Appalachian Mountain terrain and tactics

[Zona1]

Leeward side of the ridge, first bench down from the top is where you will find the most action. During gun season, bucks will seek out the laurel choked tops or terrain with over 25% slope. Basically where most people will not go.

[Catskills]

i saw two separate mature bucks in there last year and now i'm trying to work out how to get on them. trying to hunt them high in the morning during october seems like a futile effort. they move up in the dark to their beds so i'm starting to think i'm just educating them by hiking up in the morning and hunting. during the rut they'll be coming up later and bedding at lower elevations typically at the head of draws so they can scent check the thermals. evening hunts closer to the valleys seem like a better option but before the rut but they'll wait until last light to come down so you have to balance how close you can push up towards their beds without them seeing you and still having time to shoot. i made the mistake of shooting a doe out of a group on an evening hunt around halloween last year and sure enough, a nice buck came walking behind the group about a minute later and all i can do was watch him. live and learn i guess.

I am fairly new to hunting but I did see a buck getting back late to bed last year on 9/29 at 8:30am while still hunting for squirrels. After tons of reading since then I went on weather underground and looked if I could figure out why. Sure enough it was 15 degrees cooler that morning than the morning before. First cold front with that drastic of a change morning to morning I am hunting him. The plan is to be downwind of his bed hoping he is going to scent check it the same way he did last year. Opening day in NY is oct 1. I have seen him in the evening eating acrons as well so I am going to throw an evening sit at him. This buck is bedding 150-200 yds from the parking lot. I think he can see who is coming in but he can definitely hear who is coming from the lot. My plan for the evening is to park down the road a half mile (even though not technically legal) and walk around so he thinks nobody is around.

Using the Hunting Public as a motivation, I went in for a scout into a different area I found in late winter. 1.5 miles from the trailhead I followed a dry creek to a secondary point/ridge. Not sure the technical topography term for it. As I started to get close, the amount of poop and tracks increased. Saw some "3 and 4 finger tracks". Got closer and sure enough saw fresh rubs waist high. Followed the tracks right to his bed. From his bed you could clearly see why he was laying there. When I got there I could see his different escape routes. A lot of rain here recently so lots of soft dirt for tracks. Cannot wait for oct 1. I am thinking I didn't booger the spot too bad because it may be 10-12 days in between this scout and when I get to hunt him.

[pewpewpew]

i found and read through this thread last night. this is why i signed up on this website to find stuff like this. you don't see this type of info anywhere else.

my primary experience is hunting the valley and ridge topography of the blue ridge. these linear ridges and valleys are miles long mainly running in a SW-NE direction. typically one side of the ridge down to the valley will be private and the other side Jefferson National Forest. public hasn't been logged in years so it's almost exclusively mature hardwoods. there is very little in the way of crop agriculture in the valleys due to soil conditions so it's primary used as pasture for cattle. the deer are living off of browse and mast for the most part. access is out of the valleys almost exclusively so if you want to get above deer for a morning hunt you have got to get in early and be ready to hike.

it took me 3 years of bowhunting it before i killed a doe on a morning sit and it felt like i had shot a booner. i finally feel like i understand what the does primarily do and can pattern them. if it's dry i look for water. along with water i'm looking for the path of least resistance which can be very subtle on a topo map but very effective when you find it.

i saw two separate mature bucks in there last year and now i'm trying to work out how to get on them. trying to hunt them high in the morning during october seems like a futile effort. they move up in the dark to their beds so i'm starting to think i'm just educating them by hiking up in the morning and hunting. during the rut they'll be coming up later and bedding at lower elevations typically at the head of draws so they can scent check the thermals. evening hunts closer to the valleys seem like a better option but before the rut but they'll wait until last light to come down so you have to balance how close you can push up towards their beds without them seeing you and still having time to shoot. i made the mistake of shooting a doe out of a group on an evening hunt around halloween last year and sure enough, a nice buck came walking behind the group about a minute later and all i can do was watch him. live and learn i guess.

