Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

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KPnorthdakota
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Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby KPnorthdakota » Sun Sep 03, 2017 1:13 am

So, I'm hunting a buck. I've got good game cam pics of him. I'm hunting him on both sides of a cooley so I can hunt both predominant winds (NW & SE) this month. Anyway, last evening the winds were 15mph NE. So, I'm hunting the side of the Cooley that the NE wind takes my scent out of the woods and into the field. I'm hunting above the bucks travel corridor.

I step into the woods and "No wind". The woods on the other side of the Cooley must have been enough of the filter that I wasn't getting any wind. I checked the thermal with milkweed and it fell about 2 feet behind me in the wind direction.

Am I doing this right? If the thermals rise in the morning it seems right to hunt above the travel corridor.

But, if the thermals fall in the evening is it right to hunt below the travel corridor?

Any help would be appreciated.

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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby stash59 » Sun Sep 03, 2017 1:43 am

The evening thermals don't fall until the hillside gets shaded or the sun goes down enough. So usually the last half to one hour of light.
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby KPnorthdakota » Sun Sep 03, 2017 1:49 am

stash59 wrote:The evening thermals don't fall until the hillside gets shaded or the sun goes down enough. So usually the last half to one hour of light.

So, should I not worry or should I hunt below the travel corridor? Thanks.
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby stash59 » Sun Sep 03, 2017 2:03 am

If the daytime thermals are reaching the bedding the gig is up. If your setup in an area that they will carry your scent to the bed/s. It will probably take awhile to figure out what will work.

Do you have Dan's Hill Bedding DVD? It explains things better than I can. Well worth the cost.

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http://www.thehuntingbeast.com/hbshop/18-dvd-s

It's the 2 disc one. It has more detail the the Hill Country one.
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby Jeff G » Sun Sep 03, 2017 2:06 am

First step is to locate in the buck bed.

Then figure out his possible exit routes and set up on them accordingly.

If you don't have a bed located, you are kinda using rut tactics.

Sounds like you don't have the bed pin pointed. I think your on the wrong hillside to intercept.

You need to take into account the thermal tunnel. Bucks use it all year long. That would mean you should be setting up on the other side. Wind over the top, thermals sucking up and creating a tunnel. Travel corridor will be in this zone. They feel safe there.

That's where I would set up if I didn't know if a bed.
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby PK_ » Sun Sep 03, 2017 2:20 am

What is a coolie?
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby <DK> » Sun Sep 03, 2017 2:35 am

PK_ wrote:What is a coolie?


:lol: I didnt want to ask
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby stash59 » Sun Sep 03, 2017 3:49 am

Coolies or coulies are draws. Usually found in flat terrain. It's where the land has eroded away causing a really deep cut in the landscape. Although deep cuts that look similar to these found in the mountains are also often referred to as coulies. Alot of mule deer habitat is considered coulie country. The Missouri River Breaks is coulie country. Breaks is another term for these steep deep cuts.
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby PK_ » Sun Sep 03, 2017 5:12 am

From that description it sounds like very tough terrain to bowhunt.

If you get below the buck in the coolie, there is little to no wind due to the shelter. A smart buck is likely bedded where he can scent check most or all of that coulie(depending on the size of it) from rising thermals...


If you stay above you may get busted when the thermals switch in the evening. So whether to hunt above or below would depend on how I could access, how close I could get and whether or not I expected the target to be alone or with other deer...

Sorry, I don't see a clear cut answer for you. A lot of times trying to get close to bucks in their place of security you just have to choose the lesser of two evils and roll the dice.
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby KPnorthdakota » Sun Sep 03, 2017 5:49 am

PK_ wrote:What is a coolie?

Here a cooley is what we called creeks in Florida ;) But, here it is small water streams that feed off the river. Some water flows from the river especially after snow melt. At this time of year there is little to no water movement. The crop lands turn to woods and the woods slope to the cooley/creek bottom.
Last edited by KPnorthdakota on Sun Sep 03, 2017 6:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby KPnorthdakota » Sun Sep 03, 2017 5:57 am

Jeff G wrote:First step is to locate in the buck bed. Then figure out his possible exit routes and set up on them accordingly. If you don't have a bed located, you are kinda using rut tactics. Sounds like you don't have the bed pin pointed. I think your on the wrong hillside to intercept. You need to take into account the thermal tunnel. Bucks use it all year long. That would mean you should be setting up on the other side. Wind over the top, thermals sucking up and creating a tunnel. Travel corridor will be in this zone. They feel safe there. That's where I would set up if I didn't know if a bed.


You are correct I haven't pinpointed the Buck beds. I have pinpointed the travel corridors in the morning back to their bed. However, now that the crops have been harvested this week it could affect their travel times.

Just to clarify for everyone...I have purchased Dan's Hillside Bedding series and have watched them multiple times. I guess, I'm struggling with applying them to the terrain I'm hunting and feeling confident. It also sounds like I may be confused on the thermals.

Questions...So, I should be hunting the hillside that the wind is rolling down. So, NW wind means I hunt the hill that that wind will be rolling down (hill facing SE)?
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby KPnorthdakota » Sun Sep 03, 2017 6:01 am

stash59 wrote:If the daytime thermals are reaching the bedding the gig is up. If your setup in an area that they will carry your scent to the bed/s. It will probably take awhile to figure out what will work. Do you have Dan's Hill Bedding DVD? It explains things better than I can. Well worth the cost.
Link to store:http://www.thehuntingbeast.com/hbshop/18-dvd-s It's the 2 disc one. It has more detail the the Hill Country one.

Yes. I have the whole series and have watched multiple times. I'm new to this kind of terrain and am struggling with this Public Land because there is no Access points that you don't have a "crop" field between your truck and the woods. I'm just leary with where to enter and how to play the wind & thermals and which hillside to hunt with what wind.

I was thinking that if the wind was NW that I should hunt the hillside that faces the wind because then my back is to the field and it takes my scent out of the woods rather then to the buck travel corridor.

Feeling discouraged honestly.
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby justdirtyfun » Sun Sep 03, 2017 6:15 am

Feeling discouraged is understandable. But this is the best style for success. Once you get the whole thing under control, ALL FUTURE HUNTS become better.

I like hearing you have milkweed and are using it.
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby KPnorthdakota » Sun Sep 03, 2017 6:19 am

justdirtyfun wrote:Feeling discouraged is understandable. But this is the best style for success. Once you get the whole thing under control, ALL FUTURE HUNTS become better. I like hearing you have milkweed and are using it.

And I hit a milkweed jackpot this morning. Picked about 15 pods :dance:

I'll work through it I guess. My Dad (70 yrs old) is bowhunting for the first time ever. Good Father/Son time for the last two months scouting, etc. I'm hoping I'm not going to give him a bad/boring season.
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Re: Trying to apply HB tactics...need some help, please.

Unread postby purebowhunting » Sun Sep 03, 2017 6:37 am

I agree that hill country tactics should put you on the east side of a coolee with a west wind for bedding or rut setup. I have limited experience hunting this terrain, what I did was in western ND early season. In my experience the deer came out of the coolies and traveled across wide open terrain to feed, very little travel down the coolies themselves. Also the only trees were more towards the bottom so getting high on the edge to have your wind travel over the deer wasn't an option. The best advice I can give is glass them bed and figure out how to setup from there, without solid observation is going to be tough. Don't rule out hunting from the ground taking advantage of the bed to food travel. My best setup was watching 3 bucks bed and slipped in through a river and setup on the bottom below them and they came to water when they got up.


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