rutting bucks/cattle fences

[Drycreek]

Woven wire fences, we call them hog wire, disrupt deer travel due to fawns not being able to cross so does look for the easiest crossing due to it being ingrained into them over the years whether they have small fawns at the time or not...4 or 5 strand barbed wire does not have this stigma as fawns can cross anywhere so deer freely move back and forth through it.

I used to have a good hog wire fence around part of my place, just to keep buttheads on four wheelers out, but the hogs decided they didn’t like it and made several holes in it. It didn’t bother the deer much, they just went around to the sides that didn’t have any fence. It’s got holes in it now that a bear could get through.

 

[Native Hunter]

Deer will find the path of least resistance when there is a fence. I was at the farm today and took this picture. This is crossing the chip and seal road from me to my neighbor. The reason they are crossing here is that I have one strand of wire down. Look at the muddy spot where they hit the ground.

 

[Bigeight]

Maybe I'm explaining the situation a little wrong saying "cattle fence" It's to keep cattle in, clearly. It is not the normal wire fence that are just horizontal strands of barbed wire with a 8" gap +/- in between. This is more like a Panel fence with 4" squares is all. It is still only about 4' -4.5' tall, but all 4" square thick fence the whole way.

I ABSOLUTELY know deer can jump the thing, and they do. I can see an ever so slightly trail at the peek of the ridge that jumps it. I've seen deer in the field put on some spectacular high jump efforts as well.

If that fence was not there, the very pronounced trail from the neighbors would just continue on walking them right by a perfect ambush spot.

However, it appears that the path of least resistance that all the does are taking, or 95% of the deer tracks are choosing to hit the fence right there and parallel it instead of jumping it. Taking the deer a 90 degree angle away from the ridge top.

I am with you, if she jumps, he will. Percentages from what the tracks say right NOW, says she is not going to.

IF that cruising buck is ALL BY HIMSELF in early November, does he follow the ridge like he would if there was no fence? Or follow the massive deer trail like the others and parallel it because its easier?... And the scent of most of the herd choose to not jump.

I followed that paralleling trail the entire length of the property line and there was no weak spots/low spots, etc. they just plain never jumped it other than a few faint/random deer tracks. Nothing to key in on.

Obviously they are wild animals and can do whatever they feel at any moment, Just curious if anyone has gotten a chance to monitor a similar situation and see the odds of cruising bucks jumping a fence to following a ridge, or following the main trail leading off the ridge to a low area.

 

[Drycreek]

What you have described is called “ field fence”, “hog wire”, “goat wire”, etc. according to whoever is doing the calling. The situation you describe can, and does, happen where there is no fence. Just a couple weeks ago my buddy and I were scouting a new bow setup, and encountered the same situation. A pretty definitive trail just broke up and we could find three faint trails branching off. Sounds like a good spot for two or three cameras to me, then you would have better intel.

And I forgot to say that I have this same type fence on the N side of my place, been there 20 years. There is a spot, on a ridge, that has been a crossing for years. The deer, both does and bucks, follow that ridge for a couple hundred yards into my place and then peel off at will. My son has a ladder stand at about the peeling off spot. It has been pretty good for deer and hogs over the years. Good luck !

 

[Tap]

If we are talking about early November movement patterns, I like to look at the bigger picture, rather than just looking at smaller tracts of cover.
A buck during the cruising phase of the rut can travel thru a 40 acre patch in a matter of minutes if that patch is just a connector from one river bottom to another river bottom.
Just because the herd isn't jumping that fence on the ridge, it doesn't mean that bucks aren't doing it when they are putting on big miles during that frantic phase of trying to find that 1st hot doe of the year.

Do you see any evidence of a rub line that's within your side of the fence? And I'm not talking necessarily about fresh rubs from the previous rut, I mean old rubs that are several years old. Those old rubs are still clues to perennial movement patterns. Sometimes those old rub lines are really hard to see because the rub may be healed and grown over or the tree is dead and doesn't even look like a rub any longer. Following old rub lines is not always a waste of time. The can lead to fresh sign that you may have otherwise never found.

And crop rotations play a big role in some areas. One Iowa farm we hunted had mind blowing sign in 2011 when corn was the nearby crop. But in 2015, there were beans growing where the corn was and the sign was almost non-existent. The guys from our group that hunted it last season (2019) said the sign was back to normal. The only thing I can figure is crop rotation effected the patterns.

The frequency of deer jumping that fence could be amazing one year and almost non existent the following year. Maybe last year was a down year for travel over that fence. Next fall could be an entirely different situation.

 

[Drycreek]

If we are talking about early November movement patterns, I like to look at the bigger picture, rather than just looking at smaller tracts of cover.
A buck during the cruising phase of the rut can travel thru a 40 acre patch in a matter of minutes if that patch is just a connector from one river bottom to another river bottom.
Just because the herd isn't jumping that fence on the ridge, it doesn't mean that bucks aren't doing it when they are putting on big miles during that frantic phase of trying to find that 1st hot doe of the year.

Do you see any evidence of a rub line that's within your side of the fence? And I'm not talking necessarily about fresh rubs from the previous rut, I mean old rubs that are several years old. Those old rubs are still clues to perennial movement patterns. Sometimes those old rub lines are really hard to see because the rub may be healed and grown over or the tree is dead and doesn't even look like a rub any longer. Following old rub lines is not always a waste of time. The can lead to fresh sign that you may have otherwise never found.

And crop rotations play a big role in some areas. One Iowa farm we hunted had mind blowing sign in 2011 when corn was the nearby crop. But in 2015, there were beans growing where the corn was and the sign was almost non-existent. The guys from our group that hunted it last season (2019) said the sign was back to normal. The only thing I can figure is crop rotation effected the patterns.

The frequency of deer jumping that fence could be amazing one year and almost non existent the following year. Maybe last year was a down year for travel over that fence. Next fall could be an entirely different situation.

Tap, you elaborated nicely on what I said in post #18. Unless there’s another reason, I would hunt the sign and forget the fence, always keeping current wind direction, and ingress and egress uppermost. If you can’t get in, hunt, and get out without getting busted, you are doomed to failure most of the time.