Thanks for sharing. Very similar to my observations. Hay fields for miles, almost no crops. The only pattern I find is something I refer to as the “first field”. Basically if you have hundreds of acres of timber, deer will seek the closest field to them at dark. I think they bed everywhere. I personally don’t think hunting a specific bed is worth my time.

[RidgeGhost]

Thanks for sharing. Very similar to my observations. Hay fields for miles, almost no crops. The only pattern I find is something I refer to as the “first field”. Basically if you have hundreds of acres of timber, deer will seek the closest field to them at dark. I think they bed everywhere. I personally don’t think hunting a specific bed is worth my time.

That's interesting. I completely disagree with that. It has changed everything for me. I'm not at all saying you're wrong, just saying it's different for me. I wonder why it doesn't work in your area? I will agree that they will move beds a lot and that you may be hunting a cluster of beds vs. a single defined bed.

[pewpewpew]

Thanks for sharing. Very similar to my observations. Hay fields for miles, almost no crops. The only pattern I find is something I refer to as the “first field”. Basically if you have hundreds of acres of timber, deer will seek the closest field to them at dark. I think they bed everywhere. I personally don’t think hunting a specific bed is worth my time.

That's interesting. I completely disagree with that. It has changed everything for me. I'm not at all saying you're wrong, just saying it's different for me. I wonder why it doesn't work in your area? I will agree that they will move beds a lot and that you may be hunting a cluster of beds vs. a single defined bed.

The most beds I’ve located in one place, or cluster, is maybe 4. I’ve ran trailcams over these beds for months. I’d say on average the beds are occupied by a buck a total of 45 minutes in a week... day AND NIGHT.. and I’ve seen fawns bed in “Buck” beds with rubs directly next to it. I’ve never found a worn down bed like a crater. I’ve tried to compare wind history to when bucks used these beds and couldn’t even find a pattern there. 50/50 windward vs leeward.

There are very very few crops where I hunt. I think the bucks are nomadic and do not have a bed to feed pattern. Also pressure isn’t crazy, so I don’t think there is a “sanctuary” as you might see in the Midwest.

Cover is king in my eyes. Thick, green, nasty, open canopy. I don’t see that as bed hunting though. It’s where I find deer will walk in daylight. Whether there is a bed in there is almost irrelevant to me. This habitat I’m referring to is probably 5% of the landscape.

The beast has really helped me find beds. I went crazy finding them. I’ve found them in every landscape possible. Open timber, blow downs, points, in goldenrod, brush, clover fields. The common denominator to me is good habitat, not necessarily where the beds are.

[Benny]

bump. Really enjoy reading this thread and learning a lot.

[PAridgerunner2]

I have noticed something in my 40+ years of mountain hunting that I have not seen discussed here yet. I agree with Dan's observation about deer bedding in the upper 1/3 elevation. Unquestionably true I have seen it myself , his wind and thermal reasoning was an ahha moment for me because it explained why I was seeing deer there. So here's my observation, I have noticed that this bedding takes place on southern and eastern slopes a majority of the time in the mountains. I have seen it enough that I will scout these slopes first if possable, all other factors being equal. I believe this is because of the rising sun in the east. It warms these slopes first and the winter sun in the southern sky keeps them warmer all day. This reason even goes along with the wind thermal explanation. The warmer slopes will produce stronger and earlier thermals and southern and eastern slopes are the leeside the majority of the time here in the east. In a nutshell, look where the snow melts first on the leeside. Has any one else seen this? Maybe I just have an overactive imagination!

This may be a fort night since this this topic was discussed, but I’m just now coming acrossed it and thought it was worth awakening! I too see this predominant bedding on southern and eastern slopes. The thermals like you said seem to pull more, and I’m not sure if this was covered later on in the thread, but I’ve also noticed these slopes align with the predominant wind (NNW) that we see here in south central PA.

