question about scent and whitetails

[Romans3]

I scouted some land my boss owns and will let me hunt a couple weeks ago. I found some good deer sign and a funnel at a creek I'd like to hunt. The problem is that it is incredibly thick there. There is no way to get in without walking down the main deer trail. Should I cut a new path? I'd be entering through their bedding area and stopping at the creek, halfway to their food source. Will my scent stay on their trail and push them away?

[Big Ed]

Anyway to walk in the creek? I have a couple spots I wear hip boots into. I try to avoid contact with main trails. The least amount of scent contamination is best. Ed

[BEN]

I hunt in alot of thick stuff on re-claimed strip mine land. I try to stay off the main, well-worn deer trails, but I have found that as soon as you cut a trail, the deer start using it anyway, so I won't shy away from using the lighter used trails. I try to use creeks and swampy areas to help cover scent also. That said, I've also had deer follow my trail in to my treestand and be there in the area as soon as I get in and situated.....they are just determined to keep you from figuring them out !

[J-dog]

If you cut a path in that thick stuff it will sonn become a deer trail in itself. I have to cut paths here every year due to thick stuff and the deer jump right on em - guess they don't like the thick either, at least until the hounds start chasing them in Oct.

Cut the path I say -

J

[VAFarmer]

I am new to trad shooting, but have hunted a time or two.    

I try to keep my feet off of the trails, and don't wear leather boots too much.  We farm, and the deer in the area are used to cattle.   I know this will probably sound crazy to some, but I will find a fresh cow pie and step in it, not to saturate my boot, but to provide a little cover.
I do try to stay off the trail, but I will cross it.  
Deer's sense of smell is there numero UNO sense.  If they can smell you on the trail, they can smell you if you passed 10-15 ft off of it.
I have had a deer look right at me in a tuft of high grass on the ground, then toss its head agressively, snort, wheeze, and make a big fuss.  I stayed motionless, and did not make direct eye contact.  After 4 min of this game of him looking right at me with no result from 15 yds, he crossed the fence anyway, and as a result he was jerky.
My point is, he didn't see me, he DID smell me, but could not figure out where I was.  What was amazing to me was that he had followed the urine trail, and I was downwind, and he still smelled me.  The post up top kinda says it all-you can't figure'em.  
One thing you can count on is deer are LAZY-they will usually take the path of least resistance. You might find that if you cover your scent, and start gingerly walking/crossing the trail a time or two before you hunt it, that they might become accustomed to the scent, and not pay you any mind.

Farmer

[xtrema312]

I would walk the creek if possible.  If you can keep scent off your clothes and use rubber boots you can get down trails and leave little or no scent if you don't touch stuff.  I do it all the time when I have no options.  I have lost track of the deer I have shot using the same trail I did, but I really go the distance on scent control.  Coming in through a bedding area is my biggest concern.  It would be better if you can get in there without going through the bedding area or the feeding area.  I do it when I have no option when I can come from both ways.  In the morning I come in from the bedding area to set-up.  For an afternoon hunt I come in from the feeding area.  Then leave the opposite way.

[buckeye_hunter]

Cut in your own trail, spray down your boots/walk in a puddle before you go in and don't worry about it. Even if they aren't rubber, a little walk through a puddle or the creek edge will take care of the scent. This has worked for me dozens of times in the past out at my old farm. I cut in trails and walked them many times. I have even had deer follow 10 minutes behind and I put several of them in the freezer!

Your mileage may vary,
Charlie

[John Scifres]

It depends.

Are the deer used to non-threatening people?  If so, it probably won't matter.

Are you after any deer or a mature one?  Younger deer will often scent trail any foreign smell and usually don't get wise until they're a couple years old.  Old deer are totally different.

[Don Stokes]

I've had young deer trail me to my ladder stand, and then stop and look for me when the trail ran out at the tree. Nothing bigger than a forkhorn, though.

Walk the creek if possible. That's been most effective for me, although I have used the cow manure method when hunting in or close to a pasture. It does make sitting in the stand a little less pleasant! I wear rubber-bottomed Bean boots, and scrubbing them in mud works very well, too.

I've had the same experience as others have noted- if you cut a trail, the deer love it! You can use this in your favor, by cutting a trail to put the deer where you want them.

[frank bullitt]

As Big Ed says I would use the creek. One of my favorite ways of still hunting! And the other posts offer alot of good info! Cutting paths can give the deer a new avenue, but like John says mature,secluded, deer won't tolerate. That creek will allow quiet travel, without disturbing the surroundings. Good shootin, Steve

[Romans3]

Thanks guys, I've never killed a deer and am just looking for my first. Some meat in the freezer. Not a big bruiser buck. I'll try and find a way to get to the creek to use it. That might be hard the way the property is laid out.

[Gene Wensel]

I built several paths this summer using Roundup in a pressurized sprayer. I made a path right through VERY thick ground brush and weeds. Give the Roundup ten days or more to kill the vegetation, then walk through it and dress it up with pruners. Then I sprayed the same path again. Now it looks like a brown path right through the thick green stuff. The deer have adapted to it very well. I'm sure they see it easily. Deer are now using it heavily but if you wear rubber boots, you can use it too.

[BEN]

I once had a bruiser buck follow me into my ladder stand. I heard something behind me at one point that sounded like something walking, but couldn't see anythin. I got to my stand, unpacked the rest of my hunting clothes, and started cliimbing the ladder. I got about 6 ft. up when this blasting SNORT came from about 20' behind me! I about jumped out of my skin!!!

HE watched me climb the rest of teh way up,and get sat down. I was shaking like a little sissy and my bow was still on the ground!    He then just turned and walked away.......
I use scent-away soaps and the sprays on my clothes----my guess was he could smell something, but couldn't tell what it was---too bad his curiosity didn't cause him to stick around, or at least slow down a bit  as it was just getting light when I reached my stand.

[buckeye_hunter]

Use the creek AND cut a path that puts them right in front of you!!! The best of both worlds!

or...

Cut a path and use it with rubber boots and then set up a few brush blinds with shooting lanes to the path you cut. It'll work, but don't cut a walking path all the way out to the road. Other people with less ambition and ethics will see it and use to a point of burning it out. Just put a cinder block or pile of small rocks to mark your entry point. Many people don't pay attention to that stuff and won't find a trail hidden 5 yards into the brush.

-Charlie

[Earl E. Nov...mber]

Why not find a good tree that is easily accessable and cut a trail for the deer to use that brings them past it?

[hill boy]

rubber boots,clean clothes,and self cleaniness will go a long way.slip in early with the wind in your favor.Thats all you can do on about any set up.You can never tell for sure where a buck will come from. good luck!

[Don Stokes]

Earl, I've done that. In '94 we had a monster ice storm. I lost acres of young pines, and the hardwoods were stripped of upper branches. The forest floor was so littered with branches that we had to cut trails to get around our woods. The deer appreciated it, and I hunted those trails for a couple of years after that. Some of them are still used by the deer, 15 years later.