Hill Country Approach and Set Up

[BCR1985]

Hi Gang,

I'm heading out to scout a new section of mountain property this weekend. It has a lot of potentially good terrain features and I've been playing with my topo maps to locate the best elevations for late October/early November cruising spots. I've broken it down to trying to find solitary buck bedding 1/3 from the top of a point on the leeward side. If I can find the buck bed that's 1/3 from the top of the hill overlooking a doe bedding area on the leeward side, it seems like I'm in business. Now the question is where do I set up? Not right on top of the bed because he'll bust me if I'm too close and not too far below the point because the thermals will bust me if he comes from above. Do I set up so that I'm positioned in a cross wind? How close/far should I be to the bed? I'm planning on doing it just like Dan recommends and just hunting the afternoon as its likely a big buck will already be bedded by the time I get to the stand. What would you do??

Thanks,

Ed

[dan]

Every bedding area is different. You need to look closely at the beds and the trails leading out of the beds. Follow those trails till you just out of sight, smell, and hearing, and set up.

[BCR1985]

Thanks Dan! Huge fan of your approaches to taking mature bucks. They have really helped me narrow down the areas to focus on and have definitely improved my game!

Ed

[cbay]

A tip on hill country beds, winds can be tricky. Going in on the same wind you plan to hunt and checking with milkweed when scouting can save a ton of frustration come season.

[Johnboy]

I also got a question on a setup.This past weekend I scouted and found an assumed buck bed about 100 yds above a food source of persimmons and white oaks with a trail leading down to the food from bed. This area also had old small rubs .The bed looked to be seasonal due to food source availability. All the signs of white hair and the impression into ground. The hair was under the leaf cover is why I'm assuming it might be a seasonal food bed The bed is on a SE facing slope(leeward) for NW wind. I have access by water to be able to setup in the food. My question is what's the best way to setup on this bed without the buck seeing me or smelling me from above? Would it be evening when thermals are dropping down the slope towards the water(lake) in the early season with leaf cover or is there another better time later in the season?

[Josh_S]

I also got a question on a setup.This past weekend I scouted and found an assumed buck bed about 100 yds above a food source of persimmons and white oaks with a trail leading down to the food from bed. This area also had old small rubs .The bed looked to be seasonal due to food source availability. All the signs of white hair and the impression into ground. The hair was under the leaf cover is why I'm assuming it might be a seasonal food bed The bed is on a SE facing slope(leeward) for NW wind. I have access by water to be able to setup in the food. My question is what's the best way to setup on this bed without the buck seeing me or smelling me from above? Would it be evening when thermals are dropping down the slope towards the water(lake) in the early season with leaf cover or is there another better time later in the season?

Can you post a topo with location of bed if possible?

[PK_]

Dots, beds. Arrows, wind. X, stand sites. Lines, entry routes.

Ideally you want the water, food or doe bedding (whatever destination) above or along same elevation. Killing a buck that drops downhill out of a bed in hill country is very tough especially with bow.

[Johnboy]

Dots, beds. Arrows, wind. X, stand sites. Lines, entry routes.

Ideally you want the water, food or doe bedding (whatever destination) above or along same elevation. Killing a buck that drops downhill out of a bed in hill country is very tough especially with bow.

That topo diagram is exact. The access above is where I would have trouble getting into. This place is about 1 1/2 miles back thru rough, steep beast country.

[BCR1985]

