Benches

Hill and mountain country have benches. These are best described as road-like passages that are carved into the terrain. These virtually always run at the same elevation and serve as excellent travel routes that don’t require climbing up or down hills. Essentially, it’s the long way, but not the strenuous way, to get from point A to B. While these can be man-made (especially in logging areas), most are natural formations that run along ridge lines.

Tactic: Whitetails commonly bed and travel along hillside benches. On a morning, when thermals are rising, set up on the high side of the bench. In the afternoon, when thermals are falling, set up on the low side. Keep quartering winds in mind in relation to deer trails that lead into benches.

Bluffs (Cliffs)

Often referred to as bluffs or cliffs, these rock-face drop-offs exist in hilly and mountainous terrain. It’s common to see these along ridge lines and some ridge endings. These are not to be climbed or traversed, as they often come with a high degree of danger.

Tactic: These serve as great wind barriers that help prevent deer from circling downwind of your position. With the right entry routes, and deer travel patterns, (safely) setting up close to a bluff can minimize odds of deer smelling you.

Bottomlands

Bottomlands are low-lying areas along creeks, rivers, and other running waterways. These can exist without adjacent water, but tend to be called meadows in such instances. Of course, whitetails and other wildlife spend ample time in these areas and commonly use such spots as feeding areas and travel routes.

Tactic: These tend to serve as excellent locations for destination food sources. Ag fields, food plots, and natural foliage tend to produce high-protein food sources that deer rely on. Scout these locations for key food sources.

Bowls

Flat areas that are encircled on three sides with a wrapped ridge line forms a bowl. This is a common topographic feature in areas that have a lot of ridges and varying terrain. That said, these are rarer than many other features, such as benches, ridges, ridge endings, etc.

Tactic: Bowls can be difficult to hunt within due to swirling winds. Hunting within bowls is also troublesome due to access issues, as deer easily see you coming, and sound echoes in this coliseum-style terrain type. That said, bowls with bedding cover habitat commonly serve as well-used bedding areas. Set up along travel routes leading to and from these locations.

Clearcuts

Most timber cuttings will take trees over a certain size, such as 16, 18, or 20 inches. Although clearcuts aren’t the ideal option for cutting timber, these are sometimes implemented. This is where all, or virtually all, trees are removed from the landscape.

Tactic: Immediately following clear-cutting, deer move in and feed on treetops. Forbs and other vegetation serve as excellent grub for whitetails. Within two to three years of clear-cutting, enough natural regeneration occurs to create great bedding cover. Factor both uses into your hunt plans.

Conifer Thickets

Conifers, commonly referred to as evergreens, are important habitat features on the landscape. These trees tend to grow in groupings due to soil type preferences. Aspen, cedar, pine, spruce, and more, are examples of tree species that fit this category.

Tactic: Dense stands of these create thermal bedding cover for whitetails. These keep deer cooler in warmer weather and warmer during cooler weather. Wind permitting, set up between conifer thickets and seasonal destination food sources.

Creeks (Streams)

A running creek, or even a smaller stream, is a very attractive land feature. These running bodies of water offer aesthetic appeal. That said, these are especially beneficial for wildlife value. Of course, some creeks and streams are seasonal, or wet weather, bodies of water. Others run year-round.

Tactic: As with other waterways, creeks wind through bottomland fields and timbered settings. Food sources are usually nearby. Furthermore, with some property layouts, shallow creeks and streams can serve as excellent entry and exit routes. The banks shield your visible profile and water washes away ground scent. Plus, with little to no wind, water has a thermal effect. Setting up along creek banks pulls your scent down into these waterways and away from passing deer.

Crossings

Crossings are commonly used by deer and other wildlife when navigating from one side of a barrier to the other. Oftentimes, such barriers are easier to cross in certain areas, and over time, trails emerge leading to and from these crossing points. Creeks, ditches, drainages, fences, rivers, streams, and more, are examples of land features that oftentimes have crossings.

Tactic: Crossings are equivalent to funnels and pinch-points. Setting up hunting blinds and treestands on the downwind sides of crossings is an excellent play.

Draws

A lot of tree lines are relatively straight. However, some dip into the timber and then double back toward the main tree line. Oftentimes, these create U-shaped fields with trees on three sides, thus forming what many refer to as a draw. Oftentimes, these are along drainages leading into or out of the timber.

