Hill Country Entry questions

[RidgeReaper]

Part 1...So I've had this question for a little while..do you guys find better success accessing hills from bottom up or top down? Usually when I got into my areas I try to access from top down. I come up/along the prevailing side and cross over to the leeward side. I feel like I'm more stealthy that way. Usually when I come in from the bottom I feel like the deer know I'm coming. Thermals are usually always working against me from the bottom up too.

Part 2...When I access from the top, if I find decent sign (big rubs, poopies etc...) I get a bit excited but skeptical since it may be night sign. Do you guys find that good sign up on the tops is mostly night sign? How do you treat great sign up there? I set up in a really nice rub area Friday night. I was just off the top of the ridge onto the leeward side. I could see the top of the ridge and all the rubs. My wind was absolutely perfect (probably the first time ever!) and I saw 0 deer. I'm OK with not seeing anything but just wondered how you guys play this scenario..I always get nervous pushing deeper into sign like this but also feel like I didn't push far enough after not seeing deer.

[backstraps]

I prefer access from the top. Each particular setup is different though. Sometimes lower entry through a draw to the top then on towards me destination is best. Typically I prefer top access though

As for seeing sign and setting up...it needs to be the rite sign in the rite places. Meaning I like to see fresh big tracks. Rubs, scrapes etc for me has to be fresh and near suspected bedding before I stop and set
As for poopy, if I am at a food source and the ground is pounded and lots of fresh poop is all around, and Im close enough to bedding I think a buck could get to me in daylight hours I may try a sit

But both questions have a lot of variables and answers will change from spot to spot

[backstraps]

Accidentally posted twice

[Boogieman1]

How I enter depends on several things. Time of day, time of year, weather conditions etc.. For a morning hunt, where my deer feed low and bed high I don't wanna enter through a spot they are possibly feeding and push them ahead of me. For an evening where they are bedded high I don't wanna stomp nor blow through there to set up low. My objective is to set up inbetween where the deer are now and where they will be later. To do this with any consistency it's imperative that u are familiar with your properties deer movement patterns. When in doubt or if I'm not sure I enter through a drainage in the valley. Just my .02

[ScottSpitzley]

Boogieman is correct.

It was just yesterday morning actually, I accessed from the top down along the ridge early. Now heading back after the hunt typically you will want to leave heading in a different direction or below the flat because they do bed on top(at least in this case). I was feeling a little stealthy yesterday though, and had a still encounter with a mature buck on top of the flat bedding with a doe after I snuck up the ditch with an arrow nocked in confidence he would be there from spring scouting. The doe seemed sketched out and he ended up walking back 20 yards and bedded back down, until a couple of different does picked me out and blew my cover completely when I was 45 yards out from him. Pretty cool encounter.

[Jeff25]

Most of my hill country success has been during the rut, but iv has success both ways

[krent12]

Part 1...So I've had this question for a little while..do you guys find better success accessing hills from bottom up or top down? Usually when I got into my areas I try to access from top down. I come up/along the prevailing side and cross over to the leeward side. I feel like I'm more stealthy that way. Usually when I come in from the bottom I feel like the deer know I'm coming. Thermals are usually always working against me from the bottom up too.

Part 2...When I access from the top, if I find decent sign (big rubs, poopies etc...) I get a bit excited but skeptical since it may be night sign. Do you guys find that good sign up on the tops is mostly night sign? How do you treat great sign up there? I set up in a really nice rub area Friday night. I was just off the top of the ridge onto the leeward side. I could see the top of the ridge and all the rubs. My wind was absolutely perfect (probably the first time ever!) and I saw 0 deer. I'm OK with not seeing anything but just wondered how you guys play this scenario..I always get nervous pushing deeper into sign like this but also feel like I didn't push far enough after not seeing deer.

I accessed from the bottom yesterday morning when I shot that buck. The wind was right in my face. If I would have accessed from the top i would have bumped that deer walking back to the point.

[elk yinzer]

Where I sometimes struggle especially in the ridge and valley terrain is I find a bedding area where I don't really have much choice. The roads are on the bottoms in the valleys, and they so often bed in bulletproof setups where you really can't access from the top. Thick laurel, rocks, rhododendron sometimes there just isn't a way to access how you need to. And they seem to mostly bed high and spend the nights down low. It's why I feel I am a lot more effective morning hunter, the access doesn't quite matter as much and I can just get in there early with the right weather.

