Hunting the Terrain; small scale

[ozzz]

We talk a lot about hunting the terrain. Whether it be looking for certain terrain features that may cause deer to bed in a certain area or terrain features that cause deer to move in a certain way whether it be early/rut/late.

I think a lot of time its easier to see this on maps/chunks of land with bigger terrain features. These larger features may have a larger effect but what about the more subtle features? What about land that doesnt have large or drastic terrain/vegetation chenges but does have some subtle ones?

Here is an example of a property I struggle with some in this regard. There are some terrain and vegetation features but nothing huge that sticks out (to me).

Thoughts/experiences on this?

This example has some more drastic terrain near the ponds but what about the rest of it or how the water areas may affect movement elsewhere.

What do you guys see?

[dan]

The subtle spots are harder to see from ground level, but generally the deer still bed based on elevation and transition. Much easier to see with maps like the one you posted. LOOK for high spots, swampy or wet spots ( highest and lowest ) and look for high sots up against fields / openings, of fingers/points of timber brush jutting out into an opening or different type of vegetation.
Looking at your map, if I were to ignore all the elvation near the ponds as you asked, I would quickly notice the slightly higher spot on the edge of the field that I marked with a red dot... If there is not a lot of pressure in that spot I would expect a good chance of a buck bedding there watching the field on a south wind...
The spot I marked with a blue dot marks a slightly higher spot on a south pointing finger. I would suspect north wind bedding there.
The last spot I marked in pink is a finger with no elevation pointing east... West winmd bed is suspected.

[mheichelbech]

Dan, what was it about those specific spots that jumped out at you versus other similar spots on that map?

[dan]

Dan, what was it about those specific spots that jumped out at you versus other similar spots on that map?

Red dot: They like to bed facing a field with wind to back. The high spot ends perfect at the edge of the field for south wind bedding.

Blue dot: Same as red except its an opening rather than a field, and would be for a north wind.

Yellow dot is a point ( hard to see now that I put a dot on it ) that would be good for a west wind.

[Schubox1265]

Red dot: They like to bed facing a field with wind to back. The high spot ends perfect at the edge of the field for south wind bedding.

Dan, isn't the red dot actually in a depression, with those tick lines pointing into the center of the contour line?