OlMossy,
My best stand placements are about split 50-50 between being smack dab in the middle of a bedding area or being withen 50 yds from it. Early in October I will hunt more low impact stands away from the beds in more traditional staging or funnel areas - but only if Aug-Sept scouting tells me a bachelor group has been using that area during the summer.
It is a very risky way to hunt - but I combat this a few ways.
1) I spend all year finding new bedding areas (you can' t rely on one or two to hunt the whole season.
2) Most all my stands are set up well before the season. These areas are usually so thick that it will often take over 8 hours to trim out lanes and cut out entry and exit routes. Stuff you just cant get away with close to the season.
3) You need to have many stand locations ready and waiting. Come this season I will have over 30 " prime" stands awaiting my climber, covering around 12 or 13 bedding areas, in over 7 diff woods. This number has taken years to build up, as I often loose areas to developement, or private property every few years. You can never have to many options
I do all this because it is easy to ruin a spot. Not only are these areas high impact areas but I also like to play the wind risky. In the areas I hunt, good bucks don' t like to move much with the wind at there back. So in the evening I like to have the wind blowing into the beds at around a 45 deg angle or a cross wind. I never like to hunt when the wind is 100% in my favor - because then it is 100% not in the bucks favor - and he knows it
So I compromise a bit and like the wind to be in both our favor. I will get busted more often, I will ruin more stands - but I definitly see more bucks this way. And if I ruin one, heck, I got 29 other to hunt....LOL
During the peak rut I like to set up right in the middle along any main trails I can find. I sit all day in these stand - waiting for a tending or searching buck to bust some does past. It is amazing what goes on at 12 o' clock pm on public land when you are set up in the " unhuntable stuff" .
During the pre-rut the edges are great places to be. Bucks run the hardwood/scruboak edges scent checking for does. I am never more than 50 yds from it and never in open woods. Its more like a breaking up of the thick stuff as it transitions into open woods - Its still thick - but a bit more managable.
The best advise I can give would be to really try to pinpoint the thick bedding areas that deer stay all day during hunting season. Set up as many stands as you can along the edges and see whats happening. You can' t hunt these stands but once a week or once or twice a season even - so take it slow. Be very careful of your exit and entry routes (these are what bust us more than being on stand imo)
I rarely bump deer during morning dark whne I am truely in the daytime core bedding areas - it happens but not as much as when I used to hunt transition or feeding areas. Afternoon entry is a bit tricky and if I am not staying in a stand all day I usually hunt the edges in the evening.
Hope that helps
