Thermals in hills question...

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SHoff10
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Thermals in hills question...

Unread postby SHoff10 » Sun Oct 15, 2017 1:44 pm

When we talk about thermals rising up the hills in the am (if you're hunting low), does this usually only happen if you are close to the base of the hill? How far would you have to be away from the hill to prevent the thermals from rising up the hill in the morning?

Here is my hunting scenario for a spot that I would love to hunt in the am, but it is near a hill with 50+ feet change in elevation. There is a huge ridge that runs east and west. It is about 50 feet tall and the incline is pretty gradual (not very steep at all). Anyways I have permission to hunt the North side of the ridge, but not the ridge itself. If you were at the top of the ridge and started walking north, you would walk down a very thick, grassy hill that is full of islands of cedars/cover. Once you get to the bottom of the hill, you reach a small corn field that's only about 50 yards wide. If you walked north about 50 yards from where the hill and corn field meet at the bottom, there is a treeline (fenceline) and my property is north of that fenceline. So the absolute closest I can get to the base of the hill is approximately 50 yards. Is this far enough away from the hill to prevent my thermals from rising up the hill in the am? If the wind comes out of the SW, would it blow my wind north of where I am sitting?? It is a dynamite spot, but I can only access from the north and hunt at the bottom of the ridge.

Hope I am explaining this correctly and easy enough to understand the type of set up I am going for.


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Tennhunter3
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Re: Thermals in hills question...

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Sun Oct 15, 2017 2:41 pm

Thermals will not rise until 8.30-9 am when sun hits valley floor and creates heat. So your Am spot should be great the first few hours.


Your amthermal will fall to the lowest point.

Wind southwest it should go northeast but with the terrain in the area who knows milkweed will help a lot.


In my experience hunting bottoms if it's near the hill it rises or if there is no hill it swirls all over the place.

After 9am move uphill for sure unless you want to hunt a windswirl.
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Re: Thermals in hills question...

Unread postby dan » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:52 pm

I think you can get away with an early am hunt for sure... How long you get away with it based on heat, thermals, shape of hill, and actual wind direction is a different story. Throw a stand there and find out. Most mature buck movement should be before thermal rise anyway, but I would sit long enough to see what happens.
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brancher147
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Re: Thermals in hills question...

Unread postby brancher147 » Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:35 am

Give it a try and see what the milkweed tells you... The north side of a hill will be the absolute last place that thermals will rise on a normal day, as that is the last place the sun will hit, so you should get a few hours before that happens. But it may not affect you at all.

I hunt some steep north slopes that the sun does not hit until the afternoon, so there is no thermal rise in the morning.
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Re: Thermals in hills question...

Unread postby BA-IV » Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:44 am

dan wrote:I think you can get away with an early am hunt for sure... How long you get away with it based on heat, thermals, shape of hill, and actual wind direction is a different story. Throw a stand there and find out. Most mature buck movement should be before thermal rise anyway, but I would sit long enough to see what happens.


Do you see the majority of mature buck cruising movement in the mornings low in the bottoms? Or are you still hunting up high on the Ridge tops?

I hunted the Midwest last year in early November and saw a lot of buck activity up high in the mornings on top of the ridges cruising, if I'd have been low I would have missed it I'm guessing.
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Re: Thermals in hills question...

Unread postby dan » Mon Oct 16, 2017 2:05 am

BA-IV wrote:
dan wrote:I think you can get away with an early am hunt for sure... How long you get away with it based on heat, thermals, shape of hill, and actual wind direction is a different story. Throw a stand there and find out. Most mature buck movement should be before thermal rise anyway, but I would sit long enough to see what happens.


Do you see the majority of mature buck cruising movement in the mornings low in the bottoms? Or are you still hunting up high on the Ridge tops?

I hunted the Midwest last year in early November and saw a lot of buck activity up high in the mornings on top of the ridges cruising, if I'd have been low I would have missed it I'm guessing.

I see a lot of movement down low till the thermals start to rise.
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Re: Thermals in hills question...

Unread postby JonNc » Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:14 pm

Dan,

So do you set up low on the ridge until 9am or so when the thermals start to rise, then move up the ridge to a different location as morning progresses?

Or would you suggest still setting up on the upper 1/3 early in the morning but able to watch lower on the ridge?
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Re: Thermals in hills question...

Unread postby mathews418 » Wed Oct 18, 2017 2:01 am

JonNc wrote:Dan,

So do you set up low on the ridge until 9am or so when the thermals start to rise, then move up the ridge to a different location as morning progresses?

Or would you suggest still setting up on the upper 1/3 early in the morning but able to watch lower on the ridge?


If you set up high on the ridge before for the valley heats up your thermal will more than likely tumble down the hill and if any thing comes through before the rise starts I would imagine you will be busted. If you know the travel corridor they are using I would set up below it until the rise and then make a move above it.


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