Lets talk funnels and pinch points and how they can put a whitetail in your lap.

[snakebit40]

Man I wish I was in a place where I could've made to Barry's bootcamp, hopefully next time. Anyways I went out this morning and put to use a lot of what I've learned here to use. I hinged a couple trees and moved some dead wood to make a funnel within a funnel a little better. Thanks again for the great info!

[jonsimoneau]

What about a way to stop your buck in the perfect spot after days of siting in funnels and he finally comes by?  Whitetail fanatic Bobby Worthington places mock scrapes in all of his rut funnels.  He doesn't do it to attract bucks from afar, but rather to stop them naturally where he wants his shot to come from.  This way you don't have to grunt at them to stop them.  I think grunting at deer to stop them does two things.  For one, it can alert the buck to your presence. For two it makes you look like a dude on the Outdoor Channel! HA!   Gene Wensel has been doing his Wicked Wick experiment which seems like another good way to do this.  I have a spot in a very tight funnel with extremely thick cover comprised of honeysuckle.  I will most likely put a large mock scrape right in there where I want my buck to stop simply because it is so thick that by the time I would see the buck he may have passed my range.  I think things like this are great ideas and fun to mess with.

[Barry Wensel]

Another option is my "Bowling for Bucks" trick where you run a bead of gel scent around a hedge apple/osage orange and throw/roll it through your shooting lane. The buck comes by, smells the ground where the ball rolled through and because of directional tracking stops broadside and looks the other way in your shooting lane. orks for me. bw

[RedShaft]

Jonsimoneau, I do the same thing. Though during the seeking faze of the rut have had them blow by it. The reason I have found i my area, after Halloween scrapes leaf over and don't get used. So I have to do the outdoor channel grunt. But I started just saying hey or hi. I actually works the same for me

[snakebit40]

That's a good point Jon. Thanks for the idea

[jonsimoneau]

Yea Barry I remember you talking about the "bowling for bucks" idea. That one is probably the easiest one to do. I'll be giving that one a shot this fall. Nothing more frustrating than having the big boy troll through to fast without offering a shot!

[NoCams]

Awesome thread right her fellas..... been coming back to this one and learning more each day. I have a spot I have hunted for 3 years now and killed 4 deer from. Hunted it enough now to know pretty much the two directions the deer travel. They do wander a little too much so I am going to get more aggressive and do some blocking and opening to up my chances for a 15yd shot.

One of the first times I hunted this spot I was in the "Y" where two trails went around a tree
and just knew they would take the upper part of the "Y" and give me the perfect shot. The part of the overgrown clearcut was more open and was actually a skidder path. They didn't, they took the other trail and due to a partially toppled tree next to my stand tree I had no shot....    

Lesson learned.... be more aggressive, go with your gut and block the other trail stupid !!! Keep it coming fellas, this is good stuff right here.....  

[The Night Stalker]

Jon, I went to Barry's a few years ago. One thing I brought back was preparation before the season and the management aspects. One of my college professors told me to spend 3 hrs of studying for each hour of class time. I kind of do this with my deer hunting.

[RedShaft]

Hinge cutting for you guys with private lands