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Post by biglakebass on Jun 1, 2020 20:01:55 GMT -6
I think its more that on a trail thats mowed there are very distinct licking branches left hanging over them.
Our trails we get lots of scrapes every year.
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Post by badgerfowl on Jun 1, 2020 20:03:55 GMT -6
They tore our trails up with scrapes last fall. Rubs all along the one as well.
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Post by Freeborn on Jun 1, 2020 20:15:13 GMT -6
I would not mow anywhere near where you hunt. Less intrusion the better. If you have one primary trail with access spurs off of it that would be fine but stay away from where your deer bed and their travel corridors. The only deer I see on the 1 mowed trail I have is does and young bucks. The larger bucks never travel on my mowed trail. We used mowed trails on plans through CRP etc to connect doe bedding areas and the bucks follow those mowed paths nicely. Deer like easy trails through cover. What's your process for maintaining wooded trails, one and done or do you continue to mow them? i could see a few passes a year on a mower for the CRP but in the woods where you leave scent I would avoid Allot of intrusion. I would not mow regularly where my better bucks are located.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Jun 1, 2020 20:17:10 GMT -6
Couple picks of bucks using mowed trails. In the woods and in CRP
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Post by sd51555 on Jun 1, 2020 20:45:13 GMT -6
If I wasn't still rockin' the stone age (no wheeler/no flail) I'd have well mowed trails. I have one work trail that goes into the property slightly, otherwise, it's perimeter only anyway. I have a severe dislike of ticks, and they love me. So any place I need to go to get work done, I don't want to be bombing through vegetation, cause I'd come out the other side covered. I've had enough 100+ ticks flicked days.
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Post by biglakebass on Jun 1, 2020 20:47:46 GMT -6
Isnt the permethrin working?
Since I started using that, WONDERFUL!
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Post by smsmith on Jun 1, 2020 20:48:02 GMT -6
^^^ticks are one big reason I keep my trails mowed. I have also noticed that deer use the trails in the summer for a bit of respite from flies and skeeters. Anywhere there is less vegetation there are fewer bugs
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Post by sd51555 on Jun 1, 2020 21:05:28 GMT -6
Isnt the permethrin working? Since I started using that, WONDERFUL! It does for a while, but even at that, when you get the quantity that I get, you come across the ones that and don't fall off. I spent a number of years wearing the soaked (fully dipped) garb, and I kept getting these visions of me later wishing I hadn't done that. Now that I drive a suburu, I try to do things in a more earth friendly way. (cue the south park clip of the guy farting into a champagne glass and smelling it)
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Post by biglakebass on Jun 1, 2020 21:32:25 GMT -6
I have only spray bottled on my clothes and its been awesome. No clothing dips into a barrel of the poison.
I spray my clothes each time before I go out, even if they were sprayed the previous weekend.
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Post by wklman on Jun 1, 2020 22:07:25 GMT -6
Bucks don't like big trails on my property. I set up on a heavy deer trail last year and 6 bucks walked the one small trail in thick cover behind me going to water. They did it 3 days in a row just to spite me. But in general they stay in thicker cover while walking in my woods.
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Post by Sandbur on Jun 2, 2020 2:12:55 GMT -6
An old reference that first got me started making deer trails said they should be very narrow. Maybe this is part of the key.
I have gotten lazy and mowed some with the 48 inch deck on the rider. This reference was speaking of trails in the woods.
It seems like he wanted them just wide enough for a big bucks rack, maybe 18 inches, and he clipped them out in the spring with one quick trip through sometime before season.
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Post by smsmith on Jun 2, 2020 6:27:54 GMT -6
My guess is that there are no hard and fast "rules" when it comes to bucks and trails. I could see wide, mowed trails being a deterrent to mature buck use on properties that see no to little human intrusion throughout the year. All I know is that every year I get most of my mature buck pics on cams that are monitoring sections of my 4'-15' wide mowed trails.
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Post by Catscratch on Jun 2, 2020 6:29:23 GMT -6
Bucks don't like big trails on my property. I set up on a heavy deer trail last year and 6 bucks walked the one small trail in thick cover behind me going to water. They did it 3 days in a row just to spite me. But in general they stay in thicker cover while walking in my woods. ^^^ This is the trail I hunt. Never the main one. Always the little one you can barely find.
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Post by batman on Jun 2, 2020 6:37:21 GMT -6
In the crp we recommend the trails not be straight. Same with spruce for bedding. Long straight runs void security.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Jun 2, 2020 11:02:07 GMT -6
I know in Iowa bucks use the mowed trails a lot--especially during the rut. These are often nice bucks, but then again there are more bucks period! Competition from point A to point B is different in this scenario.
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