If there’s one thing I’ve learned over years of hunting whitetails, it’s that deer are not only creatures of habit, but they’re also very lazy. When scouting a property we plan to bowhunt, there are those obvious things we all look for, but I’m always on the hunt for precise details that will lead me to that perfect fall ambush.

One of my all-time favorite setups is a fence gap. This could be anything from an open gate to a low wire — something that makes it easy for a deer to travel through. Here where I hunt, in the Midwest, there have been several times where I have gained permission, after the cattle have come out of a pasture, to open a gate so deer will easily be able to travel past a treestand site.

Types of travel corridors aren’t just subject to the Midwest, but anywhere in the whitetail’s range. Whether it is a gap in a hedgerow in Kansas, a saddle in the hills of Pennsylvania, or an opening in the pines of Georgia, you can always locate a path-of-least-resistance. More times than not, when I find these slam-dunk travel corridors, I will hang a stand for the two best prevailing winds, so I’m able to hunt these spots virtually every day during the rut.

A well-placed trail cam captured both images featured in this article. As you can see, deer are traveling through the fence gap in both directions, making it an outstanding travel corridor for both morning and afternoon sits. Fence gaps are quickly found by whitetails, which is why these spots should be on your spring scouting radar.

As you’re out this spring doing your scouting and shed antler hunting, I urge you to look for these hotspot locations, or with landowner permission, manipulate a spot of your own. Feel free to hang a trail camera to see just how good these types of places can be.