Hill country vs river bottom flats

[cbigbear]

I do all my hunting in big woods, with no agri here in southern LA & MS. I hunt large chunks of public land. My favorite WMA is about 18k acres & the terrain there ranges from large hills with small dry creeks to a flat 1 mile wide river bottom. I normally gravitate to the larger creeks & river bottoms. As my preferred method of hunting is/was hunting feed trees. The better trees tend to grow in the low to medium areas. The entire place has low pressure during the bow season, but the pressure general gets pretty high in the hill portions of the wma during run while the bottom land stays low all yr. My question is in a place where the terrain varies this much would there be a preferred place to scout for beds? Meaning would it be easier to locate beds in the hills vs. the flat land?

[AC Rider]

I think it's much easier to find beds in hill country vs flat country.

[dan]

I do all my hunting in big woods, with no agri here in southern LA & MS. I hunt large chunks of public land. My favorite WMA is about 18k acres & the terrain there ranges from large hills with small dry creeks to a flat 1 mile wide river bottom. I normally gravitate to the larger creeks & river bottoms. As my preferred method of hunting is/was hunting feed trees. The better trees tend to grow in the low to medium areas. The entire place has low pressure during the bow season, but the pressure general gets pretty high in the hill portions of the wma during run while the bottom land stays low all yr. My question is in a place where the terrain varies this much would there be a preferred place to scout for beds? Meaning would it be easier to locate beds in the hills vs. the flat land?

I hunt many different areas and terrains... Some of the areas I hunt have both low land and hills. Without pressure bucks bed in both areas, but often the pressure is heavier in the hills. When this is the case I find more mature bucks bedding in the low land. Beds will likely still be easier to find and pinpoint in the hills ( unless its really high pressure ) but the bigger bucks will bne in areas with low pressure.

[GRUD]

A lot of flatland areas here in IN. I seem to find beds in a place where the buck can see for a ways in one direction and have thick cover in the other direction. If there are some open areas down low, check the upwind side, especially the field corners if it has any. I have found that does might bed in the really thick stuff, but a buck likes to be closer to an edge and have an escape route that he can sneek away on. Usually a mature animal wont run away, he will just slip away quietly way before you get close to him. Also, check for any small hills or slightly elevated areas that allow for more visibility, bucks like those too.

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[Indianahunter]

Everyone has certainly offered you quality, sound advice. I just would like to add a couple of things for your consideration. According to your initial post you said the entire property receives very little pressure if any during the early archery season. With that in mind, I feel it would be of great advantage for you to scout and verify bedding in the hills in preparation of the early season as well as in the lowland. Knowledge is power,let the sign dictate where you hunt. It is quite reasonable to assume in times of low pressure deer would take advantage of the sight and wind advantages offered by the hill country. This may be especially true if the higher nutrient value forage and browse is located in the typical nutrient rich bottoms. Bedding in the hills allows deer to be within close proximity of the food source while monitoring from a safe distance utilizing their nose and eyes prior to an evening decent.

The second consideration is a question only you can answer. Do you generally see more activity when hunting the bottoms? If you are not witnessing deer coming in to the bottoms in the morning hours, or rarely ever jump deer entering the bottom land for a morning hunt in the early season than I say there is a good chance they are bedding at higher elevations and they already know you are there. Assuming you have seen Hill Country Bucks, remember what you have learned about rising and falling thermals when hunting either location in determining when to hunt.

God bless.