[Moccasin Hunter]

I have noticed something in my 40+ years of mountain hunting that I have not seen discussed here yet. I agree with Dan's observation about deer bedding in the upper 1/3 elevation. Unquestionably true I have seen it myself , his wind and thermal reasoning was an ahha moment for me because it explained why I was seeing deer there. So here's my observation, I have noticed that this bedding takes place on southern and eastern slopes a majority of the time in the mountains. I have seen it enough that I will scout these slopes first if possable, all other factors being equal. I believe this is because of the rising sun in the east. It warms these slopes first and the winter sun in the southern sky keeps them warmer all day. This reason even goes along with the wind thermal explanation. The warmer slopes will produce stronger and earlier thermals and southern and eastern slopes are the leeside the majority of the time here in the east. In a nutshell, look where the snow melts first on the leeside. Has any one else seen this? Maybe I just have an overactive imagination!

This may be a fort night since this this topic was discussed, but I’m just now coming acrossed it and thought it was worth awakening! I too see this predominant bedding on southern and eastern slopes. The thermals like you said seem to pull more, and I’m not sure if this was covered later on in the thread, but I’ve also noticed these slopes align with the predominant wind (NNW) that we see here in south central PA.

I have seen this for years in my region of Virginia. I feel sure that the warm slopes influence bedding to some degree. I've seen it too much to discount it. I think that the primary influence is wind and thermals, but when the temperature drops I look to the warmest part of the lee sides. I don't think this phenomenon has nearly as much effect in the early fall as I see bedding on slopes facing in all directions. But give me a rifle on a bitter cold day here in my region and I'll be headed to the sunny side of the mountain looking for the right wind. And yes the predominant wind here is from the (W) or (NW) so that does make the eastern and southern slopes the lee side the majority of the time.

[brancher147]

I have noticed something in my 40+ years of mountain hunting that I have not seen discussed here yet. I agree with Dan's observation about deer bedding in the upper 1/3 elevation. Unquestionably true I have seen it myself , his wind and thermal reasoning was an ahha moment for me because it explained why I was seeing deer there. So here's my observation, I have noticed that this bedding takes place on southern and eastern slopes a majority of the time in the mountains. I have seen it enough that I will scout these slopes first if possable, all other factors being equal. I believe this is because of the rising sun in the east. It warms these slopes first and the winter sun in the southern sky keeps them warmer all day. This reason even goes along with the wind thermal explanation. The warmer slopes will produce stronger and earlier thermals and southern and eastern slopes are the leeside the majority of the time here in the east. In a nutshell, look where the snow melts first on the leeside. Has any one else seen this? Maybe I just have an overactive imagination!

This may be a fort night since this this topic was discussed, but I’m just now coming acrossed it and thought it was worth awakening! I too see this predominant bedding on southern and eastern slopes. The thermals like you said seem to pull more, and I’m not sure if this was covered later on in the thread, but I’ve also noticed these slopes align with the predominant wind (NNW) that we see here in south central PA.

I have seen this for years in my region of Virginia. I feel sure that the warm slopes influence bedding to some degree. I've seen it too much to discount it. I think that the primary influence is wind and thermals, but when the temperature drops I look to the warmest part of the lee sides. I don't think this phenomenon has nearly as much effect in the early fall as I see bedding on slopes facing in all directions. But give me a rifle on a bitter cold day here in my region and I'll be headed to the sunny side of the mountain looking for the right wind. And yes the predominant wind here is from the (W) or (NW) so that does make the eastern and southern slopes the lee side the majority of the time.

