Hill country bottoms success
- checkerfred
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
What happened to the pics at the beginning? Kinda kills a beneficial post when they get deleted
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[ Post made via iPhone ]
- Jonny
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- NYBackcountry
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
Great bump, X2 to checkerfreds comment from 2016. Wish we could recover RR's pics.
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
I’m curious about if there is a swamp at the bottom of these points. Does the swamp act as a vacuum?
- <DK>
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
Red - Stand
Green - Wind
Blue - Buck Travel
First Beast Buck - Sept 16th 2015- 6:30am
Not my deer but was killed in the same general spot in 2014.
Sept 28th 2017 - 6:30pm
Red - Stand
Green - Wind
Blue - Buck Travel
I didnt kill this deer but was full draw, the map tells the story. Hes my first big buck encounter ever and first buck encounter after finding Dan & the beast in 2012. It didnt feel good drawn so I let down. He got away. Family member shot him later and I get to keep him on my wall.
Red - Stand
Green - Wind
Blue - Buck Travel
Encounter - Oct 12th 2012- 6:30am
Killed - Nov Rifle 2012
Green - Wind
Blue - Buck Travel
First Beast Buck - Sept 16th 2015- 6:30am
Not my deer but was killed in the same general spot in 2014.
Sept 28th 2017 - 6:30pm
Red - Stand
Green - Wind
Blue - Buck Travel
I didnt kill this deer but was full draw, the map tells the story. Hes my first big buck encounter ever and first buck encounter after finding Dan & the beast in 2012. It didnt feel good drawn so I let down. He got away. Family member shot him later and I get to keep him on my wall.
Red - Stand
Green - Wind
Blue - Buck Travel
Encounter - Oct 12th 2012- 6:30am
Killed - Nov Rifle 2012
Last edited by <DK> on Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
- <DK>
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
I have one more bottoms buck I shot during the rut. Not very proud of that one bc of how it all happened but ill try dig up a pic and map.
*Edit
First time I shot x2 bucks in a season. Had real bad wind, a button buck busted me right before this. Shot this deer running and bad hit. Was one of worst hunting exp ill ever have...
*Edit
First time I shot x2 bucks in a season. Had real bad wind, a button buck busted me right before this. Shot this deer running and bad hit. Was one of worst hunting exp ill ever have...
- Boogieman1
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
I hunt hill country farmland, what I have found works best for me is staying out of those low spots until after leaf drop. After that even if the wind swirls it will drift up to the top of the ridge across the valley with no leafs. On high pressure days I get in my best spot reguardless of wind, I might only get a hour or so but somstimes that's all I get in certain spots. Bottoms can be a nightmare, but that's why the big boys luv em
Life is hard; It’s even harder if you are stupid.
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
JoeRE wrote:Great topic RR. Similar to some great rut cruising setups I have found. When you have multiple points dumping down toward each other - yea that has potential for a great multi-way funnel.
One other way I utilize low setups like that is on primary scrapes in the late prerut/seeking phase. I often see mega primary scrapes down where multiple points come down toward each other like that. My theory is bucks have seeking behavior in those areas because the falling thermals pull scent from any doe groups on the surrounding ridges down into that central location. A buck can see how close all the local does are to coming into estrus just from one location. I first was tipped off to this because I would put trail cams on those low scrapes to inventory bucks and I would get some slobs in the late pre-rut. They will only drop down off the points to work those scrapes in daylight in the evening if its very SECURE, but in situations where hunter access is from the top few people end up in the bottoms, its like no one wants to drag a deer up a 200 foot bluff . If the bottom is big enough and cover is thick enough I can sneak in from up or down the valley without anything on the ridges seeing me. I am talking big bluffs, 200 feet or more. I like to find a setup where the falling thermals in the evening line up with the preferred wind. That way you can really get a consistent air current. I have had some great pre-rut hunts doing this.
Also just about goes without saying, best if you can test out the air currents in a low setup ahead of time, like during spring scouting, you can learn a lot.
Have you noticed any difference in how effective these areas are depending on their size? In other words, is a tighter/narrower bottom more conducive to this heavy sign and better funneling? Do these hub areas more often occur at the head of a valley where multiple points drop into one area or can it also occur between two long ridges where maybe a ditch goes up each side, thus creating 4 substantial points (2 on each side of the main valley)?
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
[quote="Darkknight54"]
First Beast Buck - Sept 16th 2015- 6:30am
Encounter - Oct 12th 2012- 6:30am
Killed - Nov Rifle 2012[quote]
Darknight, I noticed two of your three encounters were in the morning and two things stood out to me, they were both early season and if I am reading your maps right the bucks were headed downhill in both cases? That's different than what I usually see. Do you often have morning success in the hills? Why did you pick those spots to set up? Was the buck bedding low in these examples? Thanks!
