As some of you might remember we had our property logged during the same period that we began implementing the habitat plan that Steve Bartylla had put together for us. Part of the plan were sidewalks for the deer. The sidewalks were setup just as if we were landscaping a garden;Sidewalks went from one focal point to another and are planned so that they can be accessed here and there without disturbing the deer excessively. From what I saw the sidewalks in order to be used had to bring the deer to somewhere they wanted to go as well as have the illusion of safety to the deer and in some cases they needed to out compete an existing "sidewalk" that the deer may have made and used from many generations ago.
Usually to setup the sidewalks Steve blocks competing ones and uses dropped trees/hinge cuts to steer the deer into and along the sidewalks. In my case the logging cut off many of the natural sidewalks; to install some of the sidewalks as per the plan, I marked out the sidewalks and then walking backwards and into the wind simply sprayed a herbicide mixture where I wanted to put the sidewalks in. The chainsaw was also used where needed to move the sidewalks thru the tops of heavily cut areas (all tops were left in place by the loggers except where we clear cut poplar). Quickly the surrounding brush grew in "everywhere" except for the sidewalks.There are miles of sidewalks left to install still as I wanted to see it work first before doing the entire property. It works here but as in everything, not always.
Most installed sidewalks were used by seemingly all the deer pretty quickly while for some the deer have made their own that run parallel to mine and those deer made sidewalks run thru heavier cover than the ones we installed and are extremely winding with straight views not exceeding much more than ten yards except where terrain dictates a straight run. And our experience here is somewhat limiting as most of the deer here are less than 3 1/2 years old. Shooting lanes of course usually are straight so it makes sense that some deer won't use or walk in them and especially if they have even the slightest hint of something amiss. Making shooting lanes more winding makes them less effective but may make them more used. Perhaps making them with 3 ft. high not-thinned brush sections to break up the long view could facilitate more use even if they are cut straight.
I like your "little kid concept" X-farmer Dan; We all see it in use regularly with our trail cams. I had not connected it up before but I guess that is what the deer are doing when they "hide" their body behind the tree and then just stick out one eye around the trunk to stare at the camera or even sometimes to stare at us. I'm sure many on here have hundreds of pics like that.
And Dead-eye and Buckly, we also see the deer using the easy paths cut through fallow fields or low brushy spots fairly quickly until hunting starts, then most daytime movement involves heavier cover here. As Buckly found on his property applies here as well,once the corn is cut and the hunting starts the deer seem to favor more traditional type bedding locations. I'd just trying to figure out a way to capitalize on that transition bedding period as Elk Addict calls it; it hits here during early muzzle loader during the most comfortable time of the year.
The transition period seems to just ended here now and the movement patterns of our older deer are mainly outside of legal and safe shooting hours. That should change here in just a short week or so though.
