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It seems like LiDar image quality is still inconsistent across the U.S. I'm hopeful it catches up in areas where the image quality is not so good because I like to travel to hunt several new places each year. Wishing you much success out there. I have one question for you. In the free version of CalTopo, can you click on the "Weather Stations" box, zoom out, then find a weather station on the map close to where you hunt and click on the light blue weather station dot. Does the free version give you current weather conditions? Just curious. Discovered this feature last night and I believe its great information because a lot of weather stations are found on public land and it is nice to have that local data vs. data from miles and miles away.

I cannot click on the weather stations. It actually has “Pro” next to it. I’ve been using wind finder for the past couple years and Spartan Forge has pretty good weather information. I do not hunt anything close to 58,000 acres. I live in MA and our public land is pretty small overall. I’m been trying to learn terrain techniques but it’s difficult to apply when all those features aren’t present. If that makes sense.

@ Wind Finder actually uses the same weather stations so your accuracy with that respect will be the same.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I shot him on 31 OCT 21, and that's late pre-rut. I've shot two on Halloween, two on 1 NOV, and one on 2 NOV in the last five years. I start with the hub scrape, the saddle scrape or the secondary ridge scrape, or a really good creek crossing where big tracks are at and then I try to follow a trail if its evident, but often its not. I try to connect the creek crossings and trails to scrapes in the nastier terrain and over time you'll find the rubs. I'm looking for the tendencies of the bigger bucks and its usually steeper or right on top of the steep stuff. I guess if you are following the trails for a given distance, you will find the rubs, and direction of travel can be both directions, coming and going, bed to feed, or bed to scrape if in the pre-rut. Sometimes the side of the rub gives direction of travel but more often than not, rubs will be hit from both sides so I use the logic that deer travel up the hill to bed in the mornings, and down the hill toward the bottoms in the evenings, and during the rut, you hunt rut funnels and places where a lot of topography and/or edge habitat comes together in one place. Great questions!

Well said, buddy.

Wow. Thank you, kind sir. I don't have FB, but my email is hillcountrybucks.farmlife@gmail.com. I would love to learn more about the temperature mapping you mention. Looking forward to learning something I had no idea about! Please get in touch.

That's a really good question. It was really open up on the topo hub and in the saddle. Basically, this place had been control-burned recently. I sat in the curve of that big ditch, and it was thicker by far than the tops. Andy actually saw 6 more does in the afternoon spots we hunted. I would definitely hunt spot 3 multiple sits, but on the right days which I have no idea the 'when' I need to be there part. Having only been there once, the sign we found was both generational and heavy big buck sign. I need more data and sits on the spot, though. All that sign was up on top and in the saddle. Andy's spot had sign on top and down near the tops of those drainages. When was the sign made (Oct, Nov?), and was it all at night? And how much pressure does this spot get? Part of me says I let this other guy who owns the trail camera have that spot and hope he gets the buck(s) that laid down all that sign. If spot 3 is left undisturbed, I believe bucks would cross there all during the pre-rut and rut, and it would be a place I would want to be with camera data telling me "when" to be there. Thanks, that was a great question.

@ great answer and keep the videos coming. Very informative. I’ve often wondered that too especially in the mountains where an area might be open, but because of little to no pressure, the Deer feel comfortable in the open. Then again you never know because the buck I shot this year walked across and open cut cornfield at 2 PM lol

I appreciate the kind words and I’m always happy to see hunters wanting to continue learning no matter the age. Go Dawgs!

I appreciate the kind words. It's great to know the information is helpful. Let me know if there's a video you would like to see, and if it's in my wheelhouse, I certainly try to accommodate it.

I appreciate that! Glad you are enjoying it, and more content is on the way!

Glad to help. Hopefully you will get a shot at that mature buck in the coming seasons and good luck the rest of this season! In N. AL, you've still got that late rut to chase!

I am glad to see these videos helping or at least providing a different perspective. It's pretty steep in some NC locations, but these concepts will work. Sometimes you will have to cut the mountain in half with the elevation changes you face, but concentrate on the upper half of the mountain for good morning spots, then shift to lower elevations for afternoon spots to catch the deer moving down.

