Creating A Funnel...Am I Dreaming

[hortontoter]

I want to know what you guys think of an idea I have. I have thought about creating a funnel using field fence. Almost all of my deer enter my property from the neighboring property to my north. But there are quite a few trails that they enter from in about a 125 yard long area so picking the right one has been tough to do. I have thought of stringing fence along the north edge of my property for about 100 yards. But leaving a twenty yard or so opening in one spot for the deer to funnel through. A lot of scrapes show up in my woods on a line going north to south. I thought of leaving the fence opening in line with this rub/scrape line. I don't plan to hunt right at the fence opening, but about 50 to 60 yards south of it. Any chance the deer would make this fence opening their main travel route in this area? Or is this just a waste of my time and money?

[ghunter]

It sounds like a good idea. I would think it would have to be pretty tall so they wouldn't jump it and it might take some time for them to get used to where to cross.

[Stonegod]

I agree with ghunter......but if installed this spring it should have them conditioned by fall.......hey Dick......if you need any help with installing the fence.........just let me know..........and I'll send ghunter down there.LOL

[PlayTheWindMike]

Dick, I will just sell you a deer if you want, just let me know what score you want. LOLOLOL.....You know a friend of mine did this and at first it did not work but after he made some adjustments it did work. He had just a few acres and he had behind his property a corn field that was to the south. His house sat on the north end. Deer mostly traveled from the south west into his property but he had no spots for treestands and so forth. Once he got the fence where he wanted it the deer simply started jumping the fence. Where the opening is he placed a few salt blocks, apple, mineral and acorn. Funny thing is the acorn block they eliminated in a short time. The other blocks the deer barely hit. I saw this first hand and after they were done with the acorn block they went after the mineral lick but, that was winter time. (they need the mineral block at that time) With that being said he has a good thing going now. He spread like 3 acorn and 3 mineral and 1 salt starting at the opening of the fence which there the opening was around 100 yards wide. He went every 30 yards down the funnel and simply sat the next block on a piece of firewood and strapped it to a tree. That was started 2 years ago and now the paths down this funnel are beatin down pretty good and the paths go down the funnel just like he wanted. I hope that helps.

[mrbb]

OK well I will not say it won't work, BUT
here where I hunt, there is a 50 acre field that gets planted every yr
in the 1960's the state game dept came in and installed an 8 ft high fence all the way arround the field, to help with crop damage(back then the state actually tried to help)
and well over the yrs sections have fallen down and created opening, but still about 75 % of the fence is still standing

and again its an 8 ft fence here
when I started hunting here I thought crap, this is going to be easy
just have to set up on the openings, and plug the ones I didn't want

well all I can say is that didn't work out at all
the deer junp this fence at will
they will jump over the fence even if there is a BIG 30+ ft wide opening just a few yards away, for no reason at all, they simply prefer to enter where they want when they want!, and they eneter all over the edge at will, never using any real one spot at all
I think its actually due to the fence, they move/enter about different places knowing its there and don't want to get ambushed

ALso, in sections of fence where its lower from trees falling on it and such
they do have a couple places where they use more than others cause of that
Over the yrs I have tried to block some of these more used crossings, as there in bad spots to hunt
and tried placing piles of tree tops and debris to pevent them using them, and they always have smashed them open again in short time on me??
I have even placed chain link fence in these spots and they will ram into it to knock it down???
and last
I have noticed, that if I try to block a section they like to use, they will from that point on, almost always, all YR come to that place later in the day than before, always after dark, thus making that place useless to me to hunt anymore, so blocking these places has ruined them for hunting on me!

Now like I said, my fence here has been out for 50+ yrs, and I am sure that my deer are generations of jumping over it now,
and thats maybe why so many do with so little effort, or thought about doing so! learned behavior maybe???
but then again, I have an 8 ft fence, they leap over like a its only a 1 ft fence here?? lol crazy

I have made funnels before, but always just used tree's
I would drop a couple where I wanted to steer them, and that worked fine here, go figure??

now a second fence deal
I have old snow type fencing about my place, the 4 ft tall small wooden strip fence used yrs ago, to stop snow from drifting, thus snow fence it was called

any how, I run a feeder in my back yard, and to try to get deer to enter more often, I opened up sections of the fence to make it easier on them, not having to jump it
and most deer still prefer to jump over it
BUT if I lave the back gate open(its a 14 ft wide gate) only open about 4 ft wide
they use that all the time
so ?? makes no sense to me, can make a 10 ft wide hole, and they jump over right next to it, but open the gate some, and they walk right in
all but the bears
they still seem to prefer to smash into and over it LOL

but thats my experience with fences

[mrbb]

and last
for yrs and yrs now, I have thought this jumping over the fence would help me find sheds, and NOPE, in all my yrs here I have never found a single shed near these fences, go figure!!
I Have watched bucks in March, jump this fence many many times and they stayed on , even some on dead runs full speed leaps over it and keep running other side with them still on!!

BUT sure it could help maybe to fid some!

[hortontoter]

Mike, your buddy done exactly what I have planned. The deer at my place love Trophy Rocks and utilize them from about Feb. to Sept. I plan to put three TR's in a fairly straight line going N to S along the rub/scrape line that exists year after year. The deer will home in on the TR's all summer and be used to the fence opening by Sept. At least that is my thought.

If you have a buck in the 280 - 320 class I'd be willing to pay a few bucks for the chance to hunt him LOL.

