Big Bucks and Tight Funnels
Posted By
Bill Winke
at
4/29/2009 12:00:00 AM
Filed under:
journal
Have you ever sat for days overlooking a narrow funnel around the end of a deep ditch only to watch the buck you are hunting cut right across the ditch out of bow range? I have. The question always comes to my mind - do they avoid these places because they know they are vulnerable?
Like everything else in deer hunting, I think there are many variables that go into answering this question. Every situation is different. For example, maybe the buck caught you in the stand one time and you weren't aware of it. Or he caught someone else in there. Maybe that buck has had bad experiences in other spots where the trails converge.
Bucks (especially mature bucks) travel through the timber much differently from does. They seem less concerned with the rigors of the trail and opt for the shortest distance between two points - the straight line. I have seen this often enough to know that bucks aren't nearly as worried about features in their home range as we think they should be. That is not to say that they won't use a funnel when it is along their line of travel, but I don't see them detouring to use the path of least resistance as often as will does and younger bucks.
I don't think this is because these older bucks are somehow smart enough to know these funnels are dangerous (unless they have had a bad experience there in the past) but I think it is just their nature. It takes a pretty serious roadblock to make a buck detour from the path that represents the direct line between where he is and where he is going.
You might compare this reluctance of a mature buck to go through a tight funnel to the way some animals act around a waterhole - especially what we have seen of African hunts on TV. I don't think gazelle were born with a sense of extreme caution every time they went to water. I think that is a learned response that comes quickly after a lion or two rushes from the nearby brush.
In the same way, I don't think mature bucks are naturally afraid of converging trails, but I think it occurs after some bad experiences. So, if you hunt in an area that receives a reasonable amount of hunting pressure, it is very likely that your older bucks have learned to avoid funnels. If you hunt in areas where there is little hunting pressure, they will still use them when they are convenient, but I don't think they will detour as far to use them as will a doe or young buck.