Thanks for the comment and question. Mature bucks use the terrain differently, and for the most part doe and young buck trails are on the tops of ridges, the spines of secondary ridges, and in the middle of bottomland and hollows where the creeks are at. I try to focus attention on the more faint trails, especially those with mature buck sign and eliminate the doe trails off the map to reduce clutter. I still think about the doe trails while hunting to help avoid detection by does and young bucks, but I and more focused on and actively "looking" at mainly the buck trails so that I hopefully see him with enough time to get ready for a shot. Hope this helps.

@@HillCountryBucks_FarmLife interesting. Do you think a mature buck could travel those other deer trails and not leave sign?

@@country_gbrony721 Absolutely I do. I keep tabs on those trails because 2.5 and sometimes 3.5 year olds travel those trails, particularly after peak breeding has started and bucks are looking for the next doe in estrous. I monitor these trails while in the stand because mature does are sometimes the smartest deer in the woods. Good question.

@@HillCountryBucks_FarmLife that’s what I was thinking too. I’ve seen deer do things you wouldn’t expect so most of the time it’s just tendencies. You’re putting out some of the best topographical content I’ve seen in a long time. i’ve been using topo maps since you had to go to the forest service office to get them.

@@country_gbrony721 You got it! Many many days afield with only a topo map or a Rand McNalley. Then we upgraded to a small handheld Garmin GPS and terrible topo maps, then came OnX. CalTopo and Spartan Forge probably have the best in LiDar and slope angle shading right now and they've no doubt elevated my hunts. Thanks for the comments. I am making another video now about a one day hunt to a property I had never been to and what we found while there. Should be releasing in a week or so.

I appreciate you taking the time to check it out.

Glad it helped you out. Good luck with your hunts!

Thank you for the comment. It sounds like you are already on the right track. I remember when trail cameras did not exist, and all you had to rely on was paper topo maps and your woodsmanship, so you can learn a lot through e-scouting using these concepts and doing your best to limit the time required to learn a place. In my video Series "Mapping for Mature Bucks," I stress spending 4 or more hours in these spots mapping out every deer trail, rub, scrape, etc., to minimize human intrusion while effectively learning the area so that you sit in more bullet-proof spots while increasing your chances of success.

That's a really good question. My experience has shown that thermal hubs do become less active a week or so after the rut kicks off and through the post rut. Once the local bucks breed the local doe groups, they move on. At this point, you are effectively hunting long-range traveling bucks. They will travel through these hubs because they follow the same trails for the most part, but seeing one while you are in the stand is definitely at a lower rate of occurrence. If hunting a thermal hub with the right wind and thermal conditions in the rut or post-rut, you should expect to have quite a few sits with no sightings at all, but if you are patient and sitting in a good spot, you can get one of these cruiser bucks sneaking through for sure. I hope this helps.

Thanks ! I felt the same way but don’t have enough experience to be certain. I know I’ve sat in hubs early season and late season and there’s just not much using it. But the sign is there from where they did use it during the rut as you mentioned. I think a lot of people get caught up thinking it’s a great spot year round and I have found it’s actually a good spot for a short window of time.

@@jarredmeadows8160 Well said. I prefer to hunt thermal hubs the last part of Oct, but not before. Go in too early and you have a better opportunity to spook a buck than you do shooting a buck. I want him to be unpressured and moving in daylight, not pressured and moving in there after dark and getting a whiff of human tracks after I have left. He becomes much harder to hunt when he has smelled you or where you have walked.

I’m always looking for ways to break down the terrain to make hunting these big bucks easier, hopefully it’s helping!

I'm glad you found the channel! I'm working on some new videos. Keep an eye out for them.

@HillCountryBucks_FarmLife I most certainly will. I'm a Park Ranger & I am constantly looking at Caltopo & Google Earth. It took me three years, but I think I am putting the puzzle pieces together. I killed the two biggest bucks of my life this season.

​@@HillCountryBucks_FarmLifeI certainly will! I'm a Park Ranger. After three years of scrutinizing the park map with caltopo & google earth, I finally had my best season ever. I killed two of the biggest bucks of my life this year.

@@billwhitacre703 That's the most awesome feeling when you have a season like that.

I build these during e-scouting making educated guesses based on the terrain, creek crossings, drainages, etc. and then I confirm and/or adjust them when I get boots on the ground. What I am left with is reality.

@@HillCountryBucks_FarmLife I really like CalTopo and you look like you use it to your full extent. Do you have a pro version to save all that work you have put in? Does CalTopo allow you to import GPS coordinates and other things like .kmz files?