I have seen the same thing in Eastern WV. Most of the time that I see textbook hill country upper 1/3 leeward bedding will be an east or south facing slope. This is really the only aspects that gets rising thermals and leeward wind with any consistency. The west or north facing slopes where I hunt are so steep and even most west slopes have a NW aspect that they very rarely get any rising thermals, and an east wind only happened once this hunting season that I can remember. What I see on the west and north windward slopes are more big woods type bedding with wind and cover to back looking into more open woods, again usually upper 1/3. The windward bedding will usually be on a military crest same as leeward, but bucks will lots of times be bedding west wind to back looking uphill instead of looking downhill as they would on the leeward side.
A lot of times I will see mature bucks bedding windward on the west side, especially when the east side is mature open timber with no understory. The west sides I hunt are typically steeper, rockier with cliffs, and thicker with mountain laurel and get less hunting pressure due to those things. Or a buck may bed leeward summer and early bow season, but with even the slightest hunting pressure he will head over to the windward side for bedding in the cliffs and laurel, usually wind and cover (laurel) to back looking up the ridge into more open woods. Windward bedding in this manner is the same general principal as leeward bedding without the thermal tunnel, but I very rarely see a true consistent thermal tunnel in the mountains under any conditions-that is more of a hill country occurrence.

[PAridgerunner2]

Such great insight fellas. I too have seen instances of windward bedding. But I believe it’s specific to the situation and not usually the norm. For instance, I see it in a few mountains around here, my theory being all of the access comes from the top. I’ve seen and found beds facing the access trip that runs the top of the mountain vs facing downward.

Just like Dan says, nothing is certain, it’s very situational. Around here there is a great deal of mt laurel, and lays right at or slightly below the upper 1/3. Above the laurel is open hardwoods, and below the Laurel is a steep drop down into hardwood bottoms. I’ve seen time and time again bucks bed on the low side of the laurel, putting them about 1/2 down the mountain vs. the upper 1/3. Has anyone else seen this?

There is also a lower secondary ridge chains that runs the length of the mountains around here and hold most of the bedding during the season as opposed to the big mountain that is above, or it may just be easier to find. My theory is if the deer don’t get crazy pressured in archery like they will in rifle season, there’s no need for them to go vertical and get lost in the bigger mountains until that rifle time of year. Anybody see anything similar?

[flinginairos]

Such great insight fellas. I too have seen instances of windward bedding. But I believe it’s specific to the situation and not usually the norm. For instance, I see it in a few mountains around here, my theory being all of the access comes from the top. I’ve seen and found beds facing the access trip that runs the top of the mountain vs facing downward.

Just like Dan says, nothing is certain, it’s very situational. Around here there is a great deal of mt laurel, and lays right at or slightly below the upper 1/3. Above the laurel is open hardwoods, and below the Laurel is a steep drop down into hardwood bottoms. I’ve seen time and time again bucks bed on the low side of the laurel, putting them about 1/2 down the mountain vs. the upper 1/3. Has anyone else seen this?

There is also a lower secondary ridge chains that runs the length of the mountains around here and hold most of the bedding during the season as opposed to the big mountain that is above, or it may just be easier to find. My theory is if the deer don’t get crazy pressured in archery like they will in rifle season, there’s no need for them to go vertical and get lost in the bigger mountains until that rifle time of year. Anybody see anything similar?

Yep. I have a spot like this and I see bucks bed lower. I honestly think they bed in that spot closer to the creek in warmer weather because it's cooler than the top of the hill. Pressure is another factor too because an access road comes in from up top and no doubt pushes them down if it's used a lot. Every situation is a little different and if you get it in your head its the same way every time in every area you will really limit your success.

[NYBackcountry]

I live and hunt the Cumberland plateau. I've not been a dedicated beast hunter but have had success with it in the past. I've not been able to consistently locate primary beds in my area. I've found 3 or 4 and they have all resulted in an encounter with a buck. All of these beds have been located just under the top of the mtn or ridge. Mainly against rock bluffs or walls. They'll tuck in between rocks that have fallen off the bluff and the actual bluff. They don't usually have any sight advantage at all. One particular bed is between a tree stump and a bluff wall. There's only enough room for a deer to lay down between it. He can't see anything when his beds in there and I don't see how he uses wind to his advantage with it being against the wall. It seems to me that the wind blows 20ft over his back. I assume the bed is hearing based. It is about 80 yards from a well used road on the area and no one hunts it. I went in last year to check it and kicked a buck out of it. He let me get within 20 ft before he bolted. I never got an opportunity to hunt it last year but I will be there opening day this year.

