Approach in hill country
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Approach in hill country
I would like to hear your thoughts on approach to a stand in hill country. If you had available access to the Lee ward side of a hill from below the hill and above it, what would be the best approach? Approaching from above with a just off wind and hunting above the cruising trail trail or approaching from below with the wind in your face and hunting below the cruising trail?
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Re: Approach in hill country
When I hunt my property in hill country I access from the top and drop down into the stand spot. less intrusion this way. My reasoning is this.....I hunt this spot during the rut, bucks are cruising the thermal tunnel on the leeward side. My observations over many years place the thermal tunnel lower on the hill in the a.m. The thermals are not sucking up the hillside in the early am. If I would access from the bottom a buck would detect my scent lower on the hillside easier. As the morning pushes on I see the tunnel set up higher and higher on the hillside.
occasionally I will get a dumb buck cruising on the top third very early in the am. most of the travel is lower in the early morning tho. most of the big stuff i have killed from that stand was on the bottom third of the hill early.
occasionally I will get a dumb buck cruising on the top third very early in the am. most of the travel is lower in the early morning tho. most of the big stuff i have killed from that stand was on the bottom third of the hill early.
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Re: Approach in hill country
I know some people like using washouts to access. Full of blow downs and deer won't hit your ground scent.
Otherwise I agree with jeff. Some guys I know over in buffalo county that own 600 acres lease an additional 40 simply for access. They own the bottoms and the sides of the ridge, but not the top. As soon as they leased the 40 and started accessing that way, they started putting down big bucks. And multiple ones every year. Before that, they might get one big one every couple of years.
Here's a couple threads on entry and exit to a stand if you want a good read
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31976
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=261
Otherwise I agree with jeff. Some guys I know over in buffalo county that own 600 acres lease an additional 40 simply for access. They own the bottoms and the sides of the ridge, but not the top. As soon as they leased the 40 and started accessing that way, they started putting down big bucks. And multiple ones every year. Before that, they might get one big one every couple of years.
Here's a couple threads on entry and exit to a stand if you want a good read
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=31976
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=261
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Re: Approach in hill country
Jeff G what a great answer! Jeff helped me understand thermals better and it has got me on some great bucks.
Get creative w it, to me there isn't a correct way other than not letting that buck get your scent or scent trail. Satellite beds and does are key so you kow what you can get away w . You take what you got and work w it the best you can. Another thing is stealth and easy walking for little sweat, it gets tough sometimes. Some of the best spots require certain weather conditions to attack them. OnE thing that helped me was letting someone else draw access routes to a spot, it really opened my eyes to different ways.
Get creative w it, to me there isn't a correct way other than not letting that buck get your scent or scent trail. Satellite beds and does are key so you kow what you can get away w . You take what you got and work w it the best you can. Another thing is stealth and easy walking for little sweat, it gets tough sometimes. Some of the best spots require certain weather conditions to attack them. OnE thing that helped me was letting someone else draw access routes to a spot, it really opened my eyes to different ways.
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Re: Approach in hill country
Jeff G wrote:When I hunt my property in hill country I access from the top and drop down into the stand spot. less intrusion this way. My reasoning is this.....I hunt this spot during the rut, bucks are cruising the thermal tunnel on the leeward side. My observations over many years place the thermal tunnel lower on the hill in the a.m. The thermals are not sucking up the hillside in the early am. If I would access from the bottom a buck would detect my scent lower on the hillside easier. As the morning pushes on I see the tunnel set up higher and higher on the hillside.
occasionally I will get a dumb buck cruising on the top third very early in the am. most of the travel is lower in the early morning tho. most of the big stuff i have killed from that stand was on the bottom third of the hill early.
Does this mean that for an all day sit, you might start lower on the hill at first light, and then maybe make a move higher up the hill mid-morning or later?
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Re: Approach in hill country
soilguy wrote:Jeff G wrote:When I hunt my property in hill country I access from the top and drop down into the stand spot. less intrusion this way. My reasoning is this.....I hunt this spot during the rut, bucks are cruising the thermal tunnel on the leeward side. My observations over many years place the thermal tunnel lower on the hill in the a.m. The thermals are not sucking up the hillside in the early am. If I would access from the bottom a buck would detect my scent lower on the hillside easier. As the morning pushes on I see the tunnel set up higher and higher on the hillside.
occasionally I will get a dumb buck cruising on the top third very early in the am. most of the travel is lower in the early morning tho. most of the big stuff i have killed from that stand was on the bottom third of the hill early.
