What would deer hunting be like without tracks and trails to excite and baffle? There is no other part of the sport that attracts so much attention and yet is so little understood. You won't be around deer hunters long before some sage will inform you that "you can't eat tracks". What he is really saying is that he has heard about tracks until he is sick of it, and nearly all the assumptions made from them are wrong. The only thing for certain, when you find a fresh track is that a deer stepped there since the last rain. I do not believe there is a man alive who can look at a single deer track and tell the sex of the animal, if there is I wish he would stand and share his secret. There might be something to this business of a buck not stepping exactly in his front track with his back foot and the set of tracks being staggered, but there is probably a big old doe somewhere that walks that way. I don't know, but what I do know is that tracks are quite valuable when taken in context with a lot of other information.

Considering that a deer has four feet, each making atrack when it hits the ground, it is evident that to have a good population of deer on a tract there must be a lot of tracks. As a matter of fact there should be a liberal sprinkling of tracks over the entire area, with heavier concentrations in travel and feeding areas.

Tracks crossing roads or other cleared areas offer an opportunity to monitor the timing aand frequency of travel through that spot. Find the spots that seem to be getting the most use, and rake out the tracks. Regular checks at prescribed intervals will reveal any patterns of use. Since habits change during the year, the only time advantageous to harvest will be just before and during season. Some general info can be drawn from the tracks, large and small mixed indicates does and fawns, large solitary tracks says a large doe or buck.

All properties have a discernable network of trails giving access to the various parts of the tract, most of which are used by many species of woodland creatures. These paths can be divided into four categories determined by purpose; Primary Travel, Secondary Travel, Feeding and Buck Trails, and since we are discussing deer, most of the comments will apply to them..

Primary Trails

Primary trails are well defined, being heavily trodden down and free of major obstacles. When a tree or some other obstacle blocks the progression, most often a single trail will form around the barrier. Used for direct travel, these paths tend to be as straight line as possible.They are a combination of the shortest distance and the amount of effort required. Animals sometimes have to make concessions to easier or safer travel in the interest of time and distance. You can see this tradeoff when they leave a flat creek bottom and take a shortcut over a ridge, even though it takes more effort. Usually this travel against the lay of the land is effected at a spot that quickly returns them to easy passage.

These trails can be productive hunt spots or not, their presence only indicates that the deer use them. It does not say when. Should a portion of a well traveled primary trail prove to be a good hunting stand, it is usually because of the interplay of additional factors. A hunter that arbitrarily picks a spot on one of these trails for a stand, should carry along a good book. He is likely to be in for a considerable wait.

Secondary Trails

Secondary trails branch from primary trails and lead to places of interest for different species. Although smaller and less distinct, they still have the definite characteristics of a well used path. There is periodical branching and converging, but the principal direction is apparent. Upon encounter with an obstacle, the trail may split into several smaller avenues and converge a short distance beyond it. In the case of deer there is evidence of casual browsing from time to time.These trails can be of any length and terminate at whatever point of interest the animals have in mind. From this spot, as in the case of a field, theysimply fade out, however there will be other secondary trails leading from the spot to eventually link back with the primary travel network.

Quite often these trails will lead to thickets or brushy areas associated with bedding, especially daytime beddding. Although they resemble feeding trails, there is a progressional characteristic about them that insists the trail is passing the animal through the area rather than the aimless wandering associated with major feeding. Usually there is evidence of lounging such as beds and profuse droppings of many ages. Secondary trails are far more likely to be effective hunting places than primary trails, but here again the inclusion of other hunting factors makes the determination. At least there is deer presence here during legal hunting hours.

Feeding Trails

The most telling characteristic of a major feeding trail is that it doesn't go anywhere in particular, just in any direction at any time, making interconnected irregular geometrical figures. They fan out from the secondary trails, either getting lost in a confusing maze or coalescing into a Secondary trail, of which there are usually several of leading back to the Primary trails. These feeding areas can be from a few acres to a large field, however if it is a major food area there will be a thorough sprinkling of tracks, much evidence of browse, and the inevitable droppings, and not just a few. There are pockets of excellent or preferred deer food that come in small packages, such as a grove of White Oaks tucked away right off the Primary trail. Do not become so engrossed with trail identification that you lose sight of the purpose of your effort, which is to identify a place where a legal buck might be during hunting hours. These trails are definable as described, but they blend sometimes abruptly, the important thing is to recognize the type of activity that is occurring along the trail as you pass and notice the changes of activity by the animals.

The Buck Trail

If you study your area thoroughly, you will come upon a trail that seems to have no meaning or purpose, difficult to discern at times, it generally somewhat parallels the primary trail nearby, but rarely coincides and seems to never blend. It is solitary. As you ease along it you will be able to see much of the travel area and realize that the passage is unencumbered by restrictions for a large animal. Occasionally there will be a rub, and scrapes are found at what seems to be intersections with more traveled lanes. When it comes to an interuptive land feature such as a large field, a bluff or a ridge terminus there will be a profusion of buck sign rather than just the casually placed incidents along the trail. The trail will run along the tops and sides of ridges, and seems to cross the creek bottoms or rivers at almost right angles, proceeding immediately to the top or side of the opposing ridge. There is no doubt the trail is for travel, many of the places it traverses have little or no food opportunities, and surprisingly crosses quite open spots where security should be a concern.

The identifying characteristic is found at a crossing of a place where tracks can not be avoided; a road, a creek sand bar, the end of a field. There you will usually find a solitary large track, there could be more than one, but they will all be big. No fawns or immature animals. Wipe the track out and in a few days it will reappear. This is a mystifying phenomena, the purpose is obviously for passage, yet the sexual nature is undeniable. Thinking that this is a buck magnet is true, but how and when he uses it is almost random. Sometimes there will be no tracks for several days, and then they appear daily, sometimes they are made at night and sometimes in the daylight, there seems to be no pattern, but the usage is certain.

Once I came to camp late and all the stands were taken for the morning and I had no time to set up, so I asked to be dropped off in an area no one hunted. I knew the tract well, and there was a buck trail along the side of the ridge that crossed a gulley. That gulley had large tracks in it regularly, but no place for a decent, comfortable stand. I had nothing to lose, so I decided that was as good a place as any to use my portable for the morning hunt. The trees were stunted and I could barely get the stand to stay, but I got up about 8 or 10 feet and made the best of a bad thing. The buck came, right up that trail that had been there for ten years and never been hunted. Back at camp I was heralded as a Deer Guru, blowing into camp late and scoring in a place a buck had never been seen. Actually I just happened to be there when he came, however, I did know he was coming sometime, and what better time than now?

In my opinion, the buck walks where he can monitor the main travel lanes, probably looking for love. Above the crowd that make the sign in the bottom, he has an opportunity to scope the place in seclusion and any danger will probably be encountered first by the wandering troop of does and fawns he is checking out. Sex and security in that order are paramount during rut, and the buck could care less that there is poor food pickings along his trail.

Conclusion

There have been some very definitive statements made about these tracks and trails, and I feel certain they are true. However, there is also a lot of gray area when labeling a trail one type or the other. It is not black and white. When you go to the woods and think of the travel network in the manner above described, it will give you a starting point to begin to accumulate on site knowledge and provide a framework for analysis.