How To Master Travel Corridors: Connecting The Dots

In the October issue of North American Whitetail, I discussed each of the eight types of Whitetail Habitat: forage producing, mast producing, cover, edge, staging, sanctuary, water and travel corridor. Each of these must be conveniently distributed within the basic home range of a whitetail to maximize production of deer on your property.

The travel corridor is the habitat element that connects these critical components in the “deer landscape.” By using properly designed and located travel corridors, I have been able to determine where deer travel; but I have never been able to get them to travel when I want them to! That remains the fun part of deer management and hunting.

In this installment, I will discuss what exactly is a travel corridor, what factors influence their use, and how to create them on your deer hunting property.

WHAT IS A TRAVEL CORRIDOR?

In my early days of research, the paths deer traveled were commonly referred to as “deer runs” by many hunters. We did not think this term was descriptive enough, so way back in my first articles in NAW magazine, I began using the term travel corridor. A “corridor” has been defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “a belt of land linking two other areas or following a road or river. Example: The valley provides the principal wildlife 
corridor between the uplands and the central urban area."

So, travel corridor defines more than just where a deer runs, it is the pathways your deer use to enter, cross and leave your land.

The white-tailed deer is a drainage animal, and the primary drainages are the highways that deer use to move across the landscape. It can 
be analogized to the highway systems on the human landscape. Large river drainages transition into small rivers, creeks and then minor ephemeral drainages. Doe clans tend to associate with smaller drainages, while bucks use minor and major drainages to move from one doe clan to another. A doe clan is made up of related individuals, grandmothers, mothers, aunts and cousins. They seldom allow an unrelated doe to enter the clan. 

Bucks move from one drainage system to another via topographic features called saddles. Leading outward from drainages are topographic and vegetative features; deer use these to either expedite or conceal their movements to and from bedding and feeding areas. We have found that deer tend to use the mid-slope rather than ridges or creek bottoms, generally walking along the topographic line. We have concluded that they do this to save energy.

On higher ground, deer tend to take advantage of changes in topography that hide movement. Since deer are only about four feet at the shoulder, that is the only change in topography needed to conceal movements. In addition, deer follow vegetative edges, so they can disappear quickly if danger approaches. 

We have conducted many studies on deer movements using radio-telemetry, and we generally find they often use a small portion of a property for travel. In fact, there are places where the land may be devoid of deer activity.

FINDING TRAVEL CORRIDORS

Long ago, we discovered a relatively easy way to find existing travel corridors; one that does not require scientific radio-telemetry studies! Bucks are more than “happy” to tell you where they travel, by constructing rubs as they move from one place to another. The type of rub tells you a great deal about what bucks are doing in that part of the property.

For example, a signpost rub is one that is made in an open understory area where there are trees with diameters of four to 10 inches. They occur in staging areas adjacent to where does come to feed, mostly down prevailing wind from the food source. This may be a stand of productive oaks, a food plot, agricultural crop or deer feeder.

Signposts are highly visible and usually constructed on tree species with highly visible under-bark, making them visual, as well as scent-marked structures.

The two remaining types of rubs are “one-way” and “two-way” rubs. Bucks have travel corridors that are used to go in only one direction, while others are used for two-way travel. If the rubs are consistently on only one side of the trees, that most certainly is a one-way travel corridor. Conversely, those rubbed on two opposite sides are two-way paths.

In the early days of our research, we used maps on which we recorded the general locations of these rubs; however, when GPS came on the scene, we logged the exact locations of them. In those days it took expensive, highly technical devices to do this; however, today anyone with a cell phone can do the same thing! There are mapping applications now for cell phones that allow you to “geotag” any structure or location. You can then display these collectively on an aerial or satellite image of the property.

NEXT STEPS

At this point, you might be saying, “So, what do we do with this information?”

The next step in developing a habitat management plan for your property is to evaluate how your deer are using your property, then determine how many of the eight habitat types are on your land? Most whitetails will spend their entire life within a square mile (640 acres) that includes your property. The amount of time they spend on your property will be determined by the availability and distribution of the habitats.

The goals in deer habitat management are first to identify how deer move over and around your property, and what types of habitat do you have on your property. Once you conduct this analysis, the next step is to ask yourself, “What is affecting the movements of my deer?” Then, you should develop a plan to expand existing travel corridors or create new ones that connect your deer with critical habitats. Not every property is going to have an extensive network of travel corridors, due to inherent limitations imposed by topography and existing vegetation. So, what do you do?