Another thing I've noticed here is that deer bed under the rock outcroppings like crazy. If there's a small over hang, I'll bet my paycheck there's a bed under it. I've sat a camera or two out at these spots but they only seem to hit them during heavy rains and then it's mainly does.

I love hunting the mtns, but the older I get, the more my knees and back tell me to look for flat land. Lol. We're somewhat lucky here in the fact that we're allowed to use atvs. Where they are not allowed, you can still use them to retrieve deer.

I see this same thing in the Mountains I hunt. I've done a lot of thinking on the advantages something like this would provide, not being able to see great and all. I've come to the conclusion that the terrain in this spot gets so little pressure from people or predators that the main concern in shielding himself from the wind. A couple of the examples i'm thinking of, the buck is on the windward side of the mountain. The winds are typically very strong, constant pounding all day long. But he does have some wind advantage. What I usually see at those higher elevations is wind tends to follow the mountain around more than over, unless your at the very top. So wind will hit the windward side of the mountain and follow the edge around, that buck is essentially winding an entire side of the mountain while not being hit by the wind directly. Very tricky to access.

[Moccasin Hunter]

I have noticed something in my 40+ years of mountain hunting that I have not seen discussed here yet. I agree with Dan's observation about deer bedding in the upper 1/3 elevation. Unquestionably true I have seen it myself , his wind and thermal reasoning was an ahha moment for me because it explained why I was seeing deer there. So here's my observation, I have noticed that this bedding takes place on southern and eastern slopes a majority of the time in the mountains. I have seen it enough that I will scout these slopes first if possable, all other factors being equal. I believe this is because of the rising sun in the east. It warms these slopes first and the winter sun in the southern sky keeps them warmer all day. This reason even goes along with the wind thermal explanation. The warmer slopes will produce stronger and earlier thermals and southern and eastern slopes are the leeside the majority of the time here in the east. In a nutshell, look where the snow melts first on the leeside. Has any one else seen this? Maybe I just have an overactive imagination!

This may be a fort night since this this topic was discussed, but I’m just now coming acrossed it and thought it was worth awakening! I too see this predominant bedding on southern and eastern slopes. The thermals like you said seem to pull more, and I’m not sure if this was covered later on in the thread, but I’ve also noticed these slopes align with the predominant wind (NNW) that we see here in south central PA.

I have seen this for years in my region of Virginia. I feel sure that the warm slopes influence bedding to some degree. I've seen it too much to discount it. I think that the primary influence is wind and thermals, but when the temperature drops I look to the warmest part of the lee sides. I don't think this phenomenon has nearly as much effect in the early fall as I see bedding on slopes facing in all directions. But give me a rifle on a bitter cold day here in my region and I'll be headed to the sunny side of the mountain looking for the right wind. And yes the predominant wind here is from the (W) or (NW) so that does make the eastern and southern slopes the lee side the majority of the time.

I have seen the same thing in Eastern WV. Most of the time that I see textbook hill country upper 1/3 leeward bedding will be an east or south facing slope. This is really the only aspects that gets rising thermals and leeward wind with any consistency. The west or north facing slopes where I hunt are so steep and even most west slopes have a NW aspect that they very rarely get any rising thermals, and an east wind only happened once this hunting season that I can remember. What I see on the west and north windward slopes are more big woods type bedding with wind and cover to back looking into more open woods, again usually upper 1/3. The windward bedding will usually be on a military crest same as leeward, but bucks will lots of times be bedding west wind to back looking uphill instead of looking downhill as they would on the leeward side.
A lot of times I will see mature bucks bedding windward on the west side, especially when the east side is mature open timber with no understory. The west sides I hunt are typically steeper, rockier with cliffs, and thicker with mountain laurel and get less hunting pressure due to those things. Or a buck may bed leeward summer and early bow season, but with even the slightest hunting pressure he will head over to the windward side for bedding in the cliffs and laurel, usually wind and cover (laurel) to back looking up the ridge into more open woods. Windward bedding in this manner is the same general principal as leeward bedding without the thermal tunnel,but I very rarely see a true consistent thermal tunnel in the mountains under any conditions-that is more of a hill country occurrence.