Does this mean that for an all day sit, you might start lower on the hill at first light, and then maybe make a move higher up the hill mid-morning or later?
You could start lower in the a.m. I have done that before and moved up the hill later in the day. Most of the time I pick a tree that will allow me shots below and cover the top as well. I prefer to stay more towards the top third because I don't want to put anymore scent in the area than I have to. Also depends on the hill side. If you pick a spot and stay all day, you need to be able to cover the entire hill.
My preferred access is from the top. If I didn't have top access I would walk up a draw.
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Re: Approach in hill country
Jeff G wrote:soilguy wrote:Jeff G wrote:When I hunt my property in hill country I access from the top and drop down into the stand spot. less intrusion this way. My reasoning is this.....I hunt this spot during the rut, bucks are cruising the thermal tunnel on the leeward side. My observations over many years place the thermal tunnel lower on the hill in the a.m. The thermals are not sucking up the hillside in the early am. If I would access from the bottom a buck would detect my scent lower on the hillside easier. As the morning pushes on I see the tunnel set up higher and higher on the hillside.
occasionally I will get a dumb buck cruising on the top third very early in the am. most of the travel is lower in the early morning tho. most of the big stuff i have killed from that stand was on the bottom third of the hill early.
Does this mean that for an all day sit, you might start lower on the hill at first light, and then maybe make a move higher up the hill mid-morning or later?
You could start lower in the a.m. I have done that before and moved up the hill later in the day. Most of the time I pick a tree that will allow me shots below and cover the top as well. I prefer to stay more towards the top third because I don't want to put anymore scent in the area than I have to. Also depends on the hill side. If you pick a spot and stay all day, you need to be able to cover the entire hill.
My preferred access is from the top. If I didn't have top access I would walk up a draw.
This perfectly describes the day I killed my hill country buck last season. I started out low and moved up thru the day by sneaking up a draw. My third tree of the day positioned me perfectly for my eventual kill.
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Re: Approach in hill country
Okay... I can follow that. So lets say you're targeting a bedding area out on a point. You would walk the ridge top towards the point to approach to a "safe" distance, and then drop off the side and to your upper third range and set up?
I'm a newbie here, and haven't gone back trough all of the archives yet so I apologize if I'm asking something that's been discussed to death already.
So I've picked up from Dan's podcats, videos, etc, that the upper third, leeward side of the ridge is the ticket. In the areas I hunt, there's always good trails with rubs and buck sign right on the summit of the ridge. Is that not a concern for you, or is that not the case in areas you are hunting?
I'm a newbie here, and haven't gone back trough all of the archives yet so I apologize if I'm asking something that's been discussed to death already.
So I've picked up from Dan's podcats, videos, etc, that the upper third, leeward side of the ridge is the ticket. In the areas I hunt, there's always good trails with rubs and buck sign right on the summit of the ridge. Is that not a concern for you, or is that not the case in areas you are hunting?
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Re: Approach in hill country
soilguy wrote:Okay... I can follow that. So lets say you're targeting a bedding area out on a point. You would walk the ridge top towards the point to approach to a "safe" distance, and then drop off the side and to your upper third range and set up?
I'm a newbie here, and haven't gone back trough all of the archives yet so I apologize if I'm asking something that's been discussed to death already.
So I've picked up from Dan's podcats, videos, etc, that the upper third, leeward side of the ridge is the ticket. In the areas I hunt, there's always good trails with rubs and buck sign right on the summit of the ridge. Is that not a concern for you, or is that not the case in areas you are hunting?
Yes, I would sit the side on the thermal tunnel. catch him getting back to his bed late in the morning, or catch him when he leaves the bed in the evening. Plus you are in the correct spot for rut cruising.
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Re: Approach in hill country
To you guys changing spots due to moving thermals, How far of a distance are we talking? My hills are ranging from about 1725' elevation to 2000'. Are you moving 100 feet? 300 feet? From top 1/4 to bottom 3/4? Do you still think the additional ground scent and the noise made is worth the move?
