When does a saddle become useful to a buck?
- Thread starter Shedder
- Start date
Tap
5 year old buck +
So much depends on what's going on, on either side of the saddle in any given time of the year. Is the saddle just a travel corrector only used by bucks during certain phases of the rut? Or is the saddle use tied to food...mast or crop rotation?
Possibly more in line with what is being called a saddle. Ironically, it is behind the house. I would not hunt this until I saw more sign than i have seen in the past.
I know of a corredor that looks like nothing...no reason why deer would ever be there. Little food or cover. But it gets hot during that rut phase when bucks are traveling. They use the easiest route (the saddle) to get from one side of the hill to the other.
Are there rub lines on trees that scan several years? Those are the best rub lines. They show that there is something going on that has transcended years, mast crops, or whatever. I think they show long term travel patterns of bucks.
I'd rather hunt a rub line that has rubs from multiple years, than a line of rubs that are made during only one year.
SW Pa
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I love to find old rub scars in lines of travel. There's a reason bucks have used those travel corridors for a number of years. I generally find it's a combination of wind/thermals and cover.
Shedder - If you're in the big Northwoods where deer are scarce, and there's no lush food supply to travel to, I suspect ANY saddle in that area might see very little travel. I've hunted in Maine and watched some beautiful saddles at peak rutting times when bucks would be travelling and - no deer were seen. Low deer numbers make narrowing down deer travel hard anyway. But like Tap said above, if there's a food supply deer are travelling to/from, they'll take the easiest route. That travel pattern will span more time during the year than travel geared to the rut.
Whip had the best idea - place cams in there to get a good idea of use and timing of travel - if there is any.
Shedder - If you're in the big Northwoods where deer are scarce, and there's no lush food supply to travel to, I suspect ANY saddle in that area might see very little travel. I've hunted in Maine and watched some beautiful saddles at peak rutting times when bucks would be travelling and - no deer were seen. Low deer numbers make narrowing down deer travel hard anyway. But like Tap said above, if there's a food supply deer are travelling to/from, they'll take the easiest route. That travel pattern will span more time during the year than travel geared to the rut.
Whip had the best idea - place cams in there to get a good idea of use and timing of travel - if there is any.
Shedder
5 year old buck +
Yes but I would need 100's to cover all the low yield spots I have.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
Prioritize those low yield areas based on whatever criteria you deem best for your situation(proximity to your home, local talk of deer harvest from an area, etc), but if you really want to know what usage an area like that is getting, you have to be able to determine a baseline. Get 2 cameras set up in the saddle, at points that give you the best chance to observe the most likely areas they would use to cross said saddle, for a 2 week soak, that should give you enough information to either put it in your "starred" list for further review, or in the trash list, never to be looked at again. Posting aerial photos and topo maps is still "guessing", with or without input from even highly knowledgable guys on an internet forum, and it will only get you so far, especially with low DPSM. I think a "camera soak" would help you to better determine if an extended "boots on the ground" scouting session is in order for those areas.
Tap
5 year old buck +
Deer relate to edge. Funnels are another form of edge. Whether it's a learned behavior or not doesn't really matter to me. As long as there are different maturities within the forest, there will continue to be at least some level of edge and I will scout and hunt them.
I do believe deer learn some behaviors from other deer, though. We now have fawns walking around looking up in trees because mom is looking up looking for hunters.
SW Pa
Shedder
5 year old buck +
I did a drive by of the saddle brook road crossing today. Perfect day for picking up new tracks but not even any old ones. The pix I took were poor and there was not much to take from the road anyway. The pic above is of the brook gully.There was not a lot of cover to the sides of it.
It is a nondescript spot that doesn't reveal any potential from the road, if there is any.
It is a non descript spot
I was by here Monday looking for sign again and didn't see any. Barren but that is often the case now. I saw deer in fields a mile or so away though. Lots of apples to the left of the pic.
