Favorite Terrain Features

[Trauma Guru]

Also in East central Missouri. I love the long, narrow ridges where the power lines are. That and creek crossings.

 

[Unknown]

Eastern Pa here. I look for edges where open timber transitions to thicker brushy areas, especially if it’s a ridge top.

 

[fatlander]

Downwind of a downwind trail adjacent to doe bedding areas from Halloween to Thanksgiving. It’s boring, until it’s not.


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[The_Dinkmaster]

Western Arkansas hunter here.

My most productive spots have been pinch points between two drainage heads, with one drainage on either side of a main ridge system with the drainages running perpendicular to the ridge. The area on top of the ridge between these two drainages tends to be a saddle as well, and often it will funnel deer into that area. They will still cross the drainages further down the mountain on either side though, so its not a fool-proof method.

I will say that these areas are not always productive year after year. It must be dependent on the food in the surrounding areas. Some years, Ill put a camera in this type of area and will get a lot of really nice deer. The next year, Ill put the camera in the same tree and get practically nothing. The only thing I can think is that the food dries up in that area and they move elsewhere. I try to find similar characteristics in other areas, but its not as common as you might think.

 

[KurtR]

Corn fields in south dakota

 

[WCB]

Corn fields in south dakota

I was going to say late season standing Beans next to bedding

 

[Beagle1]

The tops and bottoms of very steep ravines.

 

[Wolfshead]

Clear cuts.
Swamp edges, and cricks, streams, etc….
In new areas I always start with clear cuts and water.
Then the hard edges as has been mentioned.
Always seem to find sign at the tops of drainages as well.

 

[brancher147]

Don’t really have a favorite but always looking for compounding terrain features near bedding. Steeper and thicker is always good

 

[ddowning]

Western Arkansas hunter here.

My most productive spots have been pinch points between two drainage heads, with one drainage on either side of a main ridge system with the drainages running perpendicular to the ridge. The area on top of the ridge between these two drainages tends to be a saddle as well, and often it will funnel deer into that area. They will still cross the drainages further down the mountain on either side though, so its not a fool-proof method.

I will say that these areas are not always productive year after year. It must be dependent on the food in the surrounding areas. Some years, Ill put a camera in this type of area and will get a lot of really nice deer. The next year, Ill put the camera in the same tree and get practically nothing. The only thing I can think is that the food dries up in that area and they move elsewhere. I try to find similar characteristics in other areas, but its not as common as you might think.

I have one spot like this in Iowa. During the rut, it is the best stand I have ever hunted. The terrain here is micro compared to mountains, but there is 75' to 100' of drop on both sides. The thread is interesting. Iowa is nearly all private land. I don't get to look for specific features and hunt there. I have to look at the features I have available to hunt and figure out how to best utilize them. Finding a big picture funnel and then moving in and finding a micro-funnel close by is the name of the game for archery hunting.

 

[Coyote Commander]

If I’m on controlled access private I look at all the classic spots.

Primary saddles with large draws heading on both sides are always worth a look.

2-3 ridges intersecting.

Large benches with a hard funnel on one or both ends are good too.



When I’m on pubelick land though it seems all these “classic” places get hunted or at least get a lot of human traffic. And it doesn’t seem to matter how far back in they are anymore, there’s gonna be people there.

So I look more for secondary features just off the “good looking” feature.

I don’t see near as many deer anymore. But I see more mature bucks.

 

[ianpadron]

I've caught the whitey bug pretty bad the past couple years here in Northwest MT and I'm a beaver pond/swamp junkie.

We don't have ag land or acorns to concentrate deer in the national forests so I focus on these remote creeks with beaver activity. They seem to be magnets for deer year round! Last week I bumped a 170" buck out of his bed mid day and he swam across the main pond with 3 does actively walking across the dam. Saw zero other deer all day in the woods.

 

[Dr.Spaniel]

This is the tiniest of public wildlife slice near me. I have hunted it for 10 years. There is a big tall ridge, orange, that has a really big buck that holds there. Always find his rubs, but never his sheds, I’ve seen him a few times. In purple are two bucks I see together the last three seasons, have been watching them grow. Having seen them for that long, I can’t bring myself to knock one of them down. They run the edge of that field which is almost always in corn and KDWP leaves a lot of it. On the dam side of that pond I always see does, in blue and they always go up the hill towards big orange. Always ridges that move into a point. I really run the deer trails that run across the side of a ridge. There are usually three at least all spaced and running parallel across the ridge. Tracks on these show different sizes of animals that use a particular one of these trails. There are a bunch of feeder creeks into a larger one just east of this. The spots between two feeders are productive as well.

 

[ShortMagFan]

Downwind of this thickest cover I can find. Right now my hot spot is a point where two different ~15 acre clear cuts that are about five years old come together. Just to the north is a hardwood drain that runs east/west surrounded by overgrown cutover. I’ve got quiet and easy access thru plantation pines from the south. 3 shooters using that spot right now. Two of them daylighted over the last two mornings too. But the buck I want is like clockwork about 9p and 6a every day. Need him to break that pattern