Military crest?

[Homey88]

what is a military crest? Thanks in advance.

[Dewey]

Best way to explain it is with a picture.




Actually I am walking on one right now. You will almost always find a deer trail there in hill country.

[Homey88]

Thanks for the quick reply and the picture! Very helpful!

[Divergent]

Best way to explain it is with a picture.



Actually I am walking on one right now. You will almost always find a deer trail there in hill country.

Boy that sure is a nice trail

[<DK>]

HA, nice Dewey! On the beast while beast scouting!

[Putt4Doe]

HA, nice Dewey! On the beast while beast scouting!

Great post - This is an excellent way to show what buck is where!

[Dewey]

Here is another picture I took yesterday. The 1/3 elevation military crest trails really stand out from a long distance after snowmelt as the trails still remain with packed ice/snow.

[Stanley]

Great examples Dewey.

[johndeere506]

Dewey do you still have these pictures or similar you can repost? I'm still pretty new to the hills, just want to see some evidence and compare what I've seen.
If anyone has any hill country example pics that would be great. All the old pics are gone.

[tjraley2]

Johndeere I was wondering the same thing. But I googled “military crest hill” and it brought up a good diagram that explains it as well as some background info on the term. Good stuff.

[Dewey]

Dewey do you still have these pictures or similar you can repost? I'm still pretty new to the hills, just want to see some evidence and compare what I've seen.
If anyone has any hill country example pics that would be great. All the old pics are gone.

Sure I will fix them in a little bit when I get home.

[Dewey]

Done. Good thing I still had the pics in my phone.

[JoeRE]

Johndeere mentioned this to me in a PM but I thought it should get brought up in the forum. We have noticed a lot of times movement is actually just below the military crest, not right at it.

It depends a lot on your hills of course. Some are steeper than others. Some are rolling and some are basically small mountains. I just have noticed particularly older bucks like to travel just below the crest so they are hidden or partly hidden from the actual top of the ridge. Sometimes you will find a heavy trail right at the military crest used by does and younger deer then a faint one 20-50 yards below that, distance can vary, with some rubs along it that are a telltail sign that is a buck travel route. I have seen the biggest bucks do this often enough to know there's something to it.

Likewise at ditch crossings you will see that heavy crossing right at the military crest and there might be a lighter one below that just over the edge. The big boy will favor that lower one more often than not. Sometimes its out of bow range from the top one...

[johndeere506]

Thanks Joe and Dewey!

I see how the actually military crest trail is attractive to deer, but slightly less secure to smarter bucks.

You timed that scouting trip pretty well Dewey!

[Dewey]

Thanks Joe and Dewey!

I see how the actually military crest trail is attractive to deer, but slightly less secure to smarter bucks.

You timed that scouting trip pretty well Dewey!

I remember that day well. I was scouting all day and stopped to rest while checking out the Beast. Just happened to be standing on a military crest while reading.