Creating a defined line of movement that extends for several hundred yards or more, often starts within the most remote areas of your land. And what prefers to inhabit the most remote portions of your land? A mature buck!
One of the best ways that I have found to consistently attract, hold and create shot opportunities for mature bucks is to create long lines of unpressured travel opportunity from cover to food. The more that you strengthen, secure and remove the appearance of hunting pressure from those consistent daily travels, the more you can define how to access your land to hunt.
Here are a two of what I feel are the most important aspects of creating successful deer movements, as previously published in my original Line of Deer Movement Article a few years ago:
1. The longer the distance between high quality hotspots, the easier it is for you to hunt. You are basically accessing the line perpendicular to the movement. When you are accessing the line of movement, and not the hotspots themselves, then it is easier for you to get in and out of stand positions without spooking game. The further apart the hotspots are, the more likely you can preserve the hotspots and continue the line of movement. Also, when the hotspots are further apart, the options for wind direction increase because 45 degree wind patterns then can blow past and upwind of the adjacent hotspots.
2. Random lines of movement on your property are a major stumbling block to your success. An example of this would be taking an 80 acre parcel and making it all sanctuary by completing a massive timber harvest. Another example of this is the schooled biology or wildlife approach by attempting to improve every square inch of your parcel for deer or wildlife. The end result of random lines is a property that is almost impossible to hunt! Great if you never hunt the parcelbut most of us are hunters You are left with a parcel that fairly evenly distributes the deer herd across the entire landscape, making it impossible for you to walk in just about any direction without spooking game. This is less noticeable on a 1000 acre tract or more because you more closely encompass the daily lives of the local herd, but on a small parcel setting traps for yourself to spook deer through random, undefined patterns of movement can ruin your property in the first couple days of hunting.
Follow along with this video clip as I offer a detailed look into a complete line of deer movement that includes the potential travels of a mature buck, from buck bed to bowstand to food plot.
