Hill country-no leeward side

[mauser06]

Does anyone else run into hill country hunting where there just isn't a leeward side?

I run into it somewhat regularly. I don't always hunt big woods true hill country..lots of fragmented areas wether it's large fields, houses, roads etc. There's many times a leeward hillside is what I'd consider a long ways off. Though I know deer will move and travel...I just don't think they are all going to travel to that 1 point a few miles away (that usually falls on property I can't hunt).

Run into it a lot in farmland. Either fields or something at the normal travel corridor.

How do they bed? How do you hunt? That's a struggle for me...and right now that's a lot of the ground I have access to that I can get to regularly.

[Boogieman1]

They don't all bed that way. Big bucks take the best, however I feel a sub par bed that is unpressured will trump a killer bedding area that's getting hammered. Find those hidden pockets of cover that no one stomps through. Might be a internal edge, overgrown fence row or along some type drainage.

[dan]

Generally hill country also has farm type bedding and sometimes bigwoods, river bottom, swamp marsh type bedding as well as hill bedding. Part of the reason its so important to understand all the terrains.

[flinginairos]

Generally hill country also has farm type bedding and sometimes bigwoods, river bottom, swamp marsh type bedding as well as hill bedding. Part of the reason its so important to understand all the terrains.

This is exactly what I found in the area I just killed my buck. There's a perfect point on the end of this ridge where I found bedding, but there is also a lot of hunter pressure up top. The bucks are bedding low at the edge of a flat where there is less pressure and more cover. There's a point of trees that juts out into a sea of brush/tall grass and all the bucks are bedding out from that "point".

[Jeff G]

In hill country the main wind does not have to intercept the hill at a 90 degree angle causing a leeward side.some of the best spots in my property in hill country intercept the wind in an off angle. Cruising still takes place. Thermals still work. It's the same just not what you have in your mind with a map and predominant wind current.

[mauser06]

Good info as usual! I am right on with my thoughts. I haven't been letting that deter me...just wanted to make sure my thoughts were right.


Dan brought up a great point. There's often different habitats within the large habitat. Where I hunt in Michigan has a lot of small swamp land and marshy depressions. Along with a lot of hilly knobs and such.

I have been gravitating towards the wet stuff because I know it deters hunters. Got Dan's new hill bedding video and he mentioned just that...


My buddies grandson shot a buck at camp last year..he couldn't figure out why his belly had red clay on it. I knew exactly where he was bedding based on that alone. There's a few micro marshes along a creek we call the red creek because of the red clay and iron seeps..the iron seeps make the micro marshes. I always had a good lunch that buck are bedding in them. That confimed it.

I spend a lot of time hunting the area but never scouting lol...I need to change that this winter/spring. I think I can hammer some good ones up there because I know the area so well...just always fall into the "I always see a lot of deer here" trap.

[brancher147]

There is always a leeward (or thermalward) side in hill country. It just may not make sense with the wind forecast looking at a map, but the terrain will cause it one way or another. And deer will use it but do not always use it in hill country as already mentioned. There are exceptions... especially in big woods, big mountain type areas where the wind is always changing.

[ODH]

In hill country the main wind does not have to intercept the hill at a 90 degree angle causing a leeward side.some of the best spots in my property in hill country intercept the wind in an off angle. Cruising still takes place. Thermals still work. It's the same just not what you have in your mind with a map and predominant wind current.

JeffG in your area would you say bucks are bedding in that terrain all fall? And when you say "cruising still takes place" are you seeing them walk those trails all season or are you referring to late Oct to mid Nov? Would you/do you hunt those same leeward sides in early Oct? Thanks in advance for the info.

[Jeff G]

In hill country the main wind does not have to intercept the hill at a 90 degree angle causing a leeward side.some of the best spots in my property in hill country intercept the wind in an off angle. Cruising still takes place. Thermals still work. It's the same just not what you have in your mind with a map and predominant wind current.

JeffG in your area would you say bucks are bedding in that terrain all fall? And when you say "cruising still takes place" are you seeing them walk those trails all season or are you referring to late Oct to mid Nov? Would you/do you hunt those same leeward sides in early Oct? Thanks in advance for the info.

Bucks are bedding on the points that the leeward sides connect. they are bedding there all year long. primary bedding. i only hunt that leeward or off wind leeward side during the rut. searching and cruising is taking place there october and november. very predictable.

i do not hunt that leeward side in early season. only the rut. other times i am set up closer to the primary bedding.