Hill Country

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tibolli
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Hill Country

Unread postby tibolli » Fri Jan 05, 2018 12:14 am

Hello fellow Beasts,
I am new to the HuntingBeast site. I have been listening to the podcasts, watching the youtube channel, and reading many of these posts. What does the huntingbeast mean when referring to Hill Country? Where I hunt in PA we don't have many swamps, but we do have a lot of small farms, rolling hills and some pretty serious steep mountains with cliffs, rock slides etc... Is it safe to say you're not referring to Mountain hunting when talking about Hill Country? I guess I'm ultimately asking, do you hunt steep mountains the same way you hunt Hill Country?


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rfickes87
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Re: Hill Country

Unread postby rfickes87 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 12:52 am

"Hill country" is hills and ridges. Not mountains. I live in PA too so I understand your confused and trying to understand how to apply the tactics that you've been reading about. If you want to apply hill country tactics to your hunting style, start out with hills and ridges near where you live. Search for terms on this site like "leeward" side of ridges. "Leeward points" and "military crest" and it'll change your life! Lol. Not even joking...
"Pressure and Time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time..."
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Re: Hill Country

Unread postby Jdw » Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:10 am

I have found quite a few similarities in deer behavior between the smaller more rolling hills of SE Ohio and the mountains of central WV.

They use leeward points and ridges benches and thermal hubs in both areas.
WV is more of a big woods setting and the bedding is more spread out but I find the basic concepts are good for both areas.
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Re: Hill Country

Unread postby dan » Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:32 am

Jdw wrote:I have found quite a few similarities in deer behavior between the smaller more rolling hills of SE Ohio and the mountains of central WV.

They use leeward points and ridges benches and thermal hubs in both areas.
WV is more of a big woods setting and the bedding is more spread out but I find the basic concepts are good for both areas.

Yep... The concepts can work with a 10 foot rolling hill, all the way to a mountain. But the ends of the spectrum have more variance.
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tibolli
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Re: Hill Country

Unread postby tibolli » Fri Jan 05, 2018 11:04 pm

rfickes87 wrote:"Hill country" is hills and ridges. Not mountains. I live in PA too so I understand your confused and trying to understand how to apply the tactics that you've been reading about. If you want to apply hill country tactics to your hunting style, start out with hills and ridges near where you live. Search for terms on this site like "leeward" side of ridges. "Leeward points" and "military crest" and it'll change your life! Lol. Not even joking...


Thank you for your response. I don't know why, but I have a hard time conceptualizing some of these tactics. :( I guess I need more visual animations.
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Re: Hill Country

Unread postby rfickes87 » Sat Jan 06, 2018 5:26 am

tibolli wrote:
rfickes87 wrote:"Hill country" is hills and ridges. Not mountains. I live in PA too so I understand your confused and trying to understand how to apply the tactics that you've been reading about. If you want to apply hill country tactics to your hunting style, start out with hills and ridges near where you live. Search for terms on this site like "leeward" side of ridges. "Leeward points" and "military crest" and it'll change your life! Lol. Not even joking...


Thank you for your response. I don't know why, but I have a hard time conceptualizing some of these tactics. :( I guess I need more visual animations.



Based on your location in PA I took a gander real quick as some land near you...

Image

When the wind is west I really like the dots I marks for bedding as red dots. Actually everything along the 1600 elevation mark I'd scout. Those 3 dots to the west I'd pay attention to on a rare east wind.

It looks like everything above the 1600 elevation has been logged out and is really thick now. I think this spot is ideal. and its over a mile off the roads.

Those dots to the far south are on a military crest where it goes from almost flat to really steep.

I'm a nut when it comes to cyber scouting. Hope this helps a little. Maybe others can chime in on this. Point out things I don't have time to. My lunch break is almost over!
"Pressure and Time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time..."
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tibolli
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Re: Hill Country

Unread postby tibolli » Mon Jan 08, 2018 4:49 am

rfickes87 wrote:
tibolli wrote:
rfickes87 wrote:"Hill country" is hills and ridges. Not mountains. I live in PA too so I understand your confused and trying to understand how to apply the tactics that you've been reading about. If you want to apply hill country tactics to your hunting style, start out with hills and ridges near where you live. Search for terms on this site like "leeward" side of ridges. "Leeward points" and "military crest" and it'll change your life! Lol. Not even joking...


Thank you for your response. I don't know why, but I have a hard time conceptualizing some of these tactics. :( I guess I need more visual animations.



Based on your location in PA I took a gander real quick as some land near you...

Image

When the wind is west I really like the dots I marks for bedding as red dots. Actually everything along the 1600 elevation mark I'd scout. Those 3 dots to the west I'd pay attention to on a rare east wind.

It looks like everything above the 1600 elevation has been logged out and is really thick now. I think this spot is ideal. and its over a mile off the roads.

Those dots to the far south are on a military crest where it goes from almost flat to really steep.

I'm a nut when it comes to cyber scouting. Hope this helps a little. Maybe others can chime in on this. Point out things I don't have time to. My lunch break is almost over!


Thank you so much for taking the time to do this.

Here is a photo of one of my favorite public lands areas. If you guys have any opinion on this area I would appreciate it.

The top of the mountain is fairly easy to navigate. The sides of the mountain are very steep but passable in most areas. This area consists of a mixture of mostly hardwoods (oak, ash, etc...) and some evergreen trees. This is a very large area. Just to the north of the image is a 5 mile path that runs east and west.

The yellow dot is one of my stands where I usually see large bucks. The deer usually travel from West to East. I usually access the area in the morning via the blue line or pink line. I would prefer to access the stand directly from the bottom, but the cliff below the blue line is not passable without climbing gear. (The cliff helps to funnel the deer because of the 30 foot cliffs on the south edge of the blue line.) Accessing the stand site from above is not possible without making a lot of noise due to rock slides. When I kill a deer the stomach is usually full of corn, acorns or grasses.
Thoughts?

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rfickes87
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Re: Hill Country

Unread postby rfickes87 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:13 am

Man if you're seeing big ones in there I'd say you've got it pretty much figured out. I like your stand, how its on that cliff where it funnels the deer thru. One area I like other than your stand is clear up on top. Directly above where you wrote "mountsin laural" see how the mountain saddles right there? That's the path of least resistance for deer to cross one side of the mountain to the other side. That's one reason i like the saddle. Other reason, I think this would attract a lot of bucks in rut too b/c falling thermals in the evening should rush into that area. Allow them to scent check for does across that whole area just by being in the saddle after the sun goes down.
"Pressure and Time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time..."


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