<\/p>\n

Part 1 – Patterning Late Season Deer (Oct-Dec)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Across the country October ushers in the crisp prelude to winter. Bucks\u00a0begin the annual rut process\u00a0and hunters flock to the field in droves. This is a magical time in the hearts of deer hunters as images of thick-necked bucks fill their day dreams on stand.<\/span><\/p>\n

The key\u00a0factor in turning those dreams into reality is stand placement, and the key factor\u00a0in stand placement is understanding deer movement and why\/when\u00a0deer travel.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the mid-west and across much of the country, a patchwork of crop fields and farms create natural pinch-points or funnels where they align to creeks, ditches, fence-rows or easements.\u00a0 These are obvious stand locations and when the wind is right, they reliably pay big dividends each fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here in the Pacific Northwest, the lay of the land can be much different, especially west of the Cascade Mountains.\u00a0 But for our purposes here, let’s generalize a bit and talk about deer movement patterns independent of a particular species,\u00a0region, or habitat type.\u00a0 Deer are deer and they will travel during the late season for two primary reasons; food\/water and reproduction.\u00a0 Of course, they use\u00a0escape routes when reacting to human intrusion, predators, and other factors such as weather, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing where the resident does live and their traditional travel routes is critically important to stand placement in the fall.\u00a0 One of the benefits of the post-season is mapping out these travel routes when the leaves and down and visibility is better.\u00a0 The photo below shows a main travel route through an alder bottom connecting mature timber and 10 year old reprod (reproduction) timber.\u00a0\u00a0During the early season when tall grass is thick and the leaves are on the trees this trail is almost invisible.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Identifying these major runs can pay big when the rut heats up in late October through mid-November.\u00a0 As does continue to go about their business in their home ranges, bucks will scent check these trails regularly so it’s important to\u00a0take time to map\u00a0as many trails as possible before the spring green up engulfs them in\u00a0foliage and\u00a0grasses.\u00a0 The key point here is that does seldom stray from their home turf and their\u00a0established trail networks are powerful magnets for rutting bucks.\u00a0\u00a0 When hunting migratory deer, the same condition is true but you’ll have additional work to\u00a0determine the primary migration routes, and key in on the lowland trail systems.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Part 2 <\/a>I will go into detail about locating core rutting areas, or Rut Zones as I call them.\u00a0 Also, as I describe each of the six segments, I will be pointing out\u00a0the important relationships between them.\u00a0Be sure to visit our FreshTRAX Outdoors<\/a> site, and “LIKE<\/a>” us on Facebook!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The close of deer season across the country is a time when many hunters trade their muck-caked boots for a pair of fleece-lined slippers.\u00a0 It’s a time to reflect on close calls, time afield with good friends & family, and filled tags for those fortunate hunters who book-ended their hunt with meat in the freezer.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,15,18,22],"tags":[240,45,271,214,116],"class_list":["post-3582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deer","category-hunting","category-outdoor-education","category-wildlife","tag-6-part-series","tag-blacktail-deer","tag-deer","tag-post-season","tag-scouting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n