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Hunting near hiking trails

J

jphillips97

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Messages
348
A few questions:

1- How close to a trail are you comfortable hunting?
2- Does the proximity to the trail make the deer less nervous about scent or movement?
3- I have an area that has good water, browse and cover near a hiking trail. I still see game trails in there. How likely do you think there are to be hunt able deer in that area?
 
Tr33_n1nj@ said:
Only way to know for sure is to hang a camera, or just get in there and hunt. If the sign is there, I would think the deer would be too.

If there’s no legally mandated distance, I don’t care about the trail.
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I put several cameras along a stream about 150 ft from a trail.
 
1. Personally I wouldn’t hunt any closer than 100yds and maybe not even that close. Too many variables.
2. Proximity in my exp absolutely makes them less nervous about scent, still weary about movement. My family hikes a lot and we regularly see deer along the trails, and these are heavily used trails. I’ve seen deer as close as 50 yds off the trail.
3. I think the deer are huntable and probably easier than what your used too as they’ll be more comfortable around human scent. I hunt a brewery and the deer there are super used to humans, I can make mistakes there that I’d never get away with on the other parcel I hunt.
 
I have not hunted near walking or jogging trails but I have scouted a several thousand-acre area in hill country that is crisscrossed with horse trails. I found that the horse trails tended to parallel the major creeks along the bottoms or run along the tops of the ridges. I did not find much sign of deer at all on the side of the creek with the horse trails or on the ridges. When I crossed the creek and went about 60 yards past I found a deer trail paralleling the creek. I could tell the deer were staying on the opposite side of the creek for the horses and people. My guess is that the deer are more acclimated to human odor in these areas and get habituated to the human activity. I also think they have areas where they can observe the trails and human activity and have easy escape routes if they feel threatened.
 
NMSbowhunter said:
I have not hunted near walking or jogging trails but I have scouted a several thousand-acre area in hill country that is crisscrossed with horse trails. I found that the horse trails tended to parallel the major creeks along the bottoms or run along the tops of the ridges. I did not find much sign of deer at all on the side of the creek with the horse trails or on the ridges. When I crossed the creek and went about 60 yards past I found a deer trail paralleling the creek. I could tell the deer were staying on the opposite side of the creek for the horses and people. My guess is that the deer are more acclimated to human odor in these areas and get habituated to the human activity. I also think they have areas where they can observe the trails and human activity and have easy escape routes if they feel threatened.
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This is an interesting answer. I am only hunting the opposite side of the creek.
 
Here's a tip an experienced hunter gave to me...
It's definetly gonna be situational....I'm not gonna sit on the trail for hours and hours but let's say I see a heavy trail/lots of tracks crossing a road, I'll take mental note of the location and continue to search for the "hot sign" in the swamps or wherever I find myself.....If I don't find anything worth sitting in the swamp.and it's getting later in the day and I don't want to keep walking during prime time.....I can choose to sit a game trail in the swamp that I'm not exactly confident in and I will loose light before end of legal shooting time or I can hurry to that road crossing and shimmy up for a short sit and I'll be able to see and shoot right up till end of legal....just something to think about...u loose light much earlier in the thick woods vs out in the open of the road/trail
 
jphillips97 said:
A few questions:

1- How close to a trail are you comfortable hunting?
2- Does the proximity to the trail make the deer less nervous about scent or movement?
3- I have an area that has good water, browse and cover near a hiking trail. I still see game trails in there. How likely do you think there are to be hunt able deer in that area?
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1. 100 yards
2. They’re acclimated more to human scent of hikers and when they spook they don’t automatically get out of town … sometimes they stick around the vicinity but they do stay more alert once they smell recent human activity, and amble slowly away from the immediate area if they don’t spook hard, in my experience.
3. High likelihood at daybreak and last light, in my experience. (Usually not mature bucks, mostly younger, less experienced deer.) Not great deer sighting activity in between dawn & dusk when the trails see the most use.

I saddle hunted over a great scrape last year that was only about 100 yards from the blazed hiking trail. Gotta say - the trail makes for an excellent entry and exit route - one where the deer are accustomed to the scent of humans and dogs too. And the navigation to/from the stand in the dark couldn’t be easier.

Makes a good option if you’re not too selective and just want meat for the freezer.
 
