Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
-
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:25 am
- Status: Offline
Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
Was wondering if any of you folks had experience with hunting hill country locations you could only access from the bottom. Part of my family farm here in NY are two parcels that are split by a hollow road, and we can only access these pieces from that hollow road. The parcels are steep opposing hill sides that have a few different shelves before you ultimately get to the top of the ridge. Deer bed on the military crests and ridge tops as you would think, and frequently move back and forth between the two sides. After years of trying to dissect how these pieces fit together and how the deer use them, I've ultimately decided that our best bet from our access is to hunt the first major shelf on each side and give the deer the tops in attempt to hunt the interchange.
Wondering what your guys' thoughts are. I have stands at the tops of the opposing ridgetops but they are 1-2 a year roll the dice kind of spots I only really try to hit for the firearm opener to make them really count.
Wondering what your guys' thoughts are. I have stands at the tops of the opposing ridgetops but they are 1-2 a year roll the dice kind of spots I only really try to hit for the firearm opener to make them really count.
- Bud TN
- Posts: 129
- Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2017 3:50 am
- Location: Southeast Tennessee
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
My first thoughts are to get your chainsaw out and create some more preferred bedding away from your preferred access routes. I recommend Dr. Jim brauker's book on "extreme deer habitat". It is a virtual book with reading, linked videos and photos.
There is a whole world of habitat development you can get into to enhance your property. It can consume you just as much or more than scouting or hunting.
I have used this on my 11acres at my house and I have had Way better than expected success after implementing it! I hunt at my house to offset my short public land hunting seasons. It does take time to create and implement a plan, but it's very fun and addictive once you start. It's also another way to get the family out in the woods with you!
If I owned a large farm, I would definitely be developing it for deer habitat!
I must emphasize to read,learn and start with a plan first! You can't uncut a tree. But it's not as hard as you think.
But I think to start would be to discourage bedding near the areas you enter and create bedding in areas where you do. Also I would try to screen your entry trails to cut there lines of sight. Clean and rake your trails to the dirt to make you quieter. A leaf blower and "round up" work great for that.
I would start with a plan with your goals in mind then work from there. There are lots of factors you must consider when making a plan. If you don't want to, there are several developers out ther that can help at a price of course.
Either way, Good luck and hope this gives some food for thought!?!
There is a whole world of habitat development you can get into to enhance your property. It can consume you just as much or more than scouting or hunting.
I have used this on my 11acres at my house and I have had Way better than expected success after implementing it! I hunt at my house to offset my short public land hunting seasons. It does take time to create and implement a plan, but it's very fun and addictive once you start. It's also another way to get the family out in the woods with you!
If I owned a large farm, I would definitely be developing it for deer habitat!
I must emphasize to read,learn and start with a plan first! You can't uncut a tree. But it's not as hard as you think.
But I think to start would be to discourage bedding near the areas you enter and create bedding in areas where you do. Also I would try to screen your entry trails to cut there lines of sight. Clean and rake your trails to the dirt to make you quieter. A leaf blower and "round up" work great for that.
I would start with a plan with your goals in mind then work from there. There are lots of factors you must consider when making a plan. If you don't want to, there are several developers out ther that can help at a price of course.
Either way, Good luck and hope this gives some food for thought!?!
-
- 500 Club
- Posts: 776
- Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2016 9:00 am
- Location: SE Ohio
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
I would take a hard look at the terrain and see if you can use a ditch or point to stay out of sight of the suspected bedding and move slow. You will need to take the wind and thermals into account also.
Get as close as you can without blowing them out and you are more likely to have an opportunity in daylight.
The best hunts are in places where the buck thinks he has the area covered and You slip in and set up without him knowing.
Get as close as you can without blowing them out and you are more likely to have an opportunity in daylight.
The best hunts are in places where the buck thinks he has the area covered and You slip in and set up without him knowing.
