Deer Crossing tip - rivers

Hi Group

About a year and half ago, someone posted a tip about locating the spot(s) where deer crossed streams, then hunting that area (crossing).

An area where I hunt has both public and private land, with a small, meandering river running thru it. Ever since I read that post of some time ago, I've been trying to detirmine if it was fact or fiction. I can't say I've walked the entire river, but have been along a good portion of it - but had not found such a crossing. Yesterday (Sunday) - I got my answer.

I was out scouting for turkey, and was seeing a good number of deer as well. I was in a field where it borders the river, and happened to look at the bottom - looking for a spot I'd be able to cross while turkey hunting. There was a gravel/rock 'sand' bar in the stream - and maybe 3-4' of water across the entire stream width at that spot. The banks on either side of the stream were about a foot high. I found the deer were crossing the stream at that point as well - they had a well worn runway on each bank, laced with foot prints.

I walked on further, then doubled back. As I re-traced my path, I looked up to see 3 deer, in line w/ the crossing. They were headed for it when I showed up.

So, I thank the person who posted this tip. I hope to be able to get permission to deer hunt this farm, and to locate other spots such as this.

Oh - I did see some turkey - the Toms are starting to gobble - the hens were yelping. I listened to them for about 20 minutes, right before sunrise, then they quit. Spotted one Tom in his roost, watched him fly down.

I also found a Shrade hunting knife and sheath in the woods. When I first spotted it, I expected it to be ruined - especially the sheath. There were some traces of blood on the blade, one spot of rust, and some white belly hairs. The sheath had minimal damage from being exposed to the weather / rodents over the winter. It (knife) should clean up just fine, and some Neatsfoot oil should fix the sheath right up.

I am giving the knife to my 14 y/o son, who will be joining me in the woods this fall. He got a bow for Christmas, so the knife will put him another step closer to being equipped for this falll.

It was a great morning to be out in the woods.

You are welcome. I posted it as my 'absolutely certain' way to get deer. Modest as ever , I am pleased to affirm it was my original post and am glad to see you confirmed it. Like most good ideas, it is simple and very obvious when you finally see it. I was out hunting when I remembered I lived on the street which crossed the stream through my neighborhood and so my street got all the traffic. DUH! I then walked the stream in the area I was hunting and used the technique for the first time with almost instant results. I have always gotten to within 50 feet of deer on every single hunt ever since. It ALWAYS works. It is so obvious once you finally see it in your mind! (We will shortly see a magazine article crediting this method to someone else, perhaps the writer .) I am really glad it benefited you.

I then walked the stream in the area I was hunting

Works for elk too. Where elk choose to cross a river or stream has more to do with the type of cover on either side than on the steepness of the banks or the depth of the water. They can wear a real deep rut in very steep banks that you'd think they'd avoid, but usually seem to want to approach the water crossing from heavier cover, and step out of the water into more open terrain.

Don't know if this pattern holds true for deer as well.

A Whittick

The deer I see crossing seem to come out into a relatively open area, look around, graze a bit, work into more open, graze a bit while looking a lot, then go for the crossing. Though the second choice is to come to a bank, stand very quietly in some mild cover and look, then plunge. That's usually where there's a steeper bank. They, too, will wear rutted paths into the stream sides, if there aren't some long shallows to go to. They do like to be certain, unless spooked, that they're going to find an easy way up. Either a rutted path, or, more often, a shallow where they can just wade up and out.

Look at your stream/river in both high water and low. You'll see sandbars in low water that are resting places for them on their way. When the water is deeper, they'll still use those same places. Check the tracks on the shore in the off seasons to see what they do then. If spooked, they'll react out of habit and do the same thing in season. They'll often, in a wider place, go for the top of an island then graze/wander down it and make the rest of the crossing from the bottom, unless there's a better spot to get to from the top (by top I mean upstream) end. Downstream ends of islands often have shallows or sandbars, which make good landing spots if they've missed the upstream end.

Deer aren't very smart, but the ones who can't learn about current, don't breed very much. Long curves in a wider stream are good for them, unless one side has very high banks with no easy way up or down. They'll start at an up/in curve and land at the next down/in curve. Look for places that have lowish banks on both sides of the water and for some ways downstream. Look for islands/sandbars. Streams entering a river or larger stream are good. They often have eroded banks right on the corner where the two meet and deer will come down or go up an unusually high bank from there.

Key is off season tracking/observation. I don't eat Bambi and don't hunt them, but have an interest in what they do, so have picked up a bit on their habits. Pretty for giant rodents.

Interesting that you both say that (cover on one side, open on the other), as that is exactly what I found. There are other spots that I am aware of with that combination, I will check them out soon.

In this instance, the river is small - no islands unless at extremely low water. The banks (due to meanandering nature of the stream) are usually very high on one side, with a deep channel to boot.

This is the only spot I am aware of (as of this time) that has lower banks on both sides, the gravel bar, and cover/open ground.

Have either of you noticed a tendancy toward a single direction of travel on these crossings? Do the deer cross from cover to open exclusively - or will they go from open to cover?

Thanks

..

Given their preference, I'd suspect they'd want cover on both sides. But they are certainly interested in a quick and easy way out. (this is deer. Not many elk around where I go.)

The river I'm most familiar with is quite wide and has lots of shallows, so it may not apply to your situation. I have only noticed, now that I think back, one way crossings. But with their preference for islands as resting/grazing spots, that makes sense. And the river has a good steady 3 to 5 mile an hour current in mellow moments, so the crossings would have a hard time being bi-directional. In high water, an impossible time. They'd be swept too far down stream if they tried to go back from B to A once having done A to B. Now if there's another good landing spot down from A that they can reach by going back from B... I'd want to be checking the direction of the tracks very carefully.

Sounds as if you've found a very nice spot. Good luck on hunting it.