Hill Country Field Tops

[MOBIGBUCKS]

Hey guys,

I got a question for all of you Hill Country guys. This flatlander is wanting to scout some Hill country, but I have some questions concerning a certain type of topography...Has anyone hunted Hill Country where upper fields are the highest elevation?? There are points created, but they are 60 to 80 feet lower than the fields. Anyone hunt places like this or have tips on finding beds in spots like this? Kinda different from the terrain on the Hill Country DVD.

Any input is appreciated

[MOBIGBUCKS]

Here is an example of what I'm gonna scout.

Looks like max elevation is 780 to 800 feet. Just curious if the bucks will still use the points in a situation like this. What you guys think??

[Jackson Marsh]

Very common in Wisconsin and Iowa to have fields on top at the highest elevation. From what I've scouted they still use the points for bedding. I've scouted very similar terrain to your topo, they bed on the points and little bumps on the topo. The fields up top make the hunting better IMO.

[ Post made via Android ]

[MOBIGBUCKS]

Very common in Wisconsin and Iowa to have fields on top at the highest elevation. From what I've scouted they still use the points for bedding.

[ Post made via Android ]

Awesome. You kill much hunting those type places?

[Jackson Marsh]

I'm a newby, have only killed one decent buck in hill country. Plan on changing that this season

[ Post made via Android ]

[dan]

Kinda different from the terrain on the Hill Country DVD.

Looks just like the stuff we hunt in hill country. Fields at the highest and lowest elevations. Your not looking for the highest elevations. Your looking for the points where the gradual downward taper of elevation suddenly drops rapidly. Bedding should be right at that spot.

[BigHunt]

jackson marsh and dan beat me to it!!!


here is a good pic of a point on my farm ....i used blue lines as wind flow to show how they bed and were to expexct the bedding.

[Redman232]

The only hill country I hunt looks very similar to what you've got going on. With fields on top instead of at the bottoms in my opinion makes stand access much easier. It has been my experience that the big/mature bucks will enter the fields from the highest or the lowest points on the hill tops. Seems like they use the highest points during the rut and the lowest points early in the season. That is what my observation has been anyways. I personally like to hunt the leeward side of a point in the field where a valley meets the field in a low spot, with another valley coming up in similar fashion on the other side of the field. I guess you could call it a saddle in the field. The biggest buck I have arrowed was from this type of terrain and from the scenario I described above if it makes any sense. I'm by no means and expert on hill country, I'll admit.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

Thanks for the input guys; this is the closest thing I have to real Hill Country anywhere near me. I'm gonna scout and turkey hunt this next weekend. I'm looking forward to figuring out a new terrain type.

Thanks for your illustration Big Hunt.

[Redman232]

You are probably aware of this but I thought I would add that the low spots in the field that I talked about in my previous post also tend to hold more moisture (obviously) and therefore if the field is planted in soy beans, they will stay greener longer, making them more desired by the deer. Also turkey hunting in this terrain is a blast, the high points in the field are prime strutting zones for big gobblers, good luck.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

You are probably aware of this but I thought I would add that the low spots in the field that I talked about in my previous post also tend to hold more moisture (obviously) and therefore if the field is planted in soy beans, they will stay greener longer, making them more desired by the deer. Also turkey hunting in this terrain is a blast, the high points in the field are prime strutting zones for big gobblers, good luck.

Awesome tips redman!! Thanks for the help. You got a pic of your big buck that you shot in this type terrain? I'd love to see him.

[Redman232]

MOBIGBUCKS, I sent you a pm and tried to attach a picture from the photobucket account I created. That photo is of an 8 point I shot with a gun in hill country. The big buck I arrowed unfortunately was not recovered, well kind of (minus the head) but that's another story. That deer was also a main frame 8, I was hunting the leeward side of a ridge in a gap between two cedar thickets on the top 1/3. At that time I didn't know why I was sitting there other than it looked good and I found only one set of tracks and they were big. We've since figured out that this spot is dynamite throughout the season and it only get better with pressure from gun season. The 16 pointer in my photo bucket account was shot in the same gap in the cedars and the 9 pointer was shot at the bottom of the hill. The 8 pointer is the deer I shot that same day, coming across a saddle in the hill top field, sneaking into this cedar thicket. The triple we got that day was during the peak of the rut however we did not see one doe that day. The real big buck I shot with my bow that was unrecovered was mid-Oct.[img]http://i1357.photobucket.com/albums/q741/Corey_Fogle[img]http://s1357.photobucket.com/user/Corey_Fogle/media/phonecamera182_zps218f31bb.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5[/img]/PhoneCamera381_zpsbab3f3b0.jpg[/img] I tried inserting them here too, we'll see if it worked.

[Redman232]

Doesn't look like it worked.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

I could see your Big 8 but not the 16 pointer. Regardless, great bucks and you guys are definately hunting the right way

[Redman232]

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Here they are, big thanks to Schubox for helping upload the pictures, look out boys Redman is the twenty 21 century now. O and the 16 pointer, I believe was scored as a 13, I think he had broken off a few stickers.