-
- 500 Club
- Posts: 2735
- Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:43 am
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
In my opinion you have the best scenario. Entering from the bottom from a road is the best case scenario in hill country in my opinion. I would hunt that in the morning
- Bud TN
- Posts: 129
- Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2017 3:50 am
- Location: Southeast Tennessee
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
tim wrote:In my opinion you have the best scenario. Entering from the bottom from a road is the best case scenario in hill country in my opinion. I would hunt that in the morning
I agree with Tim, early in the morning cool air will still be falling in your favor when entering from below. When the sun hits and the warm air rises is when you have to plan your routes via terrain features more carefully. This all must still be considered in addition to the prevailing wind at the time your heading to you stand.
-
- 500 Club
- Posts: 4576
- Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:26 am
- Location: IA
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
Yea I agree with Tim I like to come in from below too in the morning. If there are any ditches that are clear enough to follow up the side hill, those can be great ways to slip in with minimal impact. I will say it depends if food is up on top or down below of course for access in the morning...
When coming in from below, how thick it is and how big the hills are have a significant impact on gettting in undetected too. Big 200+ foot bluffs its easier to come in, same with dense cover. Still have to worry about thermals but at least you don't have deer seeing you from 200 yards away approaching maybe like you might from a gentle 100 foot tall hill thats more open/post leaf drop.
When coming in from below, how thick it is and how big the hills are have a significant impact on gettting in undetected too. Big 200+ foot bluffs its easier to come in, same with dense cover. Still have to worry about thermals but at least you don't have deer seeing you from 200 yards away approaching maybe like you might from a gentle 100 foot tall hill thats more open/post leaf drop.
- Scratchman
- Posts: 295
- Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2017 12:50 am
- Location: VT
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
Jdw wrote:I would take a hard look at the terrain and see if you can use a ditch or point to stay out of sight of the suspected bedding and move slow. You will need to take the wind and thermals into account also.
Get as close as you can without blowing them out and you are more likely to have an opportunity in daylight.
The best hunts are in places where the buck thinks he has the area covered and You slip in and set up without him knowing.
I hunt this scenario 90% of the time. If you can find a stream to walk up in the dark that is money. Little scent trail, cover sound, and visual cover. Even if its just a babble it will have a ditch with it.
"I could eat shlapjacks every day of the weeksh, eh." Jimmer Nagamanee from Menominee
- Big Ben
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Wed Apr 05, 2017 10:57 pm
- Location: Central MN & Western WI
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
I hunt a spot like this in Minnesota! I access from below via small river/creek. Hip boots and about half mile walk and I pop up into a oak woods. Years past I would access this piece of land from above and never had any luck seeing deer. Although my trail cams were packed with good bucks! Looking back at picture dates and historical weather the bigger deer only bed there on a NW wind. So accessing from above they were smelling me and not to mention so many small twigs on the ridge it was impossible to walk quietly. Good morning spot catching them getting a drink before heading to bed.
- thepennsylvanian
- 500 Club
- Posts: 564
- Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2018 2:46 am
- Location: SW Pennsylvania
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
If your only access is from the hollow road, which i'm assuming in the bottom of the draw, you can only enter from the bottom on both sides. Here in PA we hunt similar areas, when your pressure is from the top the deer will bed on the lower third of the hill, when the access is from the bottom they tend to stick to the 1/3, as is typical. Now given that you have a number of benches running these hillsides i would recommend you check out "power of a bench" thread by singing bridge, there's a lot of good info there about hunting these benches.
Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.
- flinginairos
- 500 Club
- Posts: 931
- Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 7:11 am
- Location: WV
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
Most of my spots setup this way. I liked to uses drainages that dump off the side of the ridge for access. If I can follow that right to a tree to hunt from its money. One of my best spots sets up like this and I can get in/out with no deer busting me. I would suggest preparing access like this in the spring and clear out any obstacles so you can sneak up them quietly.
-
- 500 Club
- Posts: 522
- Joined: Sun May 14, 2017 2:10 am
- Location: Missouri
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
I've had much better luck accessing these type spots, in the AM. Rarely, can I get in there in the PM's w/o spooking deer. I usually hunt high in the AM's and low in the PM's.
