Favorite hill country terrain features

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Moccasin Hunter
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby Moccasin Hunter » Fri Apr 07, 2017 4:40 pm

Interesting, I am just wondering how each of you would define benches and saddles. I have nioticed that we sometimes have local and regionally different ideas about what these features look like! Would like to see some discussion on this, maybe even some topo examples.


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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby Clink » Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:58 am

Moccasin Hunter wrote:Interesting, I am just wondering how each of you would define benches and saddles. I have nioticed that we sometimes have local and regionally different ideas about what these features look like! Would like to see some discussion on this, maybe even some topo examples.

Ditto
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby Cuzzinfish » Wed Apr 12, 2017 4:55 am

JMAR85 wrote:I want to hear from all the hill country gurus as to what their favorite hill country terrain features are during the rut.


There were a few features that hunted well during the rut where I grew up in WV. My favorite was an oak covered bench high on the inside of a bowl. The back of the bowl was also a saddle. It was the best chasing spot I ever hunted. On one 3 hour morning hunt, I saw 7 bucks chasing and, unfortunately, shaved the hair off a 12 point's belly. Spend lots of time wishing I could get back there, but hasn't worked out yet.
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby pewpewpew » Thu Apr 13, 2017 7:48 am

I'm not so sure "benches" are a naturally occurring terrain feature, unless it is accompanied by a rock cliff. In my experience, what most people refer to as benches is really just an abandoned logging road. In my case, benches are small logging roads, just 8 feet across. Some have retained their shape better than others, and none of them show up on topo maps. I've never hunted a bench, but I have ran trail cams on them. I tend to think if a deer is walking up a slope and it hits a bench, it will stop and rest on the bench and reassess it's surroundings. I think of it as one of us hiking up a steep hill, sweating, panting, and finding a flat spot to take breather on.

Good topic here, let's keep it up.
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby Moccasin Hunter » Thu Apr 13, 2017 8:36 am

pewpewpew wrote:I'm not so sure "benches" are a naturally occurring terrain feature, unless it is accompanied by a rock cliff. In my experience, what most people refer to as benches is really just an abandoned logging road. In my case, benches are small logging roads, just 8 feet across. Some have retained their shape better than others, and none of them show up on topo maps. I've never hunted a bench, but I have ran trail cams on them. I tend to think if a deer is walking up a slope and it hits a bench, it will stop and rest on the bench and reassess it's surroundings. I think of it as one of us hiking up a steep hill, sweating, panting, and finding a flat spot to take breather on.

Good topic here, let's keep it up.
I agree. Here is a topo with labels of what I consider benches & saddles. I'm not saying this is absolutely correct it's what I consider them to be. I believe you're correct about the logging roads acting as benches,they are good features. The feature I marked as a bench is just a flat narrow extension of a ridge top. In my region saddles are sometimes refered to as high gaps. This can be confusing when you discuss these features with folks that "aint from around here" :lol: Image
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby Moccasin Hunter » Thu Apr 13, 2017 8:45 am

pewpewpew wrote:I'm not so sure "benches" are a naturally occurring terrain feature, unless it is accompanied by a rock cliff. In my experience, what most people refer to as benches is really just an abandoned logging road. In my case, benches are small logging roads, just 8 feet across. Some have retained their shape better than others, and none of them show up on topo maps. I've never hunted a bench, but I have ran trail cams on them. I tend to think if a deer is walking up a slope and it hits a bench, it will stop and rest on the bench and reassess it's surroundings. I think of it as one of us hiking up a steep hill, sweating, panting, and finding a flat spot to take breather on.

Good topic here, let's keep it up.
what region of the country are you hunting in, if you don't mind my asking? By the way look at the sinkhole feature just N of the bench, these are fairly common here and the rims of the holes can funnel deer.
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby pewpewpew » Thu Apr 13, 2017 11:59 am

Moccasin Hunter wrote:
pewpewpew wrote:I'm not so sure "benches" are a naturally occurring terrain feature, unless it is accompanied by a rock cliff. In my experience, what most people refer to as benches is really just an abandoned logging road. In my case, benches are small logging roads, just 8 feet across. Some have retained their shape better than others, and none of them show up on topo maps. I've never hunted a bench, but I have ran trail cams on them. I tend to think if a deer is walking up a slope and it hits a bench, it will stop and rest on the bench and reassess it's surroundings. I think of it as one of us hiking up a steep hill, sweating, panting, and finding a flat spot to take breather on.

