Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

Ridges vs Bottoms

Isaacorps

Member
5,230
145
Columbus
Feel free to share any tips that have helped clear the fog and helped you find spots on TOPO graphs, Isaacorps

So this was something I had no clue what I was even looking at, or at least what it meant. So, like a lot of other things I was interested in learning about, I started reading everything I could find on the subject. It was pretty overwhelming at first but once I got the jargon down and figured out how all those lines related to each other it started to make more sense. Once I knew what that map was telling me combined with what I learned about the areas that deer prefer I was able to slowly start identifying areas I wanted to investigate. The single biggest thing that brought it all together was finally being able to walk the areas I had highlighted on the map and see what they look like in person. That was like turning on a light bulb lol. I also bought a handheld gps and uploaded a topo map on it and have enjoyed navigating around using that.
 
So this was something I had no clue what I was even looking at, or at least what it meant. So, like a lot of other things I was interested in learning about, I started reading everything I could find on the subject. It was pretty overwhelming at first but once I got the jargon down and figured out how all those lines related to each other it started to make more sense. Once I knew what that map was telling me combined with what I learned about the areas that deer prefer I was able to slowly start identifying areas I wanted to investigate. The single biggest thing that brought it all together was finally being able to walk the areas I had highlighted on the map and see what they look like in person. That was like turning on a light bulb lol. I also bought a handheld gps and uploaded a topo map on it and have enjoyed navigating around using that.

That is the best way to learn how to read a topo by going out and looking at the ground while looking at the map. Once you do it a little then a topo map will almost seem 3D to you.

I have the ONX hunt maps app on my phone. I bought it mainly for the property boundary's feature, but you can switch the background to several different backgrounds including topo. They also have a hybrid that is an aerial with a topo overlay. Pretty handy to have.
 

Buckeye79

Junior Member
19
0
NE Ohio
Always a good reference to what's going on with your scent and thermals is watching a chimney on a house in the winter. The days it's going straight down so is your scent which is opposite is when it goes straight up. Which in my opinion is why there is times when it seems like a deer can't wind you and other days you could have done everything with scent control and they still wind you.
 

Isaacorps

Member
5,230
145
Columbus
Just finished watching Hill Country Bucks by Blood Bros Outdoors. Wow. Now that is a no-nonsense informational video that I’ll probably have to watch a couple more times to make sure I absorb it all. It really has a lot of good info on how deer behave in the hilly regions. The production value of the video is exactly zero but that’s definitely not what they were going for lol. Definitely not your typical “buy our product and kill booners” BS hunting video. I highly recommend it [emoji1360]
 
  • Like
Reactions: cspot and xbowguy
Just finished watching Hill Country Bucks by Blood Bros Outdoors. Wow. Now that is a no-nonsense informational video that I’ll probably have to watch a couple more times to make sure I absorb it all. It really has a lot of good info on how deer behave in the hilly regions. The production value of the video is exactly zero but that’s definitely not what they were going for lol. Definitely not your typical “buy our product and kill booners” BS hunting video. I highly recommend it [emoji1360]
Thanks for the heads up. I just ordered me a copy. Been wanting to get a DVD to watch at camp on a rainy day.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Isaacorps

Isaacorps

Member
5,230
145
Columbus
Just finished watching Hill Country Bucks by Blood Bros Outdoors. Wow. Now that is a no-nonsense informational video that I’ll probably have to watch a couple more times to make sure I absorb it all. It really has a lot of good info on how deer behave in the hilly regions. The production value of the video is exactly zero but that’s definitely not what they were going for lol. Definitely not your typical “buy our product and kill booners” BS hunting video. I highly recommend it [emoji1360]
Thanks for the heads up. I just ordered me a copy. Been wanting to get a DVD to watch at camp on a rainy day.

Hope you get as much out of it as I did. Some of it is common sense stuff but a lot of it is along the lines of “wow, I never thought of that but it makes a helluva lot of sense”
 
  • Like
Reactions: cspot
Hope you get as much out of it as I did. Some of it is common sense stuff but a lot of it is along the lines of “wow, I never thought of that but it makes a helluva lot of sense”

I have read a couple of Greg Miller Books. Bowhunting Forests and Deep Woods and Rub line secrets. I thought both of those books were pretty good. Like you said alot of it you already know, but there is some other stuff that makes you think. I hate books/movies that pretty much give you cookie cutter tactics.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Isaacorps

Isaacorps

Member
5,230
145
Columbus
Hope you get as much out of it as I did. Some of it is common sense stuff but a lot of it is along the lines of “wow, I never thought of that but it makes a helluva lot of sense”
I just got around to watching the video. It was very good. Like you said. No high quality production but very informative and will make you think.

Glad you enjoyed it, I plan on rewatching before deer season. A lot to process lol
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
I sit just below the top of the ridge and watch the bottom


Sent from my iPhone Admin note: Please go in to your app settings and disable signatures.

I'm a big fan of setting up on the military crest of a hill. Especially if I can watch a watch a bowl to one side and the downhill slope to the other. Throw in a logging road below and I'm set.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Isaacorps

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,735
274
North Carolina
I'm a big fan of setting up on the military crest of a hill. Especially if I can watch a watch a bowl to one side and the downhill slope to the other. Throw in a logging road below and I'm set.

Is there such of a thing in your area? Or would it be more of a slope? 😂