Advice on setup - Hills
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Advice on setup - Hills
This year I am doing my first out of state hunt and am going in blind. The area is all hill country. I understand deer will travel/bed on the leeward side of the ridges just above the military crest. The time is going to be the 4th week in October (19-26). My question is how do you setup so deer don't smell you in the morning. With the wind coming over your back and the thermals on the rise in the morning it seems that at some point your scent is going to cross the paths. Are you just giving up one direction of deer travel to be able to hunt the other? Looking for turns in the path where maybe your scent hits parallel to the trail and the thermals bring it back up? Should I focus more on the saddles or pinch points closer to the top on the ridges where maybe the wind is a little more consistent? I also hear about changing spots during the day. So is it better to setup to hunt maybe a travel route on a point coming up from the valley in the morning, move to the pinch point for mid day then the tops for the evening?
- jwilkstn
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Re: Advice on setup - Hills
I set up for my scent to be falling with the morning thermals if there is no wind overriding them. This gets me a couple hours before the sun warms the hillside and thermals start to rise, at which point I would relocate or spend midday scouting.
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Re: Advice on setup - Hills
Way too many variables for a one-size-fits-all approach to setting up in the hills. Even slight differences in terrain will change how and where you setup. You gotta just keep trying new things until you figure it out. But that's what makes it fun.
Afternoon setups are easiest, IMO, as you can likely predict where the buck is bedded and will come from. My morning setup depend a lot on access. If I can access from down low, I may setup below bedding and try to catch a buck J-hooking into his bedding area. Unless you know the area well, and know exactly where the buck is coming from, this is just a guessing game, and my thought is that you'll get busted more often than not. On a morning setup in a new area I prefer to setup in the closest terrain feature that will pinch travel. THen just do the best to put the wind/thermals in your favor, but I often sit high and let the wind/thermals hit the trail at a 90 degree angle. Then hope to shoot the buck before getting busted.
Afternoon setups are easiest, IMO, as you can likely predict where the buck is bedded and will come from. My morning setup depend a lot on access. If I can access from down low, I may setup below bedding and try to catch a buck J-hooking into his bedding area. Unless you know the area well, and know exactly where the buck is coming from, this is just a guessing game, and my thought is that you'll get busted more often than not. On a morning setup in a new area I prefer to setup in the closest terrain feature that will pinch travel. THen just do the best to put the wind/thermals in your favor, but I often sit high and let the wind/thermals hit the trail at a 90 degree angle. Then hope to shoot the buck before getting busted.
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