First Beast Buck - Sept 16th 2015- 6:30am
Encounter - Oct 12th 2012- 6:30am
Killed - Nov Rifle 2012[quote]
Darknight, I noticed two of your three encounters were in the morning and two things stood out to me, they were both early season and if I am reading your maps right the bucks were headed downhill in both cases? That's different than what I usually see. Do you often have morning success in the hills? Why did you pick those spots to set up? Was the buck bedding low in these examples? Thanks!
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
Cuzzinfish wrote:
Have you noticed any difference in how effective these areas are depending on their size? In other words, is a tighter/narrower bottom more conducive to this heavy sign and better funneling? Do these hub areas more often occur at the head of a valley where multiple points drop into one area or can it also occur between two long ridges where maybe a ditch goes up each side, thus creating 4 substantial points (2 on each side of the main valley)?
I can't say I have seen a correlation to size. The correlation I have seen is to amount of bedding locations and bedding cover on the surrounding ridges and benches. Lots of deer bedding around the perimeter of the area means more sign IMO!
The best hubs have a bunch of classic bedding point or benches dumping down into a central low area...what that low area looks like can vary and still be good seems like. If its small, often you can't get a consistent air current down there. Still can hunt the buck cruising routes from that "destination spot" usually up and down those points.
Aaron Warbritton did a good video on thermal hubs recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuyRildBbMM
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
JoeRE wrote:Cuzzinfish wrote:
Have you noticed any difference in how effective these areas are depending on their size? In other words, is a tighter/narrower bottom more conducive to this heavy sign and better funneling? Do these hub areas more often occur at the head of a valley where multiple points drop into one area or can it also occur between two long ridges where maybe a ditch goes up each side, thus creating 4 substantial points (2 on each side of the main valley)?
I can't say I have seen a correlation to size. The correlation I have seen is to amount of bedding locations and bedding cover on the surrounding ridges and benches. Lots of deer bedding around the perimeter of the area means more sign IMO!
The best hubs have a bunch of classic bedding point or benches dumping down into a central low area...what that low area looks like can vary and still be good seems like. If its small, often you can't get a consistent air current down there. Still can hunt the buck cruising routes from that "destination spot" usually up and down those points.
Aaron Warbritton did a good video on thermal hubs recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuyRildBbMM
That is a great video. I’m a huge fan of their content.
All of that makes perfect sense. Thanks! I haven’t hunted hill country for 11 years. Been living in flat farm country but my first two bucks (grew up in WV) were following does across a bottom and up the secondary points I was sitting on. I didn’t realize what I was doing other than finding a spot with some range and deer trails. Reading on the Beast about hubs the last couple weeks has been enlightening.
- NYBackcountry
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
Thanks for the visuals DK. I second ODH's comment.
Can you give us a little more info on why you chose these stand locations DK? Are they feeding high and bedding low? I'm assuming based on the dates the doe movement has little influence. With that said, the topography doesnt seem to be that dramatic, very subtle elevation changes from what it looks like.
Thanks again for putting those up!
Can you give us a little more info on why you chose these stand locations DK? Are they feeding high and bedding low? I'm assuming based on the dates the doe movement has little influence. With that said, the topography doesnt seem to be that dramatic, very subtle elevation changes from what it looks like.
Thanks again for putting those up!
- <DK>
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
ODH wrote:Darkknight54 wrote:First Beast Buck - Sept 16th 2015- 6:30am
Encounter - Oct 12th 2012- 6:30am
Killed - Nov Rifle 2012
Darknight, I noticed two of your three encounters were in the morning and two things stood out to me, they were both early season and if I am reading your maps right the bucks were headed downhill in both cases? That's different than what I usually see. Do you often have morning success in the hills? Why did you pick those spots to set up? Was the buck bedding low in these examples? Thanks!
Well thats tough to answer ODH. Honestly its just how it all worked out. Not sure what you mean about the downhill travel but doesnt matter really bc they were still heading to thier destinations and im sure they were still going to scent check their bedding. The end results are skewed bc I interfered.
The Sept buck lived in this valley eclusively. I wanted to see what was down there bc I kept seeing big bucks going here. That double drop tine buck was headed there as well the year prior. Was just trying to think ahead. I jumped him in Aug (3 weeks prior) at the low little hump to the right of the stand location and all the ridge points in this spot were bedding loactions. Came back opening day and shot him in grey light. The start of his blue travel line was a huge acorn patch. The deer in that area were road hunted alot so bc pressure was at high elevations, he was bedding lower.
The Oct buck was alot of luck - he was fighting in the field, came blazing down the hill like a bull. The bedding area he was killed was still 1/4 mile away. He is missing a tine and I believe this morning was the day he broke it off bc I watched him shaking his head like it was painful. I chose this location bc I was still a "field hunter" at the time and was just trying to apply Dans strategies. Every morning there was a large deer at that corner of the field. It would let me get 20 yards away before blowing out and headed this direction everytime, so I figured time for a change and try to out smart it.
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Re: Hill country bottoms success
In hilly farmland, do you see any difference when the crops are on top versus crops on the bottom?
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