The Rut Is Finally Here!
With the kickoff of the rut set to occur any day now in the Midwest and Northeast, bucks are moving. And they aren't just moving at night to feed water. They are cruising the hardwoods and river bottoms to get first dibs at a hot doe.
What can we do to take full advantage of this behavior and put ourselves in the best situation to kill big mature bucks?
Pinch Points
Pinch points are places throughout the landscape that funnel movement of deer into tight areas. Think of deer moving through the landscape like a big reservoir. There could be fish swimming around everywhere in the lake, but if you move to the outlet, there is one stream of water that holds fish in a far tighter area. All of that water movement gets concentrated into one specific area. This is the power of a pinch point. The same thing happens with deer!
How do we find pinch points and utilize them?
Step 1: Get on your choice mapping software.
The key to great scouting in today's day and age is e-scouting. Lets learn how to utilize it the right way.
Agriculture
Deer love cover so when your are scouting agricultural fields, you have to realize 90% of the land is unused by deer in the daylight. This makes it easy to pick out key pinch point areas.
Big Woods
Big Woods hunting can be tough due to lower density populations. This makes it all the more important to find Pinch Points. Deer, much like people, prefer the path of least resistance. Utilize this in your favor by keying in on saddles, drainage connections, and ridge knobs. Chances are, if its too steep for you, its too steep for the deer.
Swamps
Big deer love swamps. This theory has really gained a lot of traction in the past couple years and for good reason, its true. Swamps present a unique challenge to hunters because of access. Same goes for the deer except they aren't afraid to get their feet wet, well sometimes. Deer will travel swamps similar to the way a human would. If they are moving, they want to be on firm ground. To identify pinch points in this environment, find the areas with dry ground that are in close proximity to the water, and flat. Benches, draws, and knobs can be great places to focus on.
Finding deer is HARD
But that is why people love it so much. Bucks become much easier to locate when you know their travel routes. As I said before, deer and people aren't much different after all. We take the path that uses the least amount of energy. If we focus our scouting in areas with high deer traffic, the chances of getting an opportunity at a shooter buck dramatically increase!
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