WNC Hunters: Rivers Bottoms Funnel Deer?

Doc

Twelve Pointer
Thanks for the insight. I don't imagine deer are freezing during the hunting season from temperatures alone, but I do imagine they would want shelter from the wind regardless. From what I can dig up, prevailing wind in WNC is NW? Meaning deer might want to bed on S/SE slopes? I find that most south slopes in my area are open hardwood, with little cover. I'm just trying to narrow down my scouting a bit.

Yes. Prevailing wind during fall here is mostly some type of Northerly wind... Textbook would put them bedding up high on a southerly slope, but as we all know, nothing is 100% in deer hunting... Sometime hard to find consistent bedding in mountains due to literally unlimited amounts of bedding spots, and not much competition for the best bedding spots... In my experience, southern slopes tend to have more mtn laurel, while northern slopes tend to be choked in rhodo... i'd rather walk through laurel than a rhodo jungle... also, northern slopes are dang cold!
 

alt1001

Old Mossy Horns
In my experience, southern slopes tend to have more mtn laurel, while northern slopes tend to be choked in rhodo... i'd rather walk through laurel than a rhodo jungle... also, northern slopes are dang cold!

Doc brings up something good that I need to rephrase about my initial post. Many mountain folk like myself, do not differentiate Laurel, Rhodo or Ivy when describing it. A lot of old timers call all of it Ivy, some like myself call all of it Mountain Laurel, and some differentiate each (Although very closely related, yes the Rhodo and Laurel are their own separate plants). You'll hear terms like 'Ivy Hell' or 'Laurel Hell'. Those refer to the jungles that Doc was describing. When I said the Laurel is more dense on the north facing slopes, it is these jungles that I was referring to.
 

appmtnhntr

Twelve Pointer
Doc brings up something good that I need to rephrase about my initial post. Many mountain folk like myself, do not differentiate Laurel, Rhodo or Ivy when describing it. A lot of old timers call all of it Ivy, some like myself call all of it Mountain Laurel, and some differentiate each (Although very closely related, yes the Rhodo and Laurel are their own separate plants). You'll hear terms like 'Ivy Hell' or 'Laurel Hell'. Those refer to the jungles that Doc was describing. When I said the Laurel is more dense on the north facing slopes, it is these jungles that I was referring to.

Or, when it's just so bad you CANT get through it... The old timers just call it "The Badgrounds"
 

alt1001

Old Mossy Horns
I don't imagine deer are freezing during the hunting season from temperatures alone, but I do imagine they would want shelter from the wind regardless.

No, there is no temperature cold enough in NC to deter a deer however I do wonder if they have preference in the winter here in the mountains. Feeding and consuming energy is the primary way a deer stays warm and in a depleted Appalachian winter forest where that may prove to be a challenge, you have to factor in that moving to a south facing slope may supplement how little they consume. As for the prevailing wind, W/NW is your best bet however just like today, it is not always a constant especially in the fall/winter.

http://hint.fm/wind/

http://climate.ncsu.edu/cronos/?station=FLET
 
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alt1001

Old Mossy Horns
Or, when it's just so bad you CANT get through it... The old timers just call it "The Badgrounds"

That's a new one for me but it definitely fits. I'd rather have a tooth pulled than try to navigate those thickets with a pack and bow.
 

PewPewPew

Button Buck
Take a day when it has snowed 1-4 inches and the deer will show you with their tracks which trails and benches they use.

I did just that.

I found 6 beds, all of which were on north facing slopes, overlooking steep slopes. Two were in Rhododendron patches, and the other 4 were in open hardwoods. Where the ridge top was pasture, the beds were probably only 25-40 yards into the hardwoods. So close to the pastures, that I think it would be difficult finding a tree to hang a stand, without being on top of the bed.

I'm convinced that other than logging roads, benches do not naturally occur where I am. I did however find a good deal of 2' wide flattened out deer trails at about the 1/4 elevation.

I covered a good deal of lower elevations and bottoms. I was not impressed with the amount of tracks I found down low. Even in 10 year old clear cuts, there were not nearly as many tracks as up top. The river bottoms had some tracks, but they did not follow the river flats any significant distance before heading up a slope.

I found that if I was walking "the path of least resistance", I was on top of coyote tracks. Inside draws, beside rivers, open paths, lower elevations, ect. Very rarely did I found coyote tracks near deer tracks, and I where I found beds, there were no coyote tracks to be found. Kind of obvious, but it was interesting to see after staring at the snow for 5 hours and a few miles.
 
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