-
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:25 am
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate everyone's insight!!
Couple things to add on; I've been really pretty successful in this area in the past few years, including having shot my biggest to date there last year. With food plot work, tsi, hinge cutting etc. I have been able to define deer movement much better than when I first started hunting this property that is for darn sure. But I know I am missing some small piece of the puzzle, as I have a two deer in particular turning 5.5 and 6.5 that I have tremendous picture history of (including day time) that continue to dupe me every year... One in particular with a crazy split eyeguard on one side - he's the devil. You all have just reinforced my wanting to reinvent my access via more creekbeds, ditches, gulleys etc.
Thanks again guys.
Couple things to add on; I've been really pretty successful in this area in the past few years, including having shot my biggest to date there last year. With food plot work, tsi, hinge cutting etc. I have been able to define deer movement much better than when I first started hunting this property that is for darn sure. But I know I am missing some small piece of the puzzle, as I have a two deer in particular turning 5.5 and 6.5 that I have tremendous picture history of (including day time) that continue to dupe me every year... One in particular with a crazy split eyeguard on one side - he's the devil. You all have just reinforced my wanting to reinvent my access via more creekbeds, ditches, gulleys etc.
Thanks again guys.
-
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:25 am
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
thepennsylvanian wrote:If your only access is from the hollow road, which i'm assuming in the bottom of the draw, you can only enter from the bottom on both sides. Here in PA we hunt similar areas, when your pressure is from the top the deer will bed on the lower third of the hill, when the access is from the bottom they tend to stick to the 1/3, as is typical. Now given that you have a number of benches running these hillsides i would recommend you check out "power of a bench" thread by singing bridge, there's a lot of good info there about hunting these benches.
You nailed it man. My father is retired and hunts every day, and isn't too careful with access most of the time. The buck I was referring to in the post before this that is the devil, I have so much photographic data of him that I am 95% sure he beds within eyeshot of the hollow road from this specific point on just about every type of S wind.
-
- 500 Club
- Posts: 7866
- Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 12:54 pm
- Location: Medon Tn
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
hambone wrote:I've had much better luck accessing these type spots, in the AM. Rarely, can I get in there in the PM's w/o spooking deer. I usually hunt high in the AM's and low in the PM's.
Curious?
Hunting high in am with buck hooking in from below upto bedding. Your falling thermal and entering from below chances are the bucks going to wind one of those and be on alert even if your a hundred yards one way or the other from his bed.
Why not hunt low then move uphill once sun hits the bottom floor? Try to kill the buck on the thermal drop then sneak uphill hunt high once thermals rise.
Never give up Freedom for imagined safety.
-
- 500 Club
- Posts: 522
- Joined: Sun May 14, 2017 2:10 am
- Location: Missouri
- Status: Offline
Re: Hill Country Bedding & "Bottom Up" Access
Tennhunter3 wrote:hambone wrote:I've had much better luck accessing these type spots, in the AM. Rarely, can I get in there in the PM's w/o spooking deer. I usually hunt high in the AM's and low in the PM's.
Curious?
Hunting high in am with buck hooking in from below upto bedding. Your falling thermal and entering from below chances are the bucks going to wind one of those and be on alert even if your a hundred yards one way or the other from his bed.
Why not hunt low then move uphill once sun hits the bottom floor? Try to kill the buck on the thermal drop then sneak uphill hunt high once thermals rise.
I've never had any problem with falling thermals in the AM. I usually hunt pretty high and hunt upwind above the head of a draw, (my entry) when hunting ridges. I have had rising thermals with little to no wind, mess me up though. In the evenings, I follow the falling thermals down the ridge. I rarely hunt down in a draw or creek bottoms, unless I can be sure of a steady wind.
-
- Advertisement
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: brodie1978, Google [Bot], wrusch and 48 guests