Creating a Deer Funnel to your Plot Field

[Mennoniteman]

Here is the fence where the deer cross(the yellow line in my pic above). I also included a picture of the trail on the other side of the fence. As far as I know, it is all deer since I rarely see the horses back here because of how thick it is. The third pic is the fence row. The far right of the picture is goat/donkey pasture.

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You have such a great deer hunting setup, it's amazing that it's not illegal! Still, that's the fun of hunting fair chase rather than shooting deer in a pen, you are outsmarting them at their own game, just like the first nations peoples did a thousand years ago. According to cave paintings and early history they used skins for camouflage, still hunted, made funnels out of sticks, shot bows from elevated shooting houses, burned food plots, and put on drives. I enjoy reading about your little operation there, and it's given me a few ideas too.

 

[Tap]

You have such a great deer hunting setup, it's amazing that it's not illegal! Still, that's the fun of hunting fair chase rather than shooting deer in a pen, you are outsmarting them at their own game, just like the first nations peoples did a thousand years ago. According to cave paintings and early history they used skins for camouflage, still hunted, made funnels out of sticks, shot bows from elevated shooting houses, burned food plots, and put on drives. I enjoy reading about your little operation there, and it's given me a few ideas too.

Buffalo jumps were one of their more effective methods, and brutal, too.
Anyone who thinks the natives "lived in harmony with nature" just doesn't know the facts. Those people sure knew how to put food in their bellies.

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[Mennoniteman]

Buffalo jumps were one of their more effective methods, and brutal, too.
Anyone who thinks the natives "lived in harmony with nature" just doesn't know the facts. Those people sure knew how to put food in their bellies.

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"Living in harmony with nature" is a utopian myth probably hatched in a penthouse just off of Fifth Avenue. In reality primitive living is a harsh lifestyle. Today we'd call it "wilderness survival" but to the natives it was just another normal day in life, and life expectancy was short. Either kill or be killed.

 

[DocHolladay]

Buffalo jumps were one of their more effective methods, and brutal, too.
Anyone who thinks the natives "lived in harmony with nature" just doesn't know the facts. Those people sure knew how to put food in their bellies.

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They would do drives that would push the animals off cliffs to die below. Very cruel by todays standards, but every day life back then. As mentioned, kill or be killed. You had to eat somehow and twigs and berries got old after a while. The natives knew how to work nature in their favor when it came to survival and making sure there was plenty to eat on the rock.

 

[Tap]

They would do drives that would push the animals off cliffs to die below. Very cruel by todays standards, but every day life back then. As mentioned, kill or be killed. You had to eat somehow and twigs and berries got old after a while. The natives knew how to work nature in their favor when it came to survival and making sure there was plenty to eat on the rock.

Yep

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[Weezy]

Thanks, but I can't take credit for the idea.
There's a lot more ideas and concrpts like this one...those Wensel bros are pioneers in the world of whitetail hunting. There's a wealth of knowledge and creativity in their books and articles.
And btw, never manipulate a fence you don't own without getting permission 1st.
Another fence trick is to restore an existing fence that's falling down. There are miles of old fence that are crushed by trees or are falling down and gobbled up by mother nature. Prop them back up or remove the trees and "rebuild" the fence where you DON'T want deer to cross.
Most of the fence material is already there to use. It just needs a little effort to make it a fence again instead of rusting away on the forest floor.

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So, when rebuilding a fence. Would you nail the fence into the trees like the previous fence or install fence poles. Barb wire or high tensile?

 

[Mennoniteman]

So, when rebuilding a fence. Would you nail the fence into the trees like the previous fence or install fence poles. Barb wire or high tensile?

Are they your trees? You don't ever expect to sell the trees for timber? You don't want to spend too much on this project. If the answer is yes to all three then staple it on the trees. Otherwise, I'd do new posts. I'd use high tensile. Barbed wire is miserable stuff in more ways than one.

 

[Weezy]

Hmmm, thinking long term nailing to trees might not be a good idea.

 

[Tap]

So, when rebuilding a fence. Would you nail the fence into the trees like the previous fence or install fence poles. Barb wire or high tensile?

1st, either own the property or ask permission to manipulate the fence.
You really have to look at what is there and what you have to work with.
When I try to rebuild a fence, I'm talking about an existing fence that's already there, but maybe it has low spots from trees falling across it, or sometimes it's down from wooden posts that rotted at ground level.
Sometimes just removing the fallen tree could be enough to allow the fence to spring back to it's original height.
If it still sags, you can prop it back up like you would with a clothes line. Cut some stout branches (that have a "Y") to the needed length, and prop the top strand back up. You can use wire ties to attach any other sagging strands to the make shift post. Sometimes you can just stand the old post back up.
If you want to attach to existing trees, never use steel nails. Aluminum nails anytime you nail something to a tree.
If you need to actually bring in any new wire, go with high tensile, or even rope or anything else that visible.
And sometimes you can eliminate an unwanted crossing by piling brush in the take off, or landing zone.
Sometimes they cross UNDER a fence where it crosses side drains. You can block that or clear it depending on your needs.
One more fence tip...examine barbed wire fence for deer hair at crossings and pluck the hair out of it. The next time you pass there, notice if there's more hair stuck in it. That can give you an idea how often the crossing is being used. If you leave the hair in it, then you can't tell if the hair is new or a year old.

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[Weezy]

Fence is mine guys. Thanks for the info. I might make this a priority next spring, i have a couple inside corners of corn/soybean fields that deer travel could be pinched down some.

 

[DocHolladay]

I came out and put some new brush(river reeds) on the blind in the corner so we will be ready for season. Hopefully I can get some kids in there to shoot something. The land owners daughter wants to hunt also and I am going to sit in it with her. Only problem I have is looking at her and not watching for deer. She is one beautiful woman.

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[DocHolladay]

In the last pic, you can see where they jump the fence. The only trouble we may have, is if it is cold and I have a heater running. I won't use one, but if there are kids, it helps them stay longer.

 

[Fish]

In the last pic, you can see where they jump the fence. The only trouble we may have, is if it is cold and I have a heater running. I won't use one, but if there are kids, it helps them stay longer.

Ok, but wheres the pic of the beautiful woman?

 

[DocHolladay]

Ill have one after she shoots her deer. Rifle season doesn't open until Nov. 18th here