Tactic: Deer routinely enter and exit fields through draws. Oftentimes, deer also stage up and feed in these before entering larger fields and openings. These can be great hunting spots to catch deer moving during daylight.

Ditches (Drainages)

Ditches, which are commonly referred to as drainages, are common no matter the terrain or topography type. Minus certain desert settings, virtually all landscapes have these. These form due to years of water runoff.

Tactic: Like creeks and streams, ditches and drainages are ideal for entry and exit routes. These minimize your impact on surrounding deer, effectively masking you visually, audibly, and olfactorily.

Edge Cover

Edge habitat is best described as where multiple habitat types meet. It might be where timber meets open ag fields, pines meet hardwoods, CRP meets hardwoods, etc. Generally, such edges serve up important bedding, feeding, and escape cover for wildlife.

Tactic: Deer are often described as edge animals. They spend a significant portion of their time in areas with edge habitat. This is due to important bedding and feeding needs. Focus efforts on such areas.

Inside Field Corners

An inside field corner is where two tree lines meet to form a 90-degree (or smaller) angle. These might be around ag fields, food plots, areas with native grasses, etc. Regardless, inside corners commonly serve as entry points for wildlife. It makes them feel safe due to cover on multiple sides, and they are more comfortable entering the open versus areas with long, singular tree lines.

Tactic: Similar to draws, which are bordered by three tree lines, inside field corners are bordered by two. Deer prefer these for the same reasons, creating excellent hunting spots.

Islands

Islands can look very different from one to the next. Maybe it’s a piece of high ground within a marsh or swamp. Perhaps it’s the most classic example within a large river or lake. It could even be an island of tree cover in the middle of a big field. This is a diverse term, but it almost always represents land-based cover within an area that offers little benefit to deer.

Tactic: Depending on property layout, deer routinely bed on islands. Knowing this, hunters can set up between these and adjacent food sources to target bucks currently bedding on these islands.

Funnels (Pinch-Points)

Another ranging term, funnels (or pinch-points) are areas on the land that encourage deer and other wildlife species through narrower routes. Examples include where tree lines or open fields neck down and create hourglass-like shapes. Fence gaps, oxbows, and other land features can “funnel” or “pinch” deer through narrower areas.

Tactic: While every funnel looks different, all pinch-points offer the same benefits to deer hunters — condensed deer traffic. Set up on the downwind sides of these travel routes.

Low Spots

Outside of pancake-flat topography, there are always low spots in the terrain. These low-lying areas look different from one to the next. But the point isn’t so much about how they look, it’s about how wind interacts with these. Thermals rise and fall, and when they fall, pool and collect at the lowest points.

Tactic: In the afternoon, with evening thermals drawing downward, deer tend to enter open areas from the lowest areas connected to their direction of approach. While it’s a just-off wind scenario, setting up just to the sides of these can produce excellent shot opportunities.

Marshes

Wetlands marked with water-logged ground and stands of cattails, marshes are common in flat, low-lying areas that hold water year-round. The water doesn’t run off, seep into the ground, or even collect to create deeper standing water. It’s just a wet area with mucky ground.

Tactic: As with swamps, marshes commonly have pockets of high ground. Because these are surrounded by water, deer feel safe and bed there. Recognizing these as bedding areas, and sometimes feeding destinations (think swamp white oaks, for example), hunters can factor these spots into their property game plan.

North-Facing Slopes

The direction a slope faces has more impact on wildlife than most people realize. First, it influences what plant life grows, as some species are more or less suited for northern slopes. Furthermore, because northern slopes tend to be cooler and receive less sunlight, deer routinely bed on these in spring, summer, and early fall.

Tactic: Early season deer commonly bed along northern-facing slopes. Consider this when scouting and hunting deer during the early days and weeks of deer season.

Oxbows

Oxbows are bends in creeks, rivers, streams, and other waterways that fashion a U shape. This creates a dry piece of land with water on three sides. Oftentimes, these peninsulas of dry ground serve as key bedding areas for whitetails.