IMPROVING AND CREATING TRAVEL CORRIDORS

A property often includes modifications imposed by previous owners, such as agriculture, livestock and timber. Obviously, it is not feasible to change the topography of your land, but there are ways to manipulate vegetation to provide connections between your habitats in ways faster than you would think. Let’s start with a previous history of agriculture. Here is a good example from our work at the Turtle Lake Club in Michigan.

They had a very large field that was impeding movement of their deer from one wooded area to another. Deer either had to go around the 
large opening or move across at night. Manager Wayne Sitton decided to use a two-stage approach, starting by planting a 25-feet-wide strip of corn connecting the forests on each side. To our surprise, the deer used the mature corn strip to get across the field. He continued the corn planting for a few years, while fast growing conifers, planted adjacent to them, grew. Today, the conifer strip is tall and dense, providing a functional travel corridor across the field. 

Livestock management often involves clearing and maintaining grasslands, and controlling the movements of livestock using fences. Traditionally, ranchers have kept these fences clean so they could be easily maintained. Some of these fences often have been abandoned and have begun to grow up in brush and young trees. Such fences can be used to extend travel corridors from the upper end of a drainage to a distant critical habitat. Birds are more than happy to help improve the utility of an abandoned fence, by depositing seeds from the fruits they eat elsewhere on the property. On the Dos Gringos Ranch near Alice, Texas, we developed a network of travel corridors simply by stopping the practice of mowing right up to the fence. 

In Kansas, properties often have a history of farming and ranching, with little in the way of cover types. Large fields often have abandoned fence rows that could afford a path for deer to travel across a large field. We often make plantings of chickasaw plum, sumac, and Switchgrass along old fence lines to quickly increase use. Along the way, we also plant drought-hardy conifers and deciduous trees to create bedding and staging areas. Since water often is a limiting factor, we construct water stations at intersections of fences, surrounded by the cover plants. 

Here at the Research Institute, we had a savannah habitat that was great for fawning cover, but being located on top of a ridge between two drainages, deer seldom crossed it, except at night. There was an excellent buck bedding area on one side bucks used intensively. There is no saddle in that area, so the bucks traveled around the savannah. In order to maintain the savannah, we have to conduct a prescribed burn on an annual basis, killing back woody vegetation. 

Five years ago, we decided to construct two fire lanes 50 feet apart that would protect a strip across the ridge from the burn. We took advantage of the heavy seed drop each year from the pines. Again, to speed things up, we planted a hybrid sudangrass in the strip as a temporary cover. We were pleased to observe that deer began using the strip of grass and young pines to cross the ridge the second year, and continue to do so to this day. Bucks are even bedding in the 6- to 8-feet-tall pines along the connecting path between the two drainages. This new travel corridor connects with 
two wooded travel corridors, one along a drainage and the other between a food plot and bedding cover.

For those of you who manage timberland and whitetails, you can plan ahead of a timber harvest to leave a landscape more favorable to your deer. In forestry, there is a principle called “Streamside Management Zones (SMZs),” that protects watersheds from erosion. In most states, regulations prescribe a certain width of streamside for protection. These usually are far narrower than really needed to diversify your habitats and provide travel corridors for your deer. We recommend using the topography of the land, rather than a set width, to define you SMZs, and consider leaving connecting strips between drainages. It costs a little in timber income, but the long-term price is worth it, in my opinion. You can then “have your cake and eat it too,” when you add in development of connections between critical habitats and food plots. 

Remember, most white-tailed deer live in areas where the critical habitats are not optimally distributed on the landscape. Our research has shown they “want” to live during most of the year on as little as 80 acres. Although you cannot restrict movements of bucks during the rut, you can make your property THE place does want to be, in addition to providing sanctuary cover for bucks in your area. 

If you make it easier for them to move around your property, and provide sanctuary cover, you would be amazed how effective a small property habitat management program can be. My friends, Larry and Tyler Porter of Ken-Tenn Hunting, have used habitat management for years to produce trophy bucks on relatively small acreages. They do so by following the strategies I have outlined here. So, get out there and get to work, making your property THE place deer want to be. 

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