@@talktolee You can import both waypoints and .kmz files with the free version of CalTopo. You can save 5 maps, but honestly, you only need one map to save all of your data for as many U.S. States as you want. I have the Pro version, but only for seeing Land Ownership lines.

That’s exactly what I do when I’m on the ground, and the terrain I use is very similar! The wind will blow out of a 200 to 300 yd hub with no problem, but it just makes picking the right spot a little more tricky since you have more ground down in the hub to consider, but pick the right spot and you should still be able to use these concepts with success. Good luck and thanks for the question.

I use the CalTopo app with shaded relief set to (normal) as the base map and slope angle shading set to (gradient) as a Map Overlay. LiDar is standard on these maps. I have a video on my channel that shows how I set up CalTopo for hunting if you want to check it out. Here's the link: ruclips.net/video/UpG9jHKxQNE/видео.html

I appreciate you watching!

I’m in the South, and mainly hunt the hills West of the Appalachian region. I plan to make some videos in the more steeper area in mountain country.

@@HillCountryBucks_FarmLife great! I hunt steep Virginia mountains with little to no ag.

I know that country and have spent some time hunting near Castlewood and St. Paul. Very steep! You almost have to concentrate your search up high near saddles and topographic hubs because the elevation change is 2000 ft in most places. I have some other videos on the channel that focus on topo hubs and connecting drainages that might be of some help if you want to check those out.

I guess it would depend on how often the access road was used by people, and how much sign I could find. If people are traveling the road by foot weekly, I would think the local bucks would no tend to travel more by the cover of darkness, but the rut may cause a long distance traveler to slip through during daylight. How much sign do the secondary ridges have, and is there a hub scrape down in this hub?

Hopefully this helps a few folks out there who enjoy hunting the hills. Thanks for the comments.

For morning hunts, I will typically go up high and it usually involves one of the ridges on either side of the hub. I feel like more buck come off those ridges to the left or right of the thermal hub, more so than the middle ridge. But I still pay a lot of attention to what my camera data shows and if the bucks are coming off the middle ridge, then I place my focus there. With thermal rise, I like to be up in that upper 1/3rd. I'm still hunting the major travel route, but I am better positioned to avoid detection up high. I hope this helps.

I appreciate you taking the time to watch, and I'm glad you found success with a big public land mountain buck this season!

Thanks! It takes 7-10 days of putting these videos together, so there are mistakes made and sometimes you just have to laugh at them and move on. Appreciate the comment and good hunting to you!

I created an email address for the channel if you are still interested in that 1:1. Email me here: HillCountryBucks.FarmLife@gmail.com

Appreciate you watching! Let me know what you'd like to see in a future video!

Appreciate it! Thanks for watching! Let me know if you have any terrain features in hill country that I might make the next video on!

I agree. I should have dipped it top first. First time, so lessons learned.

Thank you very much and appreciate the comment!

Thank you! Cheers!

@@stacytripp7885 Appreciate you watching and sharing your thoughts!

@@HillCountryBucks_FarmLife I’m viewing your mapping video series…does your mapping strategy change for late season hunting? If so, do you have video content regarding late season hunting?

@@stacytripp7885 These spots I talk about in this series are great spots for the post rut when bucks are traveling long distances to find the last of the estrous does.

Couldn't agree more friend!

@ if they have bottomland I may have to come and dip a euro mount with you lol

@@GeorgesBoyOutdoors I’m pretty sure they have multiple camo patterns but didn’t see bottom land. Looks like Dip Demon is partnered with True Timber. That Strata is a great pattern.

Glad to have you on board! The Thermal Hub is a great place to start, you will learn a lot by watching Video 6 on that topic. Thermal hubs are tricky and the wind and thermals must be considered carefully. There's plenty of mountains and hills in PA and OH. Good luck.

@@HillCountryBucks_FarmLife PA is my neighbor state and I’m hearing good things coming out in the Northwestern area

These concepts in the Mapping for Mature Bucks series will definitely help in NW PA if you follow the methodology presented in the videos. Let me know if you have any specific questions about the terrain and what you should be looking for.

@ the app I use now is Onx I see than linear is much better for lotta features that onx doesn’t have, I also have google earth to help some. The thermal hub is the easiest to look for, should I look for thermal hubs running North to with the mouth to the south and vise versa with the head west to the mouth running out to the east to keep prevailing winds in your face. I seen a video with Jake Bush coming in from the east walking up into one with the head to the west where he got dad’s buck. He waited for the buck to drop down to the hub scrape .