Good topic here, let's keep it up.
what region of the country are you hunting in, if you don't mind my asking? By the way look at the sinkhole feature just N of the bench, these are fairly common here and the rims of the holes can funnel deer.


Western NC. There aren't too many folks on here hunting Appalachia, I'll have to shoot you a PM. There is a hunter named Steve Flores from WV that seems to know his stuff.

I would have thought that sink hole was a ridge top. I guess I'm looking at the topo backwards.
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby brkissl82 » Thu Apr 13, 2017 12:54 pm

I guess maybe ill take it one step further.....what would b ur favorite terrain feature for buck bedding and favorite for rut hunting?
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby Mario » Fri Apr 14, 2017 5:36 am

I used to hunt this area and figured out a pattern during rut. There was a small dense area at the end of one ridge on the property. This area always seemed to hold doe bedding. Since it connected to the main ridge line that ran the property I found that bucks would cruise this actively during rut. I even witnessed bucks corral doe in this area several times during the day. I marked on the map in yellow where I had encounters with or killed a buck, 5 out of the 7 marks were kills. There is really only one spot that I could identify as a primary buck bedding spot. And it was very hard to hunt do to its location and line of site from my access to the property. I witness immature bucks sparing and go to bed in that location, and kicked one mature buck out of that location during my years hunting this spot. In blue is where I have typically seen buck traffic over the years on a regular basis, with the traffic increasing during the rut. Smaller bucks would be seen chasing in the fields, but anything with some age on it would always stick to that ridge line running from the SW corner to the NE corner (roughly).

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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby Bonehead » Tue Mar 13, 2018 4:59 am

pewpewpew wrote:
Moccasin Hunter wrote:
pewpewpew wrote:I'm not so sure "benches" are a naturally occurring terrain feature, unless it is accompanied by a rock cliff. In my experience, what most people refer to as benches is really just an abandoned logging road. In my case, benches are small logging roads, just 8 feet across. Some have retained their shape better than others, and none of them show up on topo maps. I've never hunted a bench, but I have ran trail cams on them. I tend to think if a deer is walking up a slope and it hits a bench, it will stop and rest on the bench and reassess it's surroundings. I think of it as one of us hiking up a steep hill, sweating, panting, and finding a flat spot to take breather on.

Good topic here, let's keep it up.
what region of the country are you hunting in, if you don't mind my asking? By the way look at the sinkhole feature just N of the bench, these are fairly common here and the rims of the holes can funnel deer.


Western NC. There aren't too many folks on here hunting Appalachia, I'll have to shoot you a PM. There is a hunter named Steve Flores from WV that seems to know his stuff.

I would have thought that sink hole was a ridge top. I guess I'm looking at the topo backwards.
See the little tick marks ? That indicates a depression or hole.
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby Jeff G » Tue Mar 13, 2018 8:29 am

thermal tunnel across from wind blown doe bedding
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Tue Mar 13, 2018 8:48 am

My favs are created with the Lake as a restriction and somewhere along the shoreline I look for a pinch coming from oposite direction. Could be a pond, open pasture, creek, fence, old farm house etc... Hunt this with wind blowing out to lake, enter by boat. If that pinch is inbetween doe bedding u have hit the mother load cause u can hunt it numerous times and wait one out.
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby jman22 » Tue Mar 13, 2018 10:05 am

Saddles and benches. I have two properties that have old logging trails that act as benches toward the top 1/3 elevation that I've always had good success/sightings from, especially during the rut. I see a lot of bucks cruising those trails and scent checking the thermal currents and all the doe trails that run perpendicular to the bench.
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby brancher147 » Tue Mar 13, 2018 1:07 pm

Areas where multiple terrain features come together near bedding, especially when cliffs are a factor.

Areas with multiple points and multiple bedding areas for different winds with a common terrain feature connecting between them to hunt.

I don't have any one favorite. It has to be the right combination in the right area.
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Re: Favorite hill country terrain features

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:13 am

near areas with lots of drainages meeting together that look like a saw blade usually find the biggest buck beds and sign near drainages. they are tricky but worth it. I also focus on the steepest thickest stuff I can find it helps pinch down travel. basically on the edge of features that have the most difficult swirling winds.
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