Thanks all for your help! Really appreciate it! I will try and upload a satellite/topo image of the area I'm scouting for y'all to see. In the meantime, I finally got up there yesterday. It's about a 2 hour drive from my house. I checked out the topos and satellite images beforehand to get a feel for the place. Some basics: its a state forest, 6700 acres. Virtually all mountain. highest elevation was a bit over 1500 feet. I started at the bottom with a wind coming out of the north. So I headed south up the hill. The wind was at my back and blowing straight up hill the entire time. I kept repeating in my head what Dan had said in his podcasts and videos: mature bucks will be active on the leeward side of a hill and will travel/bed within the wind tunnel that forms when thermals collide with wind coming over the top of the hill. When I reach the top of the hill, the wind was now blowing into my face from the south. So basically wind coming straight up at me from both north and south. I traveled down the south side and then the wind started shifting east/ne. So I followed it basically paralleling the mountains in an attempt to reach a downwind side. The whole time I had my milkweed out and checked wind direction along with my compass. Kept walking and tried to keep along the side 1/3 from the top. Found a lot of doe sign, but no beds on the south side of the hill, just a lot of trails crisscrossing with scat. (On my way up the mountain with the northwest wind at my back I came upon 2 sets of doe beds about 1/3 from the top (wind blowing right up hill and into the beds), basically on a point, marked them and kept going because a big buck wouldn't travel/bed with the prevailing wind blowing up to him. Did find a single bed above the doe beds which was downwind of them which I thought could've been a great spot to scent check those does, but again wrong side of hill.) Long story short, its a lot of country and was a bit frustrating when I got to the summit and now had a south wind hitting me in the face. I headed along the ridge about 1/3 from the top with the wind blowing basically out of the west/at my back in an attempt to find that leeward side. Unfortunately I ran out of day light and had to hike back down. Was this a good strategy? What am I doing wrong? I have a pretty good idea of where I am and the place doesn't seem to difficult to navigate, but once you're on foot on the top/side of a mountain it can get frustrating especially if when you get to the top you think the wind will just keep heading in the same direction lol. I need a better attack plan for hill country. (I did just buy 3 of Dan's dvd's today and am sure they will help)

[<DK>]

Dots, beds. Arrows, wind. X, stand sites. Lines, entry routes.

Ideally you want the water, food or doe bedding (whatever destination) above or along same elevation. Killing a buck that drops downhill out of a bed in hill country is very tough especially with bow.

One of the best ways I have heard someone describe it, great post PK

[RidgeGhost]

Dots, beds. Arrows, wind. X, stand sites. Lines, entry routes.

Ideally you want the water, food or doe bedding (whatever destination) above or along same elevation. Killing a buck that drops downhill out of a bed in hill country is very tough especially with bow.

I have a situation where a buck is bedded on the end of the highest point of a ridge. All food and water sources and doe bedding are below him. How do you attack that situation? Try to catch him coming back on a morning sit?

[PK_]

Dots, beds. Arrows, wind. X, stand sites. Lines, entry routes.

Ideally you want the water, food or doe bedding (whatever destination) above or along same elevation. Killing a buck that drops downhill out of a bed in hill country is very tough especially with bow.

I have a situation where a buck is bedded on the end of the highest point of a ridge. All food and water sources and doe bedding are below him. How do you attack that situation? Try to catch him coming back on a morning sit?

Oof.

There is just so much working against you in most of those setups. Trying to get under a big buck is usually extremely tough.

Sit in the bed and see how far he can see. If he is on the highest point, he can likely see all around and probably down to the bottom once the leaves drop. You may have to come in side hill behind another point. Hopefully the buck drops down at an angle or turns at the bottom.

Just understand if he can see a long ways from the bed it is not real likely he reaches a spot that he cant see before it's dark.

Check a couple kill trees just out of sight. Use milkweed on the winds you would hunt those exact trees and see where it goes (this will change from day-dusk). The swirling winds and thermals down low are extremely tough to deal with. Some guys slip into the kill tree after the thermals start to drop, this is tough but can be killer. I have never attempted that myself.

If you gun hunt I would save these types of beds for then. The loner range levels the playing field somewhat. Though most older bucks move even shorter distance before dark once the gun pressure hits. So yea, probably won't be easy. Lol

[JoeRE]

Excellent map PK.

Where the other deer are bedding is a big issue in areas with high deer densities. Like where I hunt. That may be the single biggest factor in why I do a lot of morning bed hunts. I simply cannot get close in the evening in many places past all the other eyes and noses. I will bump them in a safe direction if possible but sometimes that doesn't work. That is one thing positive for hunters in low deer density areas - after you find a good buck (the hard part) that is less of a concern.

Approach from below can be an option in the bigger hills. If the buck cannot see all the way to the bottom then all you need to worry about is keeping your scent to one side. In those situations I like to climb up a ditch/ravine off to one side and pop out at the right elevation. Depends a lot on cover, pre or post leaf drop as well but I have found once the hills get 200-300 foot tall and fairly steep, its less often that deer can see anything at the bottom of the hill.

[PK_]

Excellent map PK.

Disclaimer, that original map with bed locations/wind direction was posted by Dan. I just added the entry and stand sites

[JoeRE]

Excellent map PK.

Disclaimer, that original map with bed locations/wind direction was posted by Dan. I just added the entry and stand sites

Excellent map Dan and PK