Tactic: Most deer bed near the bend of the U. They watch back toward the mouth of the U with their eyes, cover the bend with their nose, and hear anything that tries to cross water from any direction. If danger approaches from land, they escape across the water. If danger comes from the water (which is rare) they run toward the “mainland.” With the right wind, hunters can set up on the downwind side of these oxbow mouths and intercept deer traveling back out of the oxbow.

Ridge Lines

Ridge lines are long stretches of higher elevation with slopes on two sides. These tend to exist in hilly and mountainous terrain. Sometimes, ridge lines are singular. Other times, multiple ridges connect to form a series or network of ridge lines. Unless connecting with another ridge, these usually taper down toward ridge endings.

Tactic: Ridge lines commonly serve as bedding areas, oak-laden feeding destinations, and other important deer-centric areas. Hunters can benefit from these and choose stand locations in any number of likely spots.

Ridge Endings (Points)

As noted above, ridges usually end, creating a ridge ending. These can be sheer bluffs or drop-offs. That said, most usually slope downward toward lower elevation. The soil and rock structure, paired with level of erosion, tend to determine the angle and severity of the tapering ridge ending.

Tactic: Ridge endings commonly serve as bedding areas or feeding destinations. If the former, set up down below in the valley, or up above on the ridge, depending on which direction deer are going to feed. If the latter, set up on the downwind side of the ridge and intercept deer as they approach the ridge ending to feed on acorns and other food sources.

Rivers

Coursing water winds through most of America. These moving bodies of water carve deep rivers. It’s common for excellent whitetail grounds to exist adjacent to these water bodies. Edge habitat is common around these areas, setting the stage for ideal bedding cover and food sources.

Tactic: Deer commonly use river edges as travel routes. That’s especially true when deer cruise during the rut. Set up and arrow a buck as it moves through. Furthermore, rivers serve as excellent entry and exit routes. Boat, canoe, or kayak to reach important stand locations.

Saddles

Hills and mountains have steep terrain that require energy to climb up and over. In certain areas, saddles cut through the ridges to create a gateway from one side to the other. Deer and other animals routinely pass through these areas to avoid the more challenging traversal options.

Tactic: A form of funnel or pinch-point, camp out up on the downwind side of a saddle and wait for the right deer to walk through the pass.

Seeps

The water table only holds so much before it fills up and H2O heads to the surface. In other areas, underground springs rise up closer to the surface and exit into the open atmosphere. Regardless of the source, when water rises up through the soil and pools on the surface, this can create seeps. These are common in hill country, within hilly timber settings, and close to rock formations.

Tactic: With the wind in your face, set up and see just how many whitetails visit that seep. This can be an all-season spot, so long as deer are bedding and/or feeding nearby.

South-Facing Slopes

In contrast to the aforementioned north-facing slopes, south-facing slopes also provide certain advantages. In winter, these receive more sunlight, because the sun rises in the southeast and sets in the southwest. Deer receive much-needed energy from the sunlight, and they commonly bed here during colder periods, such as winter.

Tactic: These southern slopes create solar bedding cover for whitetails. Camp out in key spots as deer travel between southern slopes and late-season food sources.

Swamps

Similar to marshes, swamps are areas with long-lasting standing water. Oftentimes, these are within timbered areas. Or it’s a mix of timber and water-loving grass species. Regardless, barring drought, swamps are locations water collects in shallow volume and remains virtually year-round.

Tactic: As with marshes, search for high ground where deer might bed and/or feed. Quietly ease into these areas and wait for the action to kick off.

Thermal Hubs (Crow’s Feet)

Last on this list, and perhaps one of the rarer topography types, thermal hubs (crow’s feet) are where multiple ridge endings taper down into the same location. Because multiple ridges end in these locations, it forms multiple ravines and drainages that meet, too. Here, the key is thermal action. In the evening, when thermals are dropping, scent falls from each of these ridges and ravines, swarms toward the thermal hub, and collects all in one spot.

Tactic: This terrain feature allows deer to smell danger from every direction one of these ravines pulls scent down from. Hang a treestand in the lowest portion of the thermal hub. Then watch how many deer leave the hills through this gateway.

Regardless of the terrain feature in question, there’s no doubt these influence deer behavior. Whitetail bedding, feeding, watering, and travel habits are directly linked to habitat and topography. Keep that in mind as you hit the deer woods this season.