Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Scouting a new area yesterday I came acrossed an exciting feature.2 parallel runningmountains with very steep sides connected at one end by a 30 yard wide naturally occuring land bridge. The sign was very encouraging to put it mildly. I also walked up on a smallish8 point buck (70's ?)making a rub (1strub i've seen this yearand watched him do it)headed that way after I crossed it.

Has anyone hunted a similair feature?

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

yep and deer sightings were through the roof. I no longer have access to that piece though.

I hunted basically two very steep rocky ridges, well bluffs is more accurate that came to almost a v at one end where there was a strip of land connecting them. Deer travel was awesome through there.

Best of luck with your spot.

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Sounds about like I thought ;) anyone else?

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

give me the coordinates and I'll let you know ...:D

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

x2

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Go ahead Bob, Tony won't show up anyway.

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Tony will need my assistance with this, it needs to be hunted from both ends :Dgood luck Gr8 ;)

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

THANKS BUDDY!! I owe ya one for that!!

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Of course I will have to setup the beer tent for congratulations after the kills.

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Something like this?

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Dang you guys! I'm gonna have to live with this until I show at the next one, huh? [:@]

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Tony I told ya already..it's planned for Easter Weekend we are getting a 3 day weekend starting on Good Friday.. It was planned cuz we are all off anyway, you in?? :D:D:D:D

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Jeff I need to find a TOPO of it..

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

SHuddap Bob ..... when we do meet, we are gonna wrestle ;)


and then, onto Bawana [>:]:D BTW Jimbo, I need that Goose jerky recipe

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

id LOVE to see the topo...post it when you find it...

the parallel running hills with steep sides and a land bridge sounds killer....it sounds like it will be the ultimate saddle...

i study topos and ariels regularly and have a REAL hard time finding any good funnels in my areas...as a matter of fact, i had it planned to study my areas at home tonight...HAS to be something im missing...my tree lines are lucky to be single trees, and i find ROADS go through most of the places where natural funnels would occur..

sounds killer though...come the seeking/chasing phase, you better pack a big lunch coz you just might be THICK in deer all day...sounds like the ultimate spot...sounds like theres really NOWHERE close for them to cross

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

After years of hunting the hills and hollows of the Shawnee National Forest, this is exactly the situation i look for when scouting any hilly topography. They are practically Deer interstates, especially during the pre-rut when the Bucks are cruising.

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

When Bobs done with you your going to have the same texture as my goose jerky.[:-]and you probably won't lookso good either.;)

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Bob,
These types of things are exactly what I look for when scouting. I don't always find them, but they are usually gold mines when you do! Enjoy and best of luck. I bet you have some fun at that spot:D

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

We have lots of those here, we call them "ridge fingers" because on a topo they frequently look like a splayed hand. The local deer use the low areas in between the fingers as covered travel routes, and will take advantage on any "lazy" spots such as the land bridge you mentioned. If the low point in between leads to a food source you've struck gold.

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Usually these spots are great locations it's hte approach that is hard to figure out. On our Adirondack property we have a big swamp boardered by a monster block of hardwoods leading up a mountain with a rock face. the rock face has a big split in it that is only 6-10 feet wide and you cannot imagine the amount of deer that use that little cavern crossing to get on the top of the moutain. We have shot several good bucks during drive of that rock. Good luck

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Here's my question.....

If it's widely accepted that deer use the cover of the ridges for travel.....why would we think that a flat spot dissecting a ridge would be a good spot for them to travel in a seemingly perpindicular path to the one the ridge is on?

Serious question.

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Unless i misunderstood the original post, he is saying the flat spot in question is something of a "bridge" between one ridge and another. That having been said, they will use the flat spot as you describe above(I call them saddles) to get from one side of a ridge to the other as opposed to walking up and over or out to the end and around. After years of hunting steep "hills and hollows" habitat, it is my experience thatyou can count on deer using certain terrain features for ease of travel without fail. To the point where if I'm looking at a brand new spot that is steep hills and hollows, I'll pick a spot based solely on certain terrain features. ;)

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

You lost me, deer use wooded ridge tops much more than the bottom of the ravines for travel, atleastat my farm thats what they do... the area he is describing is somewhat like an H...hunting that middle cross segment would allow you to catch all the deer going from oneridge to the other.

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

OK...maybe I wasn't clear, then ......

My question stems from conversations I've had in PM with someone here I trust in reading topos. HE is telling me that they use the terrain features to travel from place to place. Look at the map he marked up here and tell me where he has the probable travel routes. It's IN the "ravines" (using that term loosely). So I guess I'm asking if you agree with him on that.

I'm (we're) not discounting that they use ridge tops for travel.....but they use the "ravines", also (based on how this was marked up.....and I can vouch for it being a damned good read for someone who's never been here).

Does anyone disagree with this, so far?

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Let me qualify what I'm about to say by confessing thatI'm not all that well versed in reading Topo maps. That having been said, it looks like most of the key routes on this map are at or near the top of the ridges or along side ridges that run perpendicular to the main ridges,and not in the ravines. My understanding of Topo maps is the closer the lines are together, the steeper the terrain. In my experience Deer rarely run in the bottom of ravines unless they are fairly wide and flat at the bottom. Most big ridges will have a bench somewhere on them, usually somewhere in the upper half, that deer will travel on as opposed to the top, but they will certainly run the top if it is fairly flat. The saddles and bridges come into play when a deer's travel route takes him perpendicular to the direction of the main ridges in an area. Note how many of the travel routes he has marked run perpendicular to the contour lines on the map. Most are in areas that are relatively flat as opposed to the surrounding terrain.Deer will basically take the easiest route that will eventually get them where they are going.In short, based on my limited skills reading Topo maps, I agree with the illustration. As with all things as they relate to Deer, nothing is carved in stone. :D

RE: Anyone hunted this type of Funnel?
 

Yes sir..in FLorida funnels are my #2 best spots..they pay off..

My number 1 spot is deep in the swamp where there are acorn trees and palmettoes to hide in with a thick sunny spotfor the deer to bed in..