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Re: Approach in hill country
Still trying to figure this all out myself but I think it's a great topic. I think access depends on the situation. Early in the morning yes thermals may still carry your scent up the hill but if all you have is lower access then you could still find a way to access a hill under the cover of darkness and then close the distance on a bed. It seems like most people prefer to access from the top due to more stable winds plus bucks will often be watching the downwind side of their bed which will often be below them. Ditches/creeks and lots of blowdowns can also help block your access from the view of a bedded deer. Additionally in early season you have leaf cover to help limit a deer's sight but do not have this luxury later in the season. I don't know if there is one good way to access in every scenario in hill country and different scenarios could call for different tactics/approaches. Like I said many guys access from the top but I know guys like JoeRE and some others have been successful in certain situations accessing from the bottom. Get creative and try to figure out a way to avoid their sight picture and avoid the wind/thermals hitting their nose. Also keep in mind whether you expect them to be bedded or traveling to bed. If they are on their way back to bed and hit your ground scent they may be a lot more wary when accessing their bed or shift their bedding for that day. I think a thread with pictures of random hill country topography and then showing different potential access to stand sites would be awesome and really illustrate the creativity amongst beast members who hunt hill country but I'm not tech savvy enough to pull that off.
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Re: Approach in hill country
Whitetailaddict wrote:Still trying to figure this all out myself but I think it's a great topic. I think a thread with pictures of random hill country topography and then showing different potential access to stand sites would be awesome and really illustrate the creativity amongst beast members who hunt hill country but I'm not tech savvy enough to pull that off.
Here's a blank slate to do some examples. I marked a few examples of how i approach some setups. I have to come in from the bottom more than tops because of private. I showed some examples of both. The ones on the right are more tricky but thought it would be good to show that as well since that setup would favor the buck, especially coming in from the top since it's inline behind him.
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Re: Approach in hill country
cbay wrote:Whitetailaddict wrote:Still trying to figure this all out myself but I think it's a great topic. I think a thread with pictures of random hill country topography and then showing different potential access to stand sites would be awesome and really illustrate the creativity amongst beast members who hunt hill country but I'm not tech savvy enough to pull that off.
Here's a blank slate to do some examples. I marked a few examples of how i approach some setups. I have to come in from the bottom more than tops because of private. I showed some examples of both. The ones on the right are more tricky but thought it would be good to show that as well since that setup would favor the buck, especially coming in from the top since it's inline behind him.
Thanks cbay. I especially like this since the topography is very similar to area that I hunt. I can see the subleties of the approach, like putting a gentle roll of the topography between the buck and your approach.
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Re: Approach in hill country
soilguy wrote:Jeff G wrote:When I hunt my property in hill country I access from the top and drop down into the stand spot. less intrusion this way. My reasoning is this.....I hunt this spot during the rut, bucks are cruising the thermal tunnel on the leeward side. My observations over many years place the thermal tunnel lower on the hill in the a.m. The thermals are not sucking up the hillside in the early am. If I would access from the bottom a buck would detect my scent lower on the hillside easier. As the morning pushes on I see the tunnel set up higher and higher on the hillside.
occasionally I will get a dumb buck cruising on the top third very early in the am. most of the travel is lower in the early morning tho. most of the big stuff i have killed from that stand was on the bottom third of the hill early.
Does this mean that for an all day sit, you might start lower on the hill at first light, and then maybe make a move higher up the hill mid-morning or later?
I have started hunting lower in the AM and moving up the hill after thermals start to kick in, in a few of my spots where I have been observing bucks down low the 1st hour then up high later... And, I agree with Jeff, high approach is usually better.
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Re: Approach in hill country
Jeff G wrote:soilguy wrote:Okay... I can follow that. So lets say you're targeting a bedding area out on a point. You would walk the ridge top towards the point to approach to a "safe" distance, and then drop off the side and to your upper third range and set up?
I'm a newbie here, and haven't gone back trough all of the archives yet so I apologize if I'm asking something that's been discussed to death already.
So I've picked up from Dan's podcats, videos, etc, that the upper third, leeward side of the ridge is the ticket. In the areas I hunt, there's always good trails with rubs and buck sign right on the summit of the ridge. Is that not a concern for you, or is that not the case in areas you are hunting?
Yes, I would sit the side on the thermal tunnel. catch him getting back to his bed late in the morning, or catch him when he leaves the bed in the evening. Plus you are in the correct spot for rut cruising.
Mornings bed hunting I would expect the buck to enter the bed coming in from below...
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