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Lets Talk Funnels

I guess my main question is this. How wide can an area be that you would still consider a funnel.

In my photo below the area this buck has to travel through is less than 15 foot wide. It is just north of a fence crossing. Where the buck is positioned just a few feet to his right is a steep creek bank and just in front and to his left you can see the remnants of a short earth dam that used to be a small pond. This pond is now a swampy area that if you step in it you go right to your knees or deeper. This swampy area is fed by a spring that is in the rocks on the steep rocky hillside that shows on the left portion of the photo. I consider this the best funnel on my hunting area.
 

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finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,856
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SW Ohio
That's a great funnel HT. I try to use funnels that are no wider than 40 yards.(my max. Distance preference with my bow).
 

Lundy

Member
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127
To me a funnel has no maximum dimensions.

It can be any geographic feature, natural or man made that forces or encourages deer to travel a specific defined route.

The two best funnels on the property that I hunt are vastly different. One is 30 yds wide the other over 200 yds wide. I think it matters more what is on each end of the funnel than the funnel size itself.

My opinion
 

rgecko23

*Supporting Member*
7,466
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Massillon, Ohio
To me a funnel has no maximum dimensions.

It can be any geographic feature, natural or man made that forces or encourages deer to travel a specific defined route.


I agree, A part of my one farm that I never thought of being a funnel is the best one I have ever found. Pond on one side and houses on the other. I haev no idea why I never thought of it before, but this year I have seen more bucks than i ever have.
 

moundhill

Senior Member
Supporting Member
5,327
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Hebbardsville..
One spot i hunt is a major funner, it's a creek bottom with houses on one side and a corn feild on the other, then a road adjacent to them both. The deer travel up and down that funnel all day.
 

saddlepants

Member
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central Ohio
The entire area where I live is a funnel, lol. No but it once was a huge farm and then lots were sold off anywhere from a bunch of landing strip 5 acre plots on up. If you look down from arial the woodland weaves allthrough it with a big long stretch that funnels down to say only about 20 yards wide close to my stand but not close enough. The lots back there are only 165 feet wide. So when Im in my stand I can actually look over six or so. I can see the pinch point from my stand. in front of me it opens to a woodlot with a swamp then eventually feeds into a field with THREE box blinds and a feeder. I can hear the feeder go off. So they travel from left to right (or vise versa) from the big mangled woods to the pinch... to the area in front of me..then on to the feeder. I have left a small patch on my lot that encircles a foodplot I started this summer thats about 20 by 50 three sides trees and grass path on the open end. Theres a few big oaks within bowshot and the hill conceals from the homes. So rather than head into the swamp they often come up into my area for acorns and open grazing esp early in the season, the feeder down the way is messing things up a bit though. My goal is to draw them from before or after the pinch point with the food plot but its not a big deal yet with just clovers and such. Want to add brassicas next summer. The pinch point has a horse pasture that once was planted corn or beans on one side and my neighbors (which I pasture on) but is lower scrub back there with small saps to which a dry creek runs through on my side. Semi rural pinch point Id say. I managed to work this up (expirimenting here) which shows the funnel. No tree on my land big enough close to it.
my property hunting.jpg
That is the only tree big enough on my land for a stand so a box blind is in the future over the food plot
Teal - swamp
orange - quad paths - these woods extend for miles
green food- plot
yellow - bait pile
red - future box blind and shooting lanes

oh and for those of you dumb enough to come snooping because I couldnt get rid of the street names - ---expect the worse
 
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Good replies thus far, thanks for the input.

Lundy, what should be on the ends of a funnel to make it appealing to the deer?

Also is the area I described a pinch point or a funnel? Or are the two kind of the same thing? I find it interesting that a funnel can be any size, even 200 yards or more wide. The funnel/pinch point is probably the area I least understand about picking a stand location.
 

saddlepants

Member
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central Ohio
I guess Im referring to the pinch point being the narrowest part of the funnel where they might stay in cover as much as possible when travelling the funnel. I have the neighbors feeders at the end of this funnel and bigger woods funneling down to the "pinch point" I would say your 15 foot wide area is your pinch in the funnel. When the pressure is high they might stay within that. Esp if there already is a well beaten deer path in it.
 

