Mountain benches

[Matt Fowler]

How do you hunt them? Are they bedding or more travel through? I'm interested in 2 about halfway down a finger ridge coming off a north south mountain, facing west, maybe 150 yds apart. Upper one is fairly open, lower is heavy laurel. I have a stand at the end of the ridge but was thinking of moving down closer. I'm in north central PA, all big woods mountains.

[mossyoakpenn]

Im in central PA and have been hunting a lot of benches this year. What Ive seen is the more open ones seem to be good travel spots whereas the thicker ones seem to be bedding cover. Nothing beats being there and seeing what the deer are actually doing. In the past, Ive wasted a lot of time hunting text book perfect structure only to find nothing there at all. The deer are where they are, not where you want them to be.

[Al Dente]

My main area is on a "mountain", and I have set up a stand there, on one of the benches.  Over the decades in that area, there are well defined trails.  Deer are lazy, creatures of habit, and will use pathways that are easy for them to walk through, but offer plenty of escape paths.  They bed in thick stuff, either tall grass or cedar, but again, where they easily get outta Dodge fast.

[LJOHNS]

I hunt in steep mountain areas in southern WV.  We key in on old tram road intersections that lead to/from bench areas.  It’s tough to get into those benches without pushing everything out.  Deer will take the easy routes when traveling.  Watch the wind and keep the thermals in mind.   

[huntingcop]

I have had good luck hunting benches in east KY for bear. I see several deer moving on them, but like LJOHNS said they are hard to get into sometimes. Good luck!

[Burnsie]

I hunt benches almost exclusively when I'm out west for Elk, mostly because its easier on my old bones traveling these relatively flatter areas.  Plus they hold most of the wallows, which are always good to be around.

[Matt Fowler]

I haven't had a chance to hunt them. I have a good stand about 300yds south of them and want to hunt that as much as possible. Definitely heating up here, lots of fresh rubs but scrapes are cold.

[Wheels2]

I used to hunt an area with multiple benches.  I found that deer will travel them as they provide a quick means of escape by simply going down.
But you still need to find the right one where the deer are running.  Cover, food, and escape routes always matter.