Best land contours to hunt

[Fur & Feathers]

What land contours are the best? I have rolling hills mostly here. I have always concentrated my hunting efforts to 2 types of land. Ridges & stream bottoms (swamps). These are the areas where the most sign seems to be. Of course these areas are the only ones I concentrate on by habit. Maybe there is some other land contour that is better. Just wondered what you guys prefer when looking for a stand or blind site. I am probably missing other good areas because of my ridge,swamp habit. I would appreciate any knowledge you have. Also like to hunt where hardwoods meet evergreens.

[JD Jones]

All that sounds good. But for the definate answer, let me say "it all depends."
Up here deer and most everything else beds on sun facing slopes in cool to cold weather. Mainly slopes with a great range of visibility. Where do they bed in your area? A well used bedding ground can be productive if you get there first, and pay a great deal of attention to wind patterns.
Here watering spots are fairly good. Most stuff _has_ to water, but too, most do it at night.
Just let yourself see the country from outside the box, from the games point of view. They are there(you've seen sign) now the only problems are to get in the same place at the same time, and hold steady.
JD

[chris4570]

South facing hills/slopes are ideal bedding areas, especially when it is cold. But what is cold to us is not necessarily cold to a deer. Other factors also come into play:wind direction, percipitation, breeding, food sources, hunting pressure.

If you have a doe in heat walking around you may have a buck show up anywhere. My friend nearly hit a doe with his truck as she crossed a road, when his son looked back a buck was hot on her trail. A couple seconds sooner he would have had a doe, a couple seconds later he would have had a buck!

A good bedding area, one that offers protection from the elements, and predators(two and four-legged) is an area that can be a good starting point. Thick brush that is noisy(hard to walk in without alerting the residents), cuts the wind down, offers good vision looking out, and keeps the water off their back(although a deer may bed in a field of head high grass under favourable wheather conditions) is ideal. Scout! Find an area where you hunt that looks impossible to get through, doesn't have to be very big, and think to yourself 'If I was a deer and wanted to stay alive would I use this place?' From a bedding area you may find trails that lead to food sources, water holes, breeding territory,etc. This is one place to start.

[PRB]

I hope this helps in addition http://www.fieldandstream.com/fieldstre ... 38,00.html http://www.fishandgame.com/2004articles ... scrape.htm I did a google search. I typed in "The best place to hunt bucks". There is alot more info on there. Good luck