Gun Hunting Hill Country

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Country
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Gun Hunting Hill Country

Unread postby Country » Thu Nov 21, 2013 5:56 am

In the Hill Country DVD, they were utilizing a prevailing hill side to overlook a leeward hill side. Is the benefit of doing this that you can see more of the leeward ridge from a distance without alerting the deer?

Also, I imagine it would it be better to be high up on the prevailing ridge so you're not shooting up the leeward ridge; keeping in mind the whole "know your target and beyond" rule....right?


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Re: Gun Hunting Hill Country

Unread postby Crazinamatese » Thu Nov 21, 2013 7:10 am

Set up on the prevailing hillside, you should be downwind watching the leeward hillside across where deer will mostly be hanging out to stay out of the wind and/or to stay warm in the sun. Thats why I love leeward hillsides facing south. Winds out of the north or NW are usually associated with strong cold fronts. I noticed my last hunt in gusty winds up to 30 mph out of the NW, deer were concentrated about one third toward the bottom of the leeward south facing hillside. I was to high up over a cruise trail on a primary elevation line a little over two thirds up the hillside watching all the action below where the wind was pretty much non existent. I didn't have a prevailing hillside to set up on. I assume my scent stream was blowing way over them. They didn't seem to pick any of my scent up that day. I figured setting up on that cruise trail about two thirds up would be ideal on a south wind so bucks can scent check the wind and thermals rising from the bottom of the hillside and draws.
Last edited by Crazinamatese on Thu Nov 21, 2013 7:25 am, edited 8 times in total.
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Re: Gun Hunting Hill Country

Unread postby Crazinamatese » Thu Nov 21, 2013 7:12 am

CountryJoe wrote:In the Hill Country DVD, they were utilizing a prevailing hill side to overlook a leeward hill side. Is the benefit of doing this that you can see more of the leeward ridge from a distance without alerting the deer?

[glow=red]Also, I imagine it would it be better to be high up on the prevailing ridge so you're not shooting up the leeward ridge; keeping in mind the whole "know your target and beyond" rule....right?[/glow]


I would agree with this.
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Re: Gun Hunting Hill Country

Unread postby Country » Thu Nov 21, 2013 7:51 am

Crazinamatese wrote:Set up on the prevailing hillside, you should be downwind watching the leeward hillside across where deer will mostly be hanging out to stay out of the wind and/or to stay warm in the sun. Thats why I love leeward hillsides facing south. Winds out of the north or NW are usually associated with strong cold fronts. I noticed my last hunt in gusty winds up to 30 mph out of the NW, deer were concentrated about one third toward the bottom of the leeward south facing hillside. I was to high up over a cruise trail on a primary elevation line a little over two thirds up the hillside watching all the action below where the wind was pretty much non existent. I didn't have a prevailing hillside to set up on. I assume my scent stream was blowing way over them. They didn't seem to pick any of my scent up that day. I figured setting up on that cruise trail about two thirds up would be ideal on a south wind so bucks can scent check the wind and thermals rising from the bottom of the hillside and draws.


Cool, I did not know that about N/NW winds. So do you mean the deer were concentrated more toward the bottom third of the ridge then? Thanks for the advice.
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Re: Gun Hunting Hill Country

Unread postby Crazinamatese » Thu Nov 21, 2013 8:06 am

CountryJoe wrote:
Crazinamatese wrote:Set up on the prevailing hillside, you should be downwind watching the leeward hillside across where deer will mostly be hanging out to stay out of the wind and/or to stay warm in the sun. Thats why I love leeward hillsides facing south. Winds out of the north or NW are usually associated with strong cold fronts. I noticed my last hunt in gusty winds up to 30 mph out of the NW, deer were concentrated about one third toward the bottom of the leeward south facing hillside. I was to high up over a cruise trail on a primary elevation line a little over two thirds up the hillside watching all the action below where the wind was pretty much non existent. I didn't have a prevailing hillside to set up on. I assume my scent stream was blowing way over them. They didn't seem to pick any of my scent up that day. I figured setting up on that cruise trail about two thirds up would be ideal on a south wind so bucks can scent check the wind and thermals rising from the bottom of the hillside and draws.


Cool, I did not know that about N/NW winds. So do you mean the deer were concentrated more toward the bottom third of the ridge then? Thanks for the advice.


Im not sure if they were that far down because they wanted to stay as much out of strong cold wind. Where I was set up, the wind was blustery. Where they were toward the bottom of the hill, they wind was only skimming the tree tops above.
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Re: Gun Hunting Hill Country

Unread postby Bucky » Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:15 am

If pressure is heavy on tops... bucks end up in bottoms fyi

Or they will use bottoms and drainages to move to safe zones

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Last edited by Bucky on Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Gun Hunting Hill Country

Unread postby bowhunter15 » Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:15 am

Every time I've ever been in hill country if you're hunting across the valley you can never really shoot to the other side because it's so cluttered. Even if there's not that many trees on the other side, you still have all those treetops that overlap as you go up the hills and create a mess to try and shoot through.

I noticed my last hunt in gusty winds up to 30 mph out of the NW, deer were concentrated about one third toward the bottom of the leeward south facing hillside. I was to high up over a cruise trail on a primary elevation line a little over two thirds up the hillside watching all the action below where the wind was pretty much non existent. I didn't have a prevailing hillside to set up on.


This is about my exact set up for this weekend with the same wind. Now I have more confidence in it :D
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Re: Gun Hunting Hill Country

Unread postby dan » Thu Nov 21, 2013 10:28 am

1st off you have to be quite the shot to pull it off at ranges of 400 yards or more, and you need to range the distance, know your bullet drop, and calculate in windage. The hillside your looking at should be a hillside bedding occurs on, and the woods need to be mature in order to be able to see the deer. If its low light at all a little twig you can't see may deflect your shot, and even in full light its hard to see a twig across a valley...


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