Quote:
Originally Posted by dmcbride
They don’t have a set travel pattern and travel where the wind takes them.
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I followed one last year for a few hours. I had spotted him for a few seconds walking away. He clearly waked away a few moments ago from the very place I spotted him from. To this day I am amazed he just walked away so nicely and quietly. If I did not lift my head to look up the hill, I would have never seen him (would probably be for the better because I cannot find him or any evidence of him being there). Yes, I followed him for a few hours. He always walked against the wind all that time, although I am assuming he knew I was following him. As wind changed, he would change direction immediately. He he did not take any existing deer trails, with a couple of exceptions, and the exceptions were quite brief. I did not catch up to him that day, he was always ahead of me just a little bit. There was a place where I could have easily taken him out if I knew the terrain, but the area was completely new to me and I had no idea. What happened was, as I was following him, he crossed a creek and started moving in the opposite direction. In other words, as I was going west on one side of the creek, he started moving east after crossing, and it happened as the wind changed direction. That was a huge mistake on my part. Lesson was know your terrain.
Great thread, by the way!
P.S. That's a dandy deer, dmcbride!