Depends on how much the trail is used. I've had way more hunts ruined by hiker influence then I had success . By success I mean just seeing deer in legal hunting hours. Most urban/hiking trail spots I've hunted if people come threw the deer seem not to move till dark if no one is out on that particular day I would see deer movement in daylight. Setting up a cam 100 yards off the trail won't tell u the human pressure on that given day. Best way is just to hunt it and find out.
 
Shed84 said:
Depends on how much the trail is used. I've had way more hunts ruined by hiker influence then I had success . By success I mean just seeing deer in legal hunting hours. Most urban/hiking trail spots I've hunted if people come threw the deer seem not to move till dark if no one is out on that particular day I would see deer movement in daylight. Setting up a cam 100 yards off the trail won't tell u the human pressure on that given day. Best way is just to hunt it and find out.
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In a situation like that it might pay to hunt those spots on rainy, crappy weather days. That might keep the hikers at home, but the deer live there.
 
Just speaking to distance, where I am there’s an urban bowhunting season and program and the many of locations have fairly active recreational trails through them. Have to be 75 feet, so 25 yards, from those and shoot away from them. Obviously there are extra rules with those hunts (proficiency tests, safety classes, etc) but if it’s legal and I’m following the laws I don’t have an issue being there if the deer are and I don’t stress about it on other public land either. As long as the laws and rules are being followed public land is there for all of us to use as we enjoy in my opinion.
 
Make sure of the distance from trails or roads you’re allowed to hunt.

If you’re allowed to hunt where you’re finding this sign, ask yourself a series of questions: what time of day did you find the sign? Was a deer making the sign when you found it? If you just found sign, but not deer, will deer use that trail during the daylight you weren’t there? Why do you think they will?

Some hunting areas have random sporadic deer movement. Some have reliable patterns. What is your area like?


My instinct is to answer with: you went, found sign, didn’t see deer, and don’t feel confident, so you’re asking us for validation. If you felt confident in what you found, you’d be hunting it and sharing your success story in the success forum!


That said, only way to know if deer use it during hunting hours is eyes. Yours or a camera’s. Good luck!
 
Oh, and I’d say at least a third of the deer I’ve killed have been in eyesight of a walking/atv trail or road.

It might still take me ten miles to access it. But I hunt where deer are up on their feet during shooting hours. Lots of times that’s next to where we’re on our feet during those hours…
 
I have a stand I rifle / muzzleloader hunt that is near the Ice Age trail in Wisconsin about 250/300 yards. It is mature forest so come fall / winter you can clearly see people coming down the trail. This spot always has mature bucks cruising past so it is a must hunt stand.

One year during the muzzleloader season I had a group of ladies come down the trail and spot me in my stand and proceed to stand down there for 5-10 minutes and discuss me and what season it was because I was wearing blaze orange and the rifle season was closed LOL. I could almost every word they said because noise travels so well in that area. They finally moved on and I got a good chuckle out of it.

I beleive the deer that call it home near public trails do become used to people moving through those areas and tend to mosey out of the way when they hear hikers coming by instead of busting out. I can tell you for a fact that the trail being there doesn't deter them from coming though. If an area had food the deer will come.
 
Hiking trails can be a great spot. Look for an area where the deer trail parallels the hiking trail and where deer cross the hiking trail, depending on the cover available is how far off the trail to hunt. I have had does bed down under me at 150 yards from the trail during rifle season. Hunters or hikers will pass through on trail, the deer just lie there and watch. I have filled several tags both nice bucks and does in that spot during gun and bow season. It is an oak ridge top usually loaded with red oak acorns, trees are stunted at about 65 feet and pretty wide open. The bucks seem to cross the trail at that spot and the does are the ones who are paralleling the hiking trail.
 
Assuming the law or regulations don't impose greater distances where I happen to be hunting...
If I'm bow hunting, out of sight of the trail.
If I'm rifle hunting, I want hard cover between myself and the trail. I also don't want a (presumably vegan) hiker to see my orange and take it upon himself to interfere with my hunt.
 
I hunt on them. I was at full draw last year on the AT last year lol. We use it to travel. I will be on it this opener. If you just keep moving like a hiker they won’t spook real easy. I haven’t killed one on the trail. My friends have but they suggest skinning it out of sight. I’ve been told stories of ducking in the high grass with a dead deer til the hikers got by. I don’t use a rifle up there. I do use a ML but it’s only away from the trail then.
 
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