Trails in the big woods?

[Nantahala Nut]

The big woods is definitely a tough game. I'm in southwestern nc (macon county). Millions of acres of big woods. I would have to agree that they just don't pattern as well as deer around farmland.  I use google maps terrain feature to identify areas and then get boots on the ground.  
This year I found a nice saddle between two peaks.  I got up there and the oaks were really dropping. I thought I had a gold mine.  Hung a camera and only one doe came through the whole week.  You just never know.
If you can find public land in a river valley make that your first priority.  I found a piece of game land right along the little Tennessee and it has some hay fields and a small food plot.  There were a lot of trails and it took awhile to put the pieces together. Finally I got my camera hung on the main trail that was seeing regular use.  
What I learned is that there will be a lot of meandering trails they may use once a week but if you look around hard enough there will be one that gets regular use.  I seem to find the most traffic on trails that parallel ridges and field edges. Start by finding food and scoping out the trails around that.  Next try to find thick cover that they bed in.  Now you can look for the main trail between the two.

Where are you at in NC?

[mlsthmpsn]

Originally posted by Ol'DanBoone:
So there is no particular set of features that they prefer to cross at???  Just walk the back lookin for for slides and concentratiins of tracks?

The feature they will cross at is the same as we would for a small river or stream...they'll tend to use a shallower section with a harder bottom. They don't want to get their bellies wet anymore than we want to get in over our boots.

If the river is mostly deep water, it'll be pretty obvious. As you walk the bank, you'll likely see some more distinct trails paralleling the bank. As you get closer to the crossing, more trails will converge and the trail will be even more distinct.

Shallow water creeks, they'll hop over or cross wherever.

[Mint]

I would look for a scrape line since those scrapes were put there for a reason. A line of them will show where they travel.

[Ol'DanBoone]

Min, thanks, thanks to all of you guys.  Im really trying hard.  I went to a new spot this morning n got skunkd.  Wind was TERRIBLE.  But I kno their using that area.  I appreciate the input.

[Ol'DanBoone]

Mint*

[Austin Brown]

Good thread.  I moved to within ten miles of Land Between the Lakes earlier in the summer and will be getting my first taste of big woods hunting.  

I read the book about mapping that was mentioned earlier and looked at some saddles today.  Going to have to look at the book again I guess because I didn't really like the looks of the 5 spots I looked at today.  They were all definitely all low spots in ridges but where the deer are supposed to approach from didn't look right to me.  Almost looked like ravines.