Good morning fellow Beasts. I am in Kentucky hill country and have been walking a lot of top 1/3 hills. I am coming across minimal sign. I knew this wouldn’t be easy.
My question is, does anybody have any advice on what ridges a buck will bed on with minimum to no wind at all? Is it simply a thermal game at that point with bucks choosing to bed down low? Any advice is appreciated.
Where will a buck bed Hill Country?
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Re: Where will a buck bed Hill Country?
Depends on the pressure the area is getting.
They do often bed up high top third but if their is heavy pressure it does often change. They will bed on a thick point humans can't access or down low.
Focus on areas thermals drop too , Thick brush near water.
High spots in swamps, If they aren't on top 3rd hop around till you locate them.
If it's a hot day bucks often bed down low due to it being cooler and closer to water.
Just because theirs alot of hills doesn't mean they will always bed on them. Every area of woods is different, weather conditions, pressure, food source changes ,logging can really impact bedding.
They do often bed up high top third but if their is heavy pressure it does often change. They will bed on a thick point humans can't access or down low.
Focus on areas thermals drop too , Thick brush near water.
High spots in swamps, If they aren't on top 3rd hop around till you locate them.
If it's a hot day bucks often bed down low due to it being cooler and closer to water.
Just because theirs alot of hills doesn't mean they will always bed on them. Every area of woods is different, weather conditions, pressure, food source changes ,logging can really impact bedding.
Never give up Freedom for imagined safety.
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Re: Where will a buck bed Hill Country?
I like to hunt very thick bedding or tight quaters ridges. When the ridges or points are tight or close together its creates tough wind/thermal conditions. But w low wind you can get away w somethings, you really need to test the wind first in those areas.
Since you are having trouble finding sign - are you spending enough time cyber scouting?
Since you are having trouble finding sign - are you spending enough time cyber scouting?
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Re: Where will a buck bed Hill Country?
In my experience, hill country with a high number of good bedding points is extremely hard to find good sign in. They have too many options and dont leave much sign at any one location. You'll have to look for the next limiting factors. If the ridges have a military crest, look there. Next, find which ridges are thickest or have the best thick cover in close proximity. If food is spotty(acorns), find the food and then work back to the best bedding options near food. If pressure is high, this will help keep the bucks in the best bedding and possibly make them easier to predict and find. In low pressure, they dont feel a need to bed as defensively and can be anywhere. They'll still tend to like those military crests on ridge points, but which one?
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Re: Where will a buck bed Hill Country?
RidgeGhost wrote:In my experience, hill country with a high number of good bedding points is extremely hard to find good sign in. They have too many options and dont leave much sign at any one location. You'll have to look for the next limiting factors. If the ridges have a military crest, look there. Next, find which ridges are thickest or have the best thick cover in close proximity. If food is spotty(acorns), find the food and then work back to the best bedding options near food. If pressure is high, this will help keep the bucks in the best bedding and possibly make them easier to predict and find. In low pressure, they dont feel a need to bed as defensively and can be anywhere. They'll still tend to like those military crests on ridge points, but which one?
This plus early season Kentucky with hot weather they will be in the beans fields
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Re: Where will a buck bed Hill Country?
I'd put on some miles trying to find a good track or other sign of a big one first, then start narrowing down the points from there. You might miss some here or there but I have had better luck speed scouting trails and roads for nice tracks vs going from bedding to bedding area trying to determine if they are being used. Not uncommon for me to cover 10-15 miles in a weekend and never find anything fresh but that is mostly early season where they just have unlimited cover.
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Re: Where will a buck bed Hill Country?
Really appreciate the advice everybody. Today’s high is 85 degrees so certainly a warm one. I think I am going to focus on any isolated water or creeks that I can find below some tight ridges. Hopefully a shady spot as well so that my thermals will not be rising. I have bags of milkweed and am constantly dropping it to see what the winds/thermals are doing.
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Re: Where will a buck bed Hill Country?
headgear wrote:I'd put on some miles trying to find a good track or other sign of a big one first, then start narrowing down the points from there. You might miss some here or there but I have had better luck speed scouting trails and roads for nice tracks vs going from bedding to bedding area trying to determine if they are being used. Not uncommon for me to cover 10-15 miles in a weekend and never find anything fresh but that is mostly early season where they just have unlimited cover.
I did not realize how rocky Kentucky was. Extremely solid river bottoms. It makes sense with the hills, but certainly makes it different on picking up on tracks compared to at home in Wisconsin. Also it seems that water levels are low. I have noticed quite a few dry creek beds and any larger river is trickling more so like a creek.
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Re: Where will a buck bed Hill Country?
RidgeGhost wrote:In my experience, hill country with a high number of good bedding points is extremely hard to find good sign in. They have too many options and dont leave much sign at any one location. You'll have to look for the next limiting factors. If the ridges have a military crest, look there. Next, find which ridges are thickest or have the best thick cover in close proximity. If food is spotty(acorns), find the food and then work back to the best bedding options near food. If pressure is high, this will help keep the bucks in the best bedding and possibly make them easier to predict and find. In low pressure, they dont feel a need to bed as defensively and can be anywhere. They'll still tend to like those military crests on ridge points, but which one?
I am finding a lot of white oak, but from my findings all acorns are from last season. Really haven’t found any fresh acorns and especially not isolated. I think I may need to focus on thick browsing areas with bedding features.
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Re: Where will a buck bed Hill Country?
If you’re trying to find them right now as warm as it is they won’t bed as far from nighttime food sources as they will when it’s cooler. Look for thicker cover near or in the top of draws. Daytime travel during this time is very limited so don’t worry about lack of sign they won’t be putting much down. Start with the food source and work your way back using the lowest terrain feature for bedding travel corridors.
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