feel safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LETMGROW Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods Deer are lazy! they will follow established trails. Do it early so they get used to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan_Til_I_Die Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods Will your string trimmer take a brush blade? If it will, that's the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheNumber1Young1 Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods anyway u can borrow a bushhog from someone?thatd be another way to go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods Yep, the deer will use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger-Hunter Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods Yes, it will definately work. Just make sure that you don't count on your trail too much, expect them to still use their normal trails and build on that. I cut a few trails myself last year, ever ones in open ground. They started to use them but they also would walk parellel to my new trails or sometime perpendicular. The bucks prob won't use the trail itself but will walk 10-30 yards parellel to them. I used a lawnmower for most of my trails and hit them with Round up Try this too: hack a tree with a hachet 1/4 of the way through and bend it downward to the ground. The tree will still live and grow leaves for the deer to eat, especially in the winter. This gets rid of tall/young trees that impede your view and also gives them browse without killing anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MossySNPR Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods They do not care if you cut trails. My father and I just had to cut a trail 200 yards back into the woods to get to our stand, and now that the snows here, it shows that even though it is not a thick cedar forest, they travel the route like cattle. Another thing you could try is putting on a pair of snowshoes, and stamping out paths through the woods(if there's snow where you are), you will be surprised on how much they travel the stamped down paths to get from bed to food and back. Remember, the scent of you walking through the woods or even your chainsaw smoking and oiling everything won't matter. From experience it has happened a million times, they just don't care, there are many animals that walk around in the woods that maybe smell like danger, we are just one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fourtrax_300 Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods yeah it will work and work well ! my buddy took a bob cat and cut a trail from a crop field right past his stand and the deer run down it ! he also cut it the day before season and they were using it opening day! pretty cool huh ? good luck with the trail cutting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods Some of the places I hunt, you would not be able to get to without cutting some trails ahead of time. I'm talking about areas so thick that if you fell over, you would never touch the ground. Wild rose has taken over much of it also. Try to sneak through that stuff .... try to even walk through that stuff ...lol. Another thing is that such ugly thick crap is usually some prime bedding areas and so thrashing and crashing my way to my stand wouldn't really be the most productive thing to do. Not wanting to walk on the deer trails, leaving all kinds of fresh scent, I generally make my "sneaking in and out" trails to my stands, such that I don't cross or follow any active deer trails that I might be covering with my stands (if possible). The only problem is that deer will immediately find and follow these man-made trails, and walk right square into my stand. Mostly motivated by curiosity I think. Nice for "face shots" ... lol. Those lazy critters are not too bashful about using these messy old heavily brushed out trails. After a while, they will go back to using their original trails because those are the ones that lead to and from where they are going for their bedding and feeding routines. That's another reason why my trails seldom parallel existing trails. In my case, these trails need re-freshing every year. You would be amazed at how much that multi-flora rose can grow in 1 year. In fact all the trash vegetation in areas like that seem to be pretty prolific growers. I have also built or modified existing deer trails to get deer traveling in a specific direction as they pass my stands. These are usually just very short detours that don't take them too far out of the way they would normally be wanting to go. This is done to suit the various wind directions that are suitable for that particular stand. They are just little short steering paths. Of course this is also where I carefully cut my shooting lanes. Shooting lanes are cut with tapering heights so that they don't also become a trail straight into my stand. You may have guessed that I can only hunt from the ground in such places because there are very few actual trees. More swamp and brush than anything else. However, these are some of the very best deer cover areas and very few other hunters will ever venture into these areas. Of course this kind of trail construction pays off best in areas that you hunt year after year. I've got 30+ years invested in some of these areas, so most of my trails have really become just part of nature's annual cycles and the deer don't get overly excited about them and seem to quickly ignore the temporary disturbance. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QDMAworks4me Posted December 22, 2005 Report Share Posted December 22, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods I have a question for you? Are the thickets between your bedding and feeding area or is it the bedding area itself? IMO as long as the thicket is NOT the bedding area you should have some luck with the cut paths. We have a grown up brushy area that we put some trails through and the deer use them but the only problem is the deer cut across them very fast so you need to be paying attention all the time or you may not get many shots. You might even be able to put a small food plot in the middle because you will have cover all the way around and the deer would feel safe enough to come out in the day time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QDMAworks4me Posted December 22, 2005 Report Share Posted December 22, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods Well I hope that you do have good success with the trails, I would just be careful not to get to far into the bedding area because in my experiences that could possibly drive some of the deer that are regulars on your property out because they may not feel safe. I try to set up just on the edge of the bedding areas in the transistion zones so I can catch them just before they get to the feeding areas. In your circustance I think that if you study the area a little more you might be able to funnell them right to the area you want. You might even do something as simple as find the deer trails this spring and clear them out a little so more deer will use them. It always takes a little while to figure deer out and as soon as you do they change. I hope that my input helped a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QDMAworks4me Posted December 22, 2005 Report Share Posted December 22, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods That is to bad that your land is muddy I bet a food plot in the middle of that really thick cover would have been a good spot. Not everything is ideal though I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arrow32 Posted December 22, 2005 Report Share Posted December 22, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods Good idea. But i agree for #1young1. Should work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QDMAworks4me Posted December 23, 2005 Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods I agree 100% the snow is a great way to tell where the best deer trails are, I found one of my best spots and it is now my favorite spot to hunt in the snow. It was hard to see in the spring and fall time but since I have been sitting there I have gotten 2 nice eight points in three years (I missed one the third year OOOPS) I really hope that all the time you are putting in pays off, Good Luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnf Posted December 23, 2005 Report Share Posted December 23, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods I've got a buddy with some hunting land. He cuts them like that and uses the brush to line the last 200 feet or so to try to force the deer to stay on the trail. They can get through the brush if they want to, but the trail keeps the majority coming right under his stands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LETMGROW Posted December 24, 2005 Report Share Posted December 24, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods Wow! Alot of good ideas here. I have used a Roundup type product on some of my trails to keep noisey vegetation down. This has helped a lot to sneak in and out. I also use a high wheel string trimmer to keep growth down. The trimmer doesn't have wallop enough to cut the trails initially but works well for maintenance. I would suggest a sickle bar cutter to start your project with. You will probably have to cut some with a chainsaw, then work your way down to the lighter equipment. You can usually rent the sickle bar cutters. They are a bit expensive to own unless you think you are going to use it alot. Another idea would be to spray your intended trail with weed killer even before you start cutting the trail. This will help you to stay on your trails as sometimes it is easy to wander off a bit. Don't cut in straight lines so you can see for miles. Deer will feel more comfortable on a slightly twisty trail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BIGbuckMASTER09 Posted December 28, 2005 Report Share Posted December 28, 2005 Re: Questions on cutting trails in woods cut them early that is what i did and it is a good spot still Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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