Deer trail widths..Any Real Meaning to it?

[Robert Honaker]

The wider meandering trails indicate that you are getting close to bedding areas.

Narrow trails = deer on a mission.

[onewhohasfun]

I gotta disagree. The closest trail to the cornfield will be the biggest . It is the same for humans. You leave work, get on the freeway, next a major highway takes you to a secondary county road and finally to a small road that leads right to your house. I have aerial photos that bear this out. Smallest trails closest to beddind areas getting larger as more deer congregate near feeding areas.

[YORNOC]

You guys are both right, all depends on your particular area. Hunting deer sure isn't a turnkey activity is it??

[ChuckC]

are there bait piles in your area ?  Another kicker ?  

I have seen trails straight as can be..  from one bait pile to another.
ChuckC

[Robert Honaker]

There is no agriculture where I hunt, just big woods. The trails are narrow between bedding and feeding then spread out in feeding ares.

You can tell when they are feeding, so if the trail widens and meanders with no major feeding sign....bedding close.  

That's what it is here anyway, but I can see where you are coming from onewhohasfun.

[John Scifres]

5 or so years ago we had a hit and miss acorn crop.  5 white oak trees on the place I hunt had nuts and the rest seemed barren.  The trails were straight and deep between the 5.

I hunted in the snow this weekend and trailed a cagey big buck (I actually saw him) from one patch of dense cover to another, nearly straightline.  As we approached the dense cover, the trails were very obvious, straight and were probably made just by him.  I crossed dozens of other meandering trails along the way.  His bedding areas were extremely well chosen and nearly unapproachable.  I'm sure he doesn't move much in daylight right now.

I hunted the same ground last weekend and found where terrain forced all the deer through a saddle in a ridge.  The meandering trails all funneled into a single trail for half mile.  This single trail was like a cattle trail, muddy and deep.  That's what you are looking for if you want to kill any deer right now and especially during the rut if you are waiting on a buck.