Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2011 17:30:24 GMT -5
WHAT!! Its not 2012 deer season yet ... or is it?
I was thinking about the preparation for the 2012 season now and through out the year, things that will defiantly improve your success next season.
Now that muzzle-loader season is over and of course I don't hunt in late archery, SO, This is a great time of year to be out cutting & pruning those trails that the new generation of deer will be traveling all summer long. They will be getting use to the new trails YOU blaze along key traveling points that, If you work exactly, the deer will travel directly to you ... next season.
I go out and see where they are traveling NOW, where my stand is (or will be) and I will cut brush (small trees, multiflora rose, grape vines and tree limbs) ether along side existing trails or make my own new trails.
I will often use the roughage I cut out to create animal habitat for rabbits and small birds but often I will take the roughage and block off secondary trails ... thus forcing the deer to use the trail I made as a primary trail.
When I cut a trail it will be approximately 3-ft wide and I will generally prune everything right down to the ground because I know that in a typical growing season the plants will rebound (re-growth) about 6 to 8 inches a year depending on the plant and how much traffic you can generate down your trail.
The more deer traffic you generate will help keep your trail open & clear because young saplings & new stem growth is very tasty to the deer. Basically I'm creating a natural fence with the roughage so the deer cannot go where they want to but they will be forced to fallow the new trail I made.
I want the new trail to come out into a good clear shooting lane, not to close to my stand but not so far away that I don't have a clear, safe shot. By cutting trails now, the deer will look at them as NATURAL Trails when the new babies arrive in the spring and I am assuring a successful hunt for next year and possibly in years to come.
I was thinking about the preparation for the 2012 season now and through out the year, things that will defiantly improve your success next season.
Now that muzzle-loader season is over and of course I don't hunt in late archery, SO, This is a great time of year to be out cutting & pruning those trails that the new generation of deer will be traveling all summer long. They will be getting use to the new trails YOU blaze along key traveling points that, If you work exactly, the deer will travel directly to you ... next season.
I go out and see where they are traveling NOW, where my stand is (or will be) and I will cut brush (small trees, multiflora rose, grape vines and tree limbs) ether along side existing trails or make my own new trails.
I will often use the roughage I cut out to create animal habitat for rabbits and small birds but often I will take the roughage and block off secondary trails ... thus forcing the deer to use the trail I made as a primary trail.
When I cut a trail it will be approximately 3-ft wide and I will generally prune everything right down to the ground because I know that in a typical growing season the plants will rebound (re-growth) about 6 to 8 inches a year depending on the plant and how much traffic you can generate down your trail.
The more deer traffic you generate will help keep your trail open & clear because young saplings & new stem growth is very tasty to the deer. Basically I'm creating a natural fence with the roughage so the deer cannot go where they want to but they will be forced to fallow the new trail I made.
I want the new trail to come out into a good clear shooting lane, not to close to my stand but not so far away that I don't have a clear, safe shot. By cutting trails now, the deer will look at them as NATURAL Trails when the new babies arrive in the spring and I am assuring a successful hunt for next year and possibly in years to come.