I think you're right about this, but there is a lot of swirling and turbulence on the north and west sides when they are the lee sides. Several years ago hang gliding was very popular in the valley where I live. The pilots would always launch from cliffs and into the NW. Their biggest danger came from the downdrafts and swirling winds on the NW slopes. The winds from the east would blow through the high saddles and swirl around the ridge points meeting with the winds coming over the tops. If I remember right the pilots called this the vortex monster. Caused several crashes too. Someone said a few post back that they saw more bedding down lower on these slopes about halfway down I think under the laurel line and cliffs. I had a very good encounter in 2017 with a buck that was bedded just like this. I set up below him in the evening and waited for him in staging area. I let him get in too close and under my stand and he heard me move and bolted away

[Moccasin Hunter]

So here’s a hunting story from the 2018 season. Last spring when I was spring gobbler hunting I came across a really good bedding area on a point of a ridge. I followed an old logging trail leading away from the bedding around the side of the ridge and found it had a good rub line on it. A little farther on the trail forked into another skid trail forming a Y, both trails had old and new sign in them. I didn’t have my GPS with me so I just noted the site in my head. Later in the summer I went back to the area to pick a tree and get a GPS position on it. While I was approaching the point I heard a deer get up and leave its bed. That day I found large clumped droppings and big tracks in the original trail. I picked a tree in the Y where the trails forked and left. I didn’t go back until Oct 19th when the wind was right. By right I mean blowing down the point toward the bedding. I had an access route already planned on a topo, so the morning of the hunt I maneuvered downwind of the point and trail then turned strait up slope to my chosen tree. At about 8:00 AM I was standing up in my stand when I saw a little movement along the main log trail. I got my bow ready and waited when the movement finally started again it was a nice shooter coming into the Y in the trail he finally came into range and I slowly drew my bow but he stopped behind some thick stuff and locked up. I had the wind so I think he saw me draw. So it was a classic standoff for a minute until he slowly flicked his tail and backed up a few steps turned away and walked off in to the thick stuff giving me that slow tail wag
goodbye. What a thrill and a disappointment at the same time. I was elated that I had figured him out and got my opportunity. Up in November I caught him on a trail cam on the other side of the ridge in funnel that I monitor. Given my previous post I really think I need to work on stand positioning in relation to expected deer movement. This forum has increased my encounter rate with bucks like this so much that it's hard to believe sometimes. I'm just having a difficult time closing the deal when I see them. I've told some of you here that most of my experience has been with a rifle and I've just started bow hunting again in my late fifties. I am determined to be successful with a bow though. I was positioned down slope from him because of wind but I believe he spotted me because of being on almost the same level as I was. I would appreciate any input or ideas on how to avoid being picked off from up slope deer.

[backstraps]

"I was positioned down slope from him because of wind but I believe he spotted me because of being on almost the same level as I was. I would appreciate any input or ideas on how to avoid being picked off from up slope deer."

MH it sounds like you done everything right. Sometimes the execution is the part that gets away from us. For me just knowing the hunt was planned out correctly and the chance was there was for sure a win-win set.

As for the tree you picked out, its really hard to get away when you are hunting a slope and the buck is above you. IT takes everything to happen just right to not be detected. I try my best on slopes to always be on the up hill of where I expect the bucks to come from. If the only tree you have to hunt is going to be below his line of travel I simply go high as I can to try and be above him

Another in your story was he slowly left with the short goodbye wave of his tail... that deer knew something wasnt right there, but he was sure what. I bet that buck is still using that bed and will can get another crack at him.

Good luck with him!!