I am not too sure how to read a topo map. A quick lesson would be greatly appreciated.

The closer the lines the steeper the grade. That's a start. Try working up from a creek, pond or river to give yourself an idea how thegrade change looks.

lines are close means steep grade. if the line makes a circle that is the top of a mountian or hill. if the lines make a V that is the buttom of a ravine and will usually have a creek running at the V. if the lines are far apart it will be flatter. usually there will be set lines marked with a number. this is the altitude, find another line up or down from this line and find another altitude. deduct the two and that is the distance in feet they two are seperated by. use the legend to see how far, usually in miles, those two lines are and you know how many feet in elevation you will go up a hill walking X number of miles.

Feet of elevation......

As was stated earlier.....the distance between the lines will show you (after a little practice) the gradation severity between them.

A good 200 level course will show you how deer use said terrain to travel (normally.....and UNCANNILY normally).

Ok, thanks guys! That was a good and quick lesson. I appreciate it. So what do you guys normally look for in a good place to set up?

Post a topo of where you hunt.

Yea that's what I was going to do but I can't figure out how. Could you help me with this to?

bump

Here's a good example. Gri22 helped me with this early on, this year. Note the terrain features deer like to utilize to travel....and relate them to your land.

It is UNCANNY how accurate these trails he marked are in real life. You basically go to where he notes on the map...and voila.....trail.