# Question about hunting the high country



## ddhunter (Jul 17, 2011)

I have read numerous articles and posts pertaining to locating mule deer in the high country. A great deal Of them mention how you should focus your efforts on the northwest slopes. my question is have you guys seen any consistency with that holding much truth. so far my experience has been they are rather scattered across the mountain side.


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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

NW slopes might be better areas for bedding (especially during the warmer months), but I think you'll see them congregate in places with food, cover, etc... regardless of slope aspect.


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## ddhunter (Jul 17, 2011)

I put my hypothesis to the test and spent the last day and half up around 10,000 feet. I'm going with slope means nothing. In fact of the fourteen bucks I saw not a single one was on a north west slope. Small groves of trees with lush grass near by is the ticket. P.S. I found the buck that I'm going to be chasing and if I had the elk tag I found him too


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## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

I've been doing a lot of research and I have learned, through what a master of deer has taught me!! 
Big bucks bed and feed in a TOTALLY predictable way and his beds can be located almost entirely by the wind, thermals, cover, and view of his surroundings.
I never thought it was this easy but it really is, now killing them is not at all easy. They bed and feed in this manner because it makes them almost impossible to kill. 

A buck is going to make his main bed at the ravine base up higher than the to ridges that form it, this creates an amplified sound area. Then he will want to bed at the base of cover with it behind him and the wind at his back. He can now hear and see out front and smell what is blowing over the ridge from behind. The thermal will be carrying the sent from the sides of the ridges in front of him and converging with the wind from behind him, and that is where he will bed. He prolly won't move 100 yards during the day but he will snack all day. Setting up 100 yards from a situation like this is not easy!!

Look for areas that meet that situation and you will find a primary and what I call a generational bed, it will be worn down into the dirt and may have layers of old hair. Bucks will use that exact bed for 100 years because it is a perfect safe zone and the dominant buck is the one who will get it.

Anyone else observe this. Like I said this is not my idea but something I learned from a master!! I'm just starting to look for them and everytime it holds true so far for me!!


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## JuddCT (Sep 7, 2007)

I was watching this today on a west slope. See him?









Here is a better view through my binocs with my camera (sorry I didn't have anything to stabilize):


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