Hey, y’all! Just wanted to post and see if anyone could give me some of their thoughts on where some of these deer are bedding using a topography map. The red lines are heavily used deer trails. > On the right side of the small pond there is a bachelor group consistently every year. > The bottom two short red lines are a mystery to me. Usually there is a nice group of bucks and always a healthy doe group. My theory is they must be bedding close to the highway.
If the vegetative cover is consistent, topo would be helpful to ID bedding areas. But since you have areas of thick vegetation (such as clear cuts, overgrown farm fields, or whatever) with other areas of more open woods, I’d say the deer will bed in thick stuff, the thicker the better. i don’t know anything about hunting pressure, but I’d say they like the dark green on the knob just above (north?) of the label “East of Blue Ridge”, which is where some red lines come from. Also, predominant wind direction would be helpful information (northwest where i come from).
Here’s a Google earth map with a bit more current detail. The cut fields on the bottom right are a strong food source (beans & corn) every year. The cut over in the bottom middle has grown up and is super thick. I know they like thick stuff but I’d honestly be super surprised if they were to travel through that stuff. As for wind (the map is payed out properly, North being the top)... in this area we get a north wind Aug 31 - Nov 18 & a west wind Nov 18th - Feb 2.
Backcountry Navigator has pretty decent topos...OnX Maps topo feature is horrible. Check our the spurs, cover edges and the high topographical edges.
Question... early season pre-bachelor group breakup, those bucks are coming from the right side of that pond and are traveling down that field edge. Do y’all think they’re bedding down in that bitten behind the pond? Would love to get your opinions.
The stars I placed on your photo is where I would expect to see bucks bedding based on the Topo of the area. Bucks like to make beds along the side of elevation gains with the wind coming from behind them while facing the fields. They feel secure this way, they can scent anything behind them that’s approaching in the woods and look out at the field for anything approaching. Check the areas with the stars. Pay close attention to any trees that are down or really thick brush in those areas.
I really like OnX maps, I don't dislike them at all...but there topo layer sucks and that's perfectly fine with me, I don't use OnX for there topo's, I use it for property research.
This is what a **** topo with little detail looks like....and this is what nice detailed topo of the same spot looks like. If you routinely find and kill mature buck using maps and terrain, you can easily see a BIG difference in these two maps.
Reading the maps are like reading a book, they tell a story. It's being able understand a sort of language, so to speak. And the devil's in the details when it comes to translation. Something as simple as "Do or Don't" can completely change the meaning and make or break a hunt.