I can't imagine a deer jumping an 8' fence. I would think 4-5' would cause a deer to seek out the opening once they know it exists. Especially if the opening is in a place the deer already travel at times. I know last fall there was a low spot in my neighbors barbed wire fence and the deer utilized it all the time.

I like to experiment and may try this just out of curiosity. I'm sure it will take a while to see the outcome.

[ghunter]

Like SG said ill come down in the spring/summer and give you hand. It would be an interesting experiment.

[hortontoter]

I may take you up on that offer Gary.

[Big_Holla]

My opinion is that deer WILL take the path of least resistance only if they feel safe in doing so, especially bucks. By doing what you are thinking, if you don't choke their travels down to a tiny opening, your chances of doing this successfully will be good. A fence is an obvious thing in the woods though and you may get better results with brush piles or tree tops strategically placed if you had a way to create them. One thing I would think about is, if you put up a fence, will the neighbor get upset over this or wonder what you are doing? Also keep in mind the neighbor will also see this and may set up on the new funnels as well, possibly causing deer to fear the bottlenecks.

[hortontoter]

Good points, Chuck.

I plan to tell the neighbor why I will be doing this. And I don't plan to put it right on the property line, but close to it. And I only plan to run maybe 300' of fence on my 1600' foot property line. Luckily no one hunts my neighbors property to the north of me. Most of the deer I see bed on my northern neighbors property. I plan to leave a 20-30 yard opening for the deer to travel through.

[Big_Holla]

That should work well for you then. If you set it up right you can make a couple openings and blind set-ups for different wind directions, depending if you have good access routes from both sides.

[Stonegod]

Dick what type of fencing do you plan on using?

[Seeker Bp]

I am almost positive he will use deer fence, sold everywhere deer corn is sold!! lol This sounds like a very interesting experiment Toter, def something to keep track of. And of course trail cams will help you see what your traffic patterns are! I would suggest maybe thinking about Military surplus camo cargo netting. This would still act as a wall, but be more natural in appearance. Good luck with this experiment!

[hortontoter]

I plan to use field fence which is woven with 6" squares. The fence is 48" high and I plan to put it appox 8" off the ground giving me a 4 1/2' or so barrier. This stuff rusts quickly and will blend in pretty quickly, but will last a long time.

As Seeker eluded to, trail cameras will show the results over time.

[mrbb]

well as for jumping an 8 ft fence
thats what I thought when I started hunting here
but no lie they clear it all the time like its not even there
I do think that part of it is for so many yrs they been doing it now, they just don't seem to care about it
and there are many sections where it closer to 5-6 ft, they jump over at, but at any time , if they are where ever and they want over it, they just jump it at will

they will also crawl under it in many places where its only a ft or so off the ground too
I have sneeky deer here LOL

something I also found them doing is jumping through holes in the fence
say a hole in the fence about as round as a 5 gallon bucket, caused by a couple sections to rust open
and they can be a ft off the ground to 5 ft off the ground?
the dive through them like a thrown football!
its crazy here with what I see these deer do ona daily basis??
Good luck, I look forward to hearing about how it goes

[PlayTheWindMike]

Mike, your buddy done exactly what I have planned. The deer at my place love Trophy Rocks and utilize them from about Feb. to Sept. I plan to put three TR's in a fairly straight line going N to S along the rub/scrape line that exists year after year. The deer will home in on the TR's all summer and be used to the fence opening by Sept. At least that is my thought.

If you have a buck in the 280 - 320 class I'd be willing to pay a few bucks for the chance to hunt him LOL.

I can't imagine a deer jumping an 8' fence. I would think 4-5' would cause a deer to seek out the opening once they know it exists. Especially if the opening is in a place the deer already travel at times. I know last fall there was a low spot in my neighbors barbed wire fence and the deer utilized it all the time.

I like to experiment and may try this just out of curiosity. I'm sure it will take a while to see the outcome.

HH if I had a 280 to 320 class I would be sleeping out there. We would have to set up camp. My honey spot has some nice bucks though. I have seen probably under 10 bucks the last 3 or 4 years that would go 200 plus but, I have mostly seen them in the fields as I drive away in my vehicle lololol but true. I think I go in and they watch me, then wait til I leave to come out. Ask Wildlife here on our site, he hunted several times over there with me this year and he knows whats in the area. There is a MONSTER that we have been seeing over at the cemetary area. Two years ago there was a 22 point well over 200 taken by a farmer and he is not into fame and glory,,,,,he says. It has not been scored but I did see it. He didn't even mount it. Dude is in his 80's. Next season HH....I will have about 5 or 6 stands and a blind or two set up...you come out and try get you one of these. Oh and the only thing I will charge you is breakfast lol....

btw guys....I have a good story coming very soon....as soon as I get the pics...I will write the entire story on my deceased brother in law and our hunt where he scored a 196 21 pointer and his hunt. This is the most amazing buck I have ever seen. All tips are acorned and the brow tines are an actual rack. It looks like a rack in a rack like buck. Simply amazing. It is a tribune I want to do for him. I reached out to his son today to acquire pics.

[hortontoter]

Those deer probably do wait for you come out and then show just to tease you.

We will try to get together next fall and see if maybe we can outsmart one of those bruisers.

Can't wait to read your tribute to your brother in law.

[deerguy10]

sounds like a good idea... i plan to try something similar by stacking brush as sort of a fence... i will be interested to hear how this works for you!