Lundy

Member
1,307
127
Lundy, what should be on the ends of a funnel to make it appealing to the deer?
You can have a great geographical feature that would "funnel" deer through it but if the deer have no reason to travel from point A (one end of the funnel) to point B ( the other end of the funnel) it will not be as productive and one that has very attractive areas to the deer on both ends, An example would be a great source of food on one end and a very thick bedding area on the other. If food and bedding are equal on both sides why would they travel the funnel as much as if it were not equal, they won't. Deer don't just wander aimlessly through the woods, they have reasons for what they do and when they do it.

Also is the area I described a pinch point or a funnel? Or are the two kind of the same thing? I find it interesting that a funnel can be any size, even 200 yards or more wide. T

Go to any store that sells funnels and you will see that they come in all sizes and they all are designed for the same task, they concentrate a large area to a smaller area. I have never really tried to further define areas of a funnel like you are as a "pinch point". I have never seen a pinch point for sale in a store, just funnels. The beauty is that you can define areas any way you desire, there are no rules, or hunting books that say you can't.

Good luck to you this year.
 
My funnel actually has nothing to attract deer at either end that I can see. This funnel is in a narrow creek bottom that runs north and south for approx 1 1/2 miles. This creek bottom is used as a travel corridor and deer bed in it at times. Most places this creek bottom is only 50 yards or less wide. Both sides of the creek bottom are quite steep and rocky in most areas, but there are places that deer can go up the sides to leave the bottom. My property is one of the few places that actually has man made trails that run diagonally from the bottom to the top. The deer use these trails regularly to get out of the creek bottom. This being the case I'd say SP describes it best as a pinch point in the funnel.
 

Lundy

Member
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My funnel actually has nothing to attract deer at either end that I can see. This funnel is in a narrow creek bottom that runs north and south for approx 1 1/2 miles. This creek bottom is used as a travel corridor.

There has to be SOMETHING at each end of the wouldn't use it as a "travel corridor" as you describe it. Why are they traveling this route? Food, rut, when pressured in other areas, only cover available,to see a movie? They don't just walk down to the end and then turn around and come back for exercise.

I don't know why they travel the area you describe, but if there is a decent deer population and at least some moderate traffic it looks like a good place to FUNNEL a buck to your PINCH POINT when they start cruising for ladies every year. Maybe you'll score a good one that just wonders what is at the other end of the creek bottom.:smile:
 
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There has to be SOMETHING at each end of the wouldn't use it as a "travel corridor" as you describe it. Why are they traveling this route? Food, rut, when pressured in other areas, only cover available,to see a movie? They don't just walk down to the end and then turn around and come back for exercise.

I don't know why they travel the area you describe, but if there is a decent deer population and at least some moderate traffic it looks like a good place to FUNNEL a buck to your PINCH POINT when they start cruising for ladies every year. Maybe you'll score a good one that just wonders what is at the other end of the creek bottom.:smile:

I doubt that to see a movie, exercise or curiosity is the reason the deer travel through this area. I do believe that the time coinciding with the rut is when this area is used the most. I can't say this is fact as I have only placed a camera there recently. But from the day I placed the camera on Oct. 5 through last Thursday Nov. 17 I have caught good amount of decent bucks on this camera. I'm far from the best deer hunter on this site, but I'm on to somthing at this camera location. Just trying to possibly get an idea what it is. Here are a few more bucks that used this area recently.
 

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epe

Senior Member
6,113
93
Lancaster
The one we hunt is wider than most. Electric right away on one side, pasture on the other, in a valley. If they want to stay in cover they use it. The bucks run it during the rut, looking for ladies...