The best Thermal Hubs are when the head is NW to SE. Thermals start dropping pretty early in these hubs.

Thanks for watching! Hope you can find success in the timber!

Thanks for the support, It's a lot of work but I love sharing my passion with everyone!

I am from Florida, but I’m hunting in Kentucky around Land between the lakes same type of territory that you were hunting.

That's awesome! Glad it helped you get that buck!

@@HillCountryBucks_FarmLife absolutely those parallel ridges, drainages, and slope angle shading were KEY in my success! What’s your thoughts on the sign that you find in the bottoms? It’s usually wide open and most people say it’s night time sign that mature bucks wouldn’t be using during the day. In my opinion I agree that it is likely done at night most of the time, but it is definitely worth taking a look at. I’m drawn to bottoms as a starting point for my boots on the ground scouting. When I’m in the bottoms I try and determine what direction they are traveling/crossing between finger ridges or even throw a camera down there to get an idea of the age structure of the bucks in the area. But it’s important to then look up the ridge and find bedding, drainages, scrape lines, rub lines, or terrain features that will make a deer feel comfortable moving through during the day. I also use the prevailing wind to confirm that the buck sign I may be seeing associated with bedding up wind is worth hunting or an area of buck travel to catch the wind from the bedding in the rut. What do you think?

@GeorgesBoyOutdoors You make a lot of good points here on the boots on the ground observations. When the bottoms are open and not thick, my first thought is night time sign as well, especially if thick areas or timber cuts exist up on the secondary ridges above. My question would be was the sign there before the rut in early season? If so, I would lean more toward night time sign made by local buck(s). It may very well be made by a buck or bucks that call this their core area for a week or more at a time. Is there any ag or private land farms nearby? If so, I think deer are bedding up high, making their way down to the bottoms after dark, and then going on down to the ag or farms to spend time eating during the cover of darkness. After breading begins, I think you can expect some daylight movement crossing these open bottoms if a lot of does are in the area. Bucks need a path to get from parallel ridge to parallel ridge, so the key is to find where those paths come down on each side of the bottom. This is where late season scouting/confirmation is key. You want to know which drainages or steep areas have the most of the big sign, including big tracks if you can locate them. Big sign is different than secondary ridge spine sign, where 2.5 year old and younger bucks make their sign. The older class mature bucks have spent more time alone, away from their mother, and tend to seek cover, steep terrain, and the edges of steeper drainages to come down into the bottoms. I try to find that type of sign in either late season, or after the season in Jan/Feb, and then use it the next season to really hone in on what the more mature bucks did the year before for my best stand locations. I hope this answers your questions. And congratulations on harvesting a mature buck this season! Well-deserved!

Appreciate it, glad you liked it! Those bucks are tough to get the upper hand on. You got to work hard on them! I say go buy a hat over at @GeorgesBoyOutdoors and put a little luck into your quest!

@ thanks man!

You're welcome. I would be happy to help. Let me know how I can contact you. Email is best as I do not have any social media accounts.

@@HillCountryBucks_FarmLife I appreciate that. In the same camp with no social media and will put my email in the next reply. If you could delete it after use, I would appreciate it. Thank you

@@garretts1604 Will do. I just checked and I do have the ability to delete comments, so I’ll be standing by to do that once received. Thank you.

@@HillCountryBucks_FarmLifethank you!

@@garretts1604 I’m standing to receive and delete your email when you’re ready.

Thanks for watching! I hope every hunter out there finds these concepts useful.

@ronnyg5877 Thanks for the comment. Yes, I would love to see what you have in mind. Are you looking for boots on the ground confirmation, or simply just my take on the property via e-scouting? I don't have any social media, so let me know how we can link up.

The only way is for you to add contact info on your channel. You can add your email there and then your viewers could contact you.

I have added the contact info on the channel. Let me know if you don't mind when you have sent an email so that it triggers me to go check it since this is a new email. Thanks for reaching back out.

Appreciate you watching! More to come soon.

It was an absolute blast! Glad to see you feeling pretty good again!

Go Dawgs!

I love the Insta 360. I'm working on the hunting trip videos now and will post soon. The view from the treestand is amazing too.

@@HillCountryBucks_FarmLife Looking forward to seeing it.

Thanks! What a game! Loved every minute of it.

Much appreciated!

I plan to make more videos like this. Thank you for the comment.