[rfickes87]

Part 1...So I've had this question for a little while..do you guys find better success accessing hills from bottom up or top down? Usually when I got into my areas I try to access from top down. I come up/along the prevailing side and cross over to the leeward side. I feel like I'm more stealthy that way. Usually when I come in from the bottom I feel like the deer know I'm coming. Thermals are usually always working against me from the bottom up too. I thought i would have this problem the evening i got my 8 point (10-1-18). It was 75 degrees out. But no I was wrong. I was at the bottom of a lee slope and I was walking up this deer trail and dropping milkweed. All the milkweed was sucking down in the field at the bottom of the ridge. Main wind was a WSW. I was on an E facing ridge. The milkweed was pulling down to the SSE. Almost opposite of the main wind direction but where the elevation drop was greatest. I swear i think it was doing this since it was early season all the leaves still on the trees, so much shade that the thermals gain momentum and can't climb up. I don't know but at least that day they couldn't climb. milkweed proved it. Maybe barometric pressure can effect this but i'm positive it didn't have any effect going uphill. Buck didn't care either, he was headed to the field to catch those low falling thermals too in the exact direction my milkweed went

Part 2...When I access from the top, if I find decent sign (big rubs, poopies etc...) I get a bit excited but skeptical since it may be night sign. Do you guys find that good sign up on the tops is mostly night sign? How do you treat great sign up there? I set up in a really nice rub area Friday night. I was just off the top of the ridge onto the leeward side. I could see the top of the ridge and all the rubs. My wind was absolutely perfect (probably the first time ever!) and I saw 0 deer. I'm OK with not seeing anything but just wondered how you guys play this scenario..I always get nervous pushing deeper into sign like this but also feel like I didn't push far enough after not seeing deer.

[Boogieman1]

Where I sometimes struggle especially in the ridge and valley terrain is I find a bedding area where I don't really have much choice. The roads are on the bottoms in the valleys, and they so often bed in bulletproof setups where you really can't access from the top. Thick laurel, rocks, rhododendron sometimes there just isn't a way to access how you need to. And they seem to mostly bed high and spend the nights down low. It's why I feel I am a lot more effective morning hunter, the access doesn't quite matter as much and I can just get in there early with the right weather.

I face the same problem on small properties usually due to one entry point. Only thing I have found to remotely work, in these situations usually have one scenario that works better than the others. Might be only hunting mornings with extreme early entry, evenings entering the last hour or even early morn entry expecting evening movement. Sucks and doesn't always line up with our schedule, but playing Russian roulette never seems to work well for me. Funny how complete diff circumstances end up in the same situation.

[RidgeReaper]

Can someone explain the best way to upload an image? It used to be very simple for me with photo bucket but things have changed again.

[ScottSpitzley]

Can someone explain the best way to upload an image? It used to be very simple for me with photo bucket but things have changed again.

1.Create an accountin beast photo gallery(tab is on main page up top called "Photo Gallery" or click on this link http://photos.thehuntingbeast.com/
2. Upload pictures
3. Copy specific filename of picture you wish to post(I get this by clicking on "edit files" tab
4. In thread, click on the IMG icon near where you can change font, color, etc. and put that filename in between the [img]PICTURE[/img]

[RidgeReaper]

Can someone explain the best way to upload an image? It used to be very simple for me with photo bucket but things have changed again.

1.Create an accountin beast photo gallery(tab is on main page up top called "Photo Gallery" or click on this link http://photos.thehuntingbeast.com/
2. Upload pictures
3.Copy specific filename of picture you wish to post(I get this by clicking on "edit files" tab
4. In thread, click on the IMG icon near where you can change font, color, etc. and put that filename in between the [img]PICTURE[/img]

OK thanks..I was actually just looking at a pic of someone elses in the beast gallery. I was just about to experiment with it. Thanks!!

[elk yinzer]

Can someone explain the best way to upload an image? It used to be very simple for me with photo bucket but things have changed again.

I've taken to using to imgur. It's even a little more user friendly than photobucket. The beast gallery I've used but it's a little clunky.

[<DK>]

Your question is difficult to answer bc it varies property to property, access trails, wind direction and what scouting intel says to do.

In general, my fields and crops are usually on the the tops so - AM I access from the bottoms, PM I access from the tops. In the AM I really like using creeks, ditches and cuts. PM access should be longer or sometimes odd walking routes.