[mainehunter4992]

i have a hard time to locate the primary deer trails in my hunting area. i have mananged to find a trail but it has moose and deer. i am having a very hard time to locate the deer trails. i know about where they sleep and roughly where they eat. i have a bog way back then a field closer to me and then some new growth from cutting. when i picture where the deer i think they are going is a big circle. but i have heard that the deer dont walk with the sun in their face so if that is true they wouldnt walk the way i think they do. i have managed to find in the fields a deer trail in one corner and one in the other. the field doesnt have much food wise. besides some apple trees that are in the middle on some tree islands as i call them. maybe if someone that lives around the central maine area that has some experiance about locating the bucks or just the majority of the deer heard in a hunting area we could maybe meet up or somthing. i am only 17 and just trying to understand how deer move and how to locate them. i read all these articles and i have been reading a book but it is all confusing to me. so can any one help me out???

thanks
mainehunter4992

 

[Cap'n Jack Duggins]

Well, I can tell you that deer DO walk into the sun. The trails entering and exiting the fields are just that... The deer are more than likely bedding in the field. Walk slowly around the field and look for rubs (on trees), this will be where the bucks come and go. Then walk around the field about 10 to 20 yards inside the woods. Stop occasionally and close your eyes for a ten count. Open your eyes and if there is a trail, it should be obvious.

Don't believe everything you read because deer can't read and don't write. Even if they could, I don't think they would betray their comrades! *grin*

Good luck and keep asking questions!

 

[kenton6]

Good question and Jack's got some good advice. I will tell you also from experience that deer will not ALWAYS walk trails to get around. It depends of terrain, cover, etc.

Generally speaking, if deer are not harassed by hunters, etc. they will move from bed to feed to bed to feed, etc. Bucks know that and know the area too. As Jack said, bucks know where does travel and will make pawings to mark his spot.

These are pretty good indicators to look for. If you find a twig or a fir bough in the middle of a buck pawing that looks pretty fresh, try picking it up and sticking it in you boot top or someplace like that, then watch your backside often.

Good luck and as Madjack said, keep asking questions and don't believe everything you read, just what I write. :roflmao:

 

[mainehunter4992]

ok well like say you are standing in the middle of the field that i am talking about, and you are facing west. one deer trail would be to your 10 or 11 o'clock. the other would be 5 o'clock. now i have shot at a doe three years ago that what i think walked out of that trail that would be to your 10 or 11 o'clock. now where this trail comes or goes to which ever it is, there is a bog quite a ways like a mile and a 1/2 away from the field. i am just trying to figure out where to set up in the field. i know that they most of the time come out of the corner at your 10/11 o'clock but i have only seen does. no bucks. in me 4 years of hunting my hunting area me and my friends have only seen 3 diffrent bucks. honestly i feel that i am hunting blind!!!

 

[kenton6]

The obvious thing to do is to try to set up at the edge of the field, out of sight, where you can watch both areas. If you say there are trails leading in at 10 o'clock and 5 o'clock, set up at 2 o'clock or 7 o'clock depending on wind, weather, light, etc.

Seldom will you see bucks coming out into a field and revealing themselves. Often they are just out of sight in the woods. Patience will help. When does appear you just have to wait.

The option is the try to determine the most active trail and the times the deer are coming out. Set up a blind or treestand in the woods somewhere between the field and the bog. If there are does present, there are bucks. During the rut they'll screw up and if you are persistent, you'll catch sight of them.

 

[stweedie]

Kenton6 has an excellent point. A lot of times a buck may be watching those does in the field from inside the treeline. They won't often show up in the field during daylight. The only buck I've ever shot at in a field was just at the end of legal shooting time and it was overcast and foggy. Other than that most of the guys I know that have seen bucks in fields were between about 10AM and 2PM for whatever reason. I'm not much of a field hunter though, I prefer hunting the woods around them instead. I've had great luck hunting the edges of swamps catching deer moving out of their bedding areas onto hardwood ridges, or catching them browsing their way towards a field late in the afternoon, or catching them in the mornings back on their way into their bedding areas.