Mount Dave

I was just reading an article in a past Pa Game and Fish. The article was about treestand placement. It says that the second best place to stick your stand is in a bedding to feeding bottleneck. I was wondering if anyone knew what that was and if they would explain it. Thanks

IL Trophy Hunter

Most would agree that a bottleneck or a funnel is definitly the best place to hang your stand. A bottleneck has many different faces. It may be where a ridge narrows down to its tightest point. It can be how the terrain contours affecting how deer will use it.(Deer like us and most living creatures for that matter are lazy by nature and will take the path of least resistance from point A to point B.) It could be where a major barrier like a body of water or a super steep ridge cause the deer to go a certain way. During the early and late season I like to hang my stand as close as I feel comfortable to the bedding area in the best funnel I can find. During the late pre-rut, the rut, and the early post rut you will usually find me in the best funnel I can find where hopefully several different woods come together.(My best spots are near small creeks where there are several gently slopping fingers coming off the ridges above.) During this time I don't worry about the bedding or feeding areas as much as my main interest is to be in a choke point(bottleneck) that will allow as many deer as possible to come by my stand. Hope this helps.

Mount Dave

So its just a funnel?

IL Trophy Hunter

Yeah, just a funnel but it's the bread and butter of deer hunting.

You said the article said that bottlenecks were the 2nd best place to hang your stand?? Will you tell me what the article listed as the #1 spot??

Edited by - IL Trophy Hunter on 01/07/2003 21:53:30

Mount Dave

The article said the number one place to stick your stand is in a field corner

Jason McCurry

That might be true with a rifle, but I'd go with a funnel/bottleneck for #1 with a bow.

Rack-attack

If you are hunting heavy pressured public land that bottle neck will get you dinks and does. Except for the peek rut, you could hunt bottlenecks in my area's and NEVER see a mature buck.

If you are after mature bucks get on the bedding side of the bottle necks, and as close to the beds as you dare.

Belle Island

I hunt a 4,000 acre Island that is basically one block of woods. As such, there are no funnels on our land. However, there is one approach that I have had great success. There are many big flats that run through our property. For the most part the flats are fairly open and about 50yds wide. The mature bucks and does for that matter, will not cross the open flats until right before dark. However, on almost every flat there is a thick area that is very small that crosses the flat connecting very thick timber. I killed 3 deer this year hunting these thick areas located in the open flats. Another area that is great is to find a slough or small lake that is somewhat long and narrow and set up at the very end of it where the water stops. In my experience, deer love to go around these lakes and sloughs even though the water may only be a couple of feet deep. Just some pointers for some of us that aren't blessed with textbook funnels and bottlenecks.

Hunt the thickets

Edited by - Belle Island on 01/08/2003 21:15:19

kgkoon

I agree somewhat with Rack-attack. I mainly hunt funnels between bedding and feeding areas and I see a lot of deer, but not a lot of mature bucks. The lease I hunt on is fairly heavily hunted. I have started hunting right on the edge of the bedding area, but this approach is risky as I usually spook a deer or two walking to and from my stand. However, I haven't been able to come up with a better solution for finding the big boys. I may experiment with actually hunting inside the thickets used for bedding areas. The big boys are there as they are routinely spotted before season moving into them.

MTElksniper

It all depends on where you live. Here in Montana deer will walk right acrossed the open fields. But i hunt Iowa alot and that is all it hunt is funnels. Fence corners are one of the best places to hunt.
Bucks would rather walk around then jump over.
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