ma_hunter

I realize this is a completely lame, non-thought provoking question for most of you, but... Could someone please explain to me what a natural funnel is? ie. If you look at a topo map (aerial picture), can you point to a spot and say there it is? And if so what is there. I feel kinda stupid for asking but you know what the say about questions.... Thanks in advance.

Wash

I have taken this definition of a funnel from a book I have. Here it is "Funnels or Travel Corridors, are narrow bottlenecks formed where open feilds, lakes, rivers, or other obstacles force deer into a narrow area of cover". Hope this helps

BuckAlley

A topo map is 1 way to try, and find some possible funnels. Look for 2 different hill elevations that come close to one another, example Hill ^ Hill. Where 2 lower elevation lines come close together. Other funnels like Wash mentioned can be anything that forces deer to travel through a small corridor. It could be a downed tree close to a creek bank, one of my favorite funnels ever hunted was a log road between 2 large ponds. The deer had to travel through the funnel or go all the way around a pond.

Belle Island

A funnel often times is two large tracts of forest connected by a narrow "funnel". Think about a normal gas/oil funnel, you have a large area that gets very narrow at the bottom. Now picture placing two of those funnels together at the narrow ends, now the part in the middle connecting to the two larger areas would be a "funnel" in a hunting situation. Thats a description of the classic funnel.

Hunt the thickets

Matt / PA

My favorite tool for finding funnels or bottleneck type areas in the places I hunt is www.terraserver.com
A topo map used in conjunction with terraserver's aerial photographs is a real eye opener. I'm using it right now to pin down a few spots I want to investigate this weekend.

Any necked down area of cover between 2 places deer want to be is where YOU want to be.

Edited by - Matt / PA on 09/27/2002 22:23:53

Rob/PA Bowyer

Don't discount ridges in big plots of timber. You don't necessarily need creeks or fields to create a funnel...Sometimes it's a ridge or any flat area on steep slopes that deer will use as the easiest path to where they were and where they want to go.

Some great advice and observations above. I think you'll get the idea.

<font color=blue>Good Luck and Good Shooting</font id=blue>

<font color=red>Rob</font id=red>

ma_hunter

I think I get the idea, thank you for the feedback.