timberwolf311 wrote:When bucks are bedding with their backs to a barrier, in this case one I assume they have no fear of a rear approach, whats the wind preference? I know we say that they like it over their backs and thermal to the face from the bottom in hill country. The ridge in question runs Nw to Se, with a thick ridge top of laurel that runs over a half mile. This laurel is 100% not traveled through. Its filled with large rocks and it is so tangled you cant move more than a few feet even crawling. The bucks appear to be bedding with this laurel to their backs and not really being inside the laurel. Very much edge bedding. The wind direction in October for this area is mostly out of the West, Nw, or Sw. The deer would need a direct north or direct south wind to bed either side of this ridge to have wind at the back and thermal in the face. They almost never get that, but with that ridge to their backs it wouldn't really be a big advantage to have the wind coming from that way anyways bc its a barrier. So will deer bed with these ridges to their backs, thermal from the bottom, and the wind coming from west? This should secure their backs with the barrier, feed the thermal from the bottom, and the wind from one of the other two directions?
The area circled in black is the barrier, ie the laurel and rocks.
I have to disagree with your assessment somewhat, I believe the bucks will prefer to bed there with a west, and even more so southwest wind. I have hunted and killed bucks on a similar NW to SE running ridge and I understand the laurel thickets you present.
Bridge
