Im new to this whole mnt hunting thing, any advice would be great! I cant pattern deer or mature deer for nothin! Ive had this piece of land for two years and i took a good buck last year but anyone can get lucky... so how do yall hunt mnts? I get plenty of pics of mature deer in the green fields i have but only at night... should i be hunting benches or what? It seems like the deer travel a different path every day! And i love to bowhunt but that mnt huntin is whoopin me!

Thanks for the help...

Are you hunting mints or mtns????

There's several on here that'll offer help I'm sure, but patterning a mature buck is almost impossible in Alabama IMO. Now getting where he's been and where you think he's gonna be IS possible, but there's always some luck involved. Good luck with these lazy, no good pine goats.

I think you been watching too much horn porn Midwest, Lee and Tiffany on TV. Mountain deer in Northeastern Bama are nearly impossible to pattern, especially if there is no ag land involved. I've hunted them 40 years and am still learning. There is no magic bullet, just slow down learn the property and how the deer travel, take notes, it takes time. Find the food and the cover, find the doe family groups and where they feed, it will be changing throughout the season. When the time is right the bucks will be on their feet lookin' for love, most likely around the first week of January.

X2 on what 2Dogs said and he knows better than anyone. Only thing I'd add is terrian, find draws that cut into those steep cliffs and bluffs and you'll probably find a travel corridor. Also don't wear yourself out early on, it's tough to kill a biggun before January unless you hunt up north of scottsboro towards Stevenson where the rut kicks in around Christmas give or take a few days.
Good Luck

Ahhhhh come on Demp you done spoiled the surprise......bluff cuts, hog back ridges, saddles ,points, narrows and various timber edges. We won't even get into wind, swirls and thermals. Them young whipper snappers gota figure out some things for themselves.

Thanks for the input...

The swirling wind is the biggest problem I think. I also have trouble picking the right bench to hunt on on any specific day. It depends on where they are going for food.

you need no help...you've got it figured out already!

2dogs and demp covered everything else....also watch the wind....just because it says SW on the tv doesn't mean it's going to blow SW on the side of the mountain with a bunch of draws and points.... As 2dogs said. Gotta learn your land!

one thing I've learned hunting mountains is hunt the side of the ridge where the sunrise comes up on them cold mornings

True for a couple of reasons, if its really cold, they bed on the South face, hunt above them and use the thermals to your advantage if the wind is light. And if it's warmer for the deer it's warmer for the hunter on the South face.

I figured I'd give them something to think about , hunting those cuts and hunting the thickest nastiest stuff I can find usually gets my eyes on at least one good buck a year. I rarely hunt benches up and down the mountain I just haven't had as much luck. Go find a topo map and get to studying!

Don't get me started on the swirling wind, it just makes me more mad every time I go! I plan a hunt for a specific area all week and the stupid wind plays helicopter on me when I get there!

Good suggestion, about the topo map,it is an important, must have tool when learning a new piece of mountain land. It can tell you where the no brainer, can't miss stand sites are. If we keep this up it's gonna take all the fun out.

mappingsupport.com is an awesome free topo source, I just use their default map which has several different satellite and topo selections.

Ok I'm done helping out, no more free advice. Any more advice and I charge turkey hunting trips/rights to the land.

crap I was just about to ask another question until the turkey stuff came about.

Ha ha you've probably forgot more about hunting mountain turkey than most of us think we know!

I've been hunting Madison and Jackso ncounties for the past 15 years and I still havent figured it out!

everything is steep and thick, I try to get as close as I can t othe thick stuff and use a climber to get up enough that I can see better but not so much im just looking st the tops of the trees below me.

An old timer told me once that "mountain bucks hate flat ground". Most of my older buck kills have come in steep, nasty, rough spots. So in a way, I guess he was right. CD.

I always liked hunting where a Bench with a good deer trail on it, meets a Gulley. Seemed like I saw them walking benches some days and traveling up and down near to Gullies sometimes. Could always find a big rock to set up on as well.

Benches gulleys ridges where about in Jackson you hunting