I live in Pa. I have found a very hot trail bending around a hillside from a field to bedding area. I've heard of the j hook do I look for a faint trail hooking off the main trail to bed?

The "j hook" is simply a mature buck wind checking.

He will walk by down wind of where he wants to go then circle back once it clears the smell test.

Its hard for us to understand the concept of a nose being the dominant sense.

Like you may try to avoid danger by observing where you are headed with your eyes he does that with his nose.