We all know that deer have several trails, paths etc they go down, but I do feel like there is always a few main ones they take in thicker brush due to only have so many ways they can go. Have you guys ever blocked a trail forcing them to go another route, closer to your stand or something?

I put a tripod tower up last week over the one "field area" we have (130 yards clearing max) on our heavily wooded lease.

Now, obviously on a big area like this, there is no way to funnel the deer through here and we aren't going to try but we are trying to grow some wheat and will throw out some corn randomly.

So have you guys ever stacked up brush or something else to create a new funnel or path for the deer? Or did they just continue to find a different route regardless of where you tried to get them to walk.

I have cut brush to block certain trails when bow hunting. They are much more adept and resilient to getting through the brush than we are, it hasn’t worked yet.

At home I put up a net wire fence along the road, the deer now walk down the county right of way until they get to a side fence that is barbed wire they crawl through. They don’t like jumping it but will if pushed.

I have never blocked a trail to divert their direction, but I have bush hogged thru thick vegetation to get them take a path I wanted them to. I have found that if you bush hog a strip thru some thick vegetation that the deer will take it to avoid going thru the thick stuff.

Have seen this also, our grass is pretty thick and tall, think waist to shoulder height. After we cut roads/senderos the deer use them a lot.

Tying a piece of wire between the bottom two strings of a barbed wire fence to create a larger gap at the bottom is an old deer hunter trick. I usually just look for places where deer have it easier to make their way through the woods more naturally, such as places where a tree has fallen over and knocked down an old fence. Another is along creek banks where the slope is not as steep where you might find "runs" that deer and hogs have been using for generations. I once had a stand near a fence line that had a slight washout under it and was amazed at how bucks with nice headgear could scoot under it with ease. Sadly, these are the things that got thrown to the wayside once deer hunting became nothing more than watching a feeder to see what might show up to eat.

Don't overlook too those things that help deter deer movement so they're more likely to take another route and/or move later, including the sounds of other hunters who pay little or no attention to how much noise they make going about. It can be nothing more than staying on the stand for an hour more in the morning after your neighbors have all rode their ATV's back to camp. Give the area time to quiet back down and you might be surprised at the deer that start moving about.

^^^^Im on board with both the above.

I’ve diverted deer travel routes by blocking a trail in thick timber by felling a few trees. I’ve also diverted deer where I want them to enter into a fenced food plot (internal/cross fenced) by cutting a gap in the fence or by wiring the top strand down to lower strands. Deer are lazy and will walk a ways to preferentially cross at fence where they don’t need to jump or jump as high. Open gates will also funnel them in the same way

It also points to why saddles in ridgelines that make it easier for deer to cross over them are great locations to put up a stand.