Bedding areas
 

Maybe it's just me...........maybe it's the pressure........maybe it's the land.


All I know is that I can not say FOR SURE where deer will be bedding from one day to the next........and ICERTAINLY can not tell this simply by looking at an aerial photo and/or topo maps.

It's just not that simple (around here anyways)..........god do I wish it was. What I want to know from guys in other areas is..........is it really that cut and dry where you are??

I hear mention of setting up in funnels between doe bedding areas and other guys saying they are gonna sneak right into their bedroom and take a shot at catching them and so on.

It must be the pressure around here because what is a bedding area one day will sit vacant for weeks and you seriously never know where a couple deer might hop up from.

The problem with trying to pinpoint a bedding area around here is you NEVER know what is gonna happen from day to day..........there is NO WAY deer could bed down in the same area day after day during the season or they would all be dead in a week.

We have everything from idiots prancing through every inch of the land.........to dogs........to ATV's and everything else under the sun. I honestly don't think the deer are EVER comfortable enough to stay in the same spot for long.

I have come up on major bedding sites time and time again around here only to see them go unused for weeks after.

Do your deer all really bed in the SAME area day after day??.........I have just never witnessed this sort of predictable behavior around here.


If your deer DO bed in the same spot daily then please include what the pressure is like in your area.

RE: Bedding areas
 

In my woods they do,some bucks use the same bed most of the winter. I have a sanctuary that is never entered except to shed hunt in March. They are safe there and know it.
Every tree around these buck beds will be rubbed,the sign is remarkable.

I believe this only happens because they are never disturbed here.

RE: Bedding areas
 

I think it has alot to do with the area your hunting,geographically.

Other area's of the country offer less cover and less available bedding area's.

They bed in different are's around here with the season's too. The don't bed in summer where they do cold of winter from what I have noticed.

Same thing with Turkeys' some guys will tell you the Roost here every night. Not where I am at.

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RE: Bedding areas
 

It's also kinda like when some one asks what are the area's are the best to hunt. Someone will alway's say water,they have to drink. That maybe a very easy thing(pinpoint a water source) in different area's of the country but not where I'm hunting, there's water every where.

RE: Bedding areas
 

I know different areas will force deer to act differently and bed and feed in different ways. When it comes to my hunting area, which is public ground that I've hunted for over 20 years, I've learned where the does will bed at different times during the hunting season. Naturally, I want to hunt close to these doe bedding areas in the hopes of intercepting a buck cruising through as the rut gets going. I can tell you honestly that on any given day, I can sit in my tree stand that I use only for observation over the bedding area, and spot between 10-20 does moving through and bedding down. Some of them may be 1/4 mile ormore away, it's a huge bedding area, but I use this tree to try and discover routines that a buck may be displaying while entering or exiting this area. Sometimes I'm smart enough to pick up on a routine and act on it and other times I'll guess that he may do something and not act on it and sure enough the next day sit and watch him do what I thought he would do. That's the frustrating part! If I do discover a routine, then I'll either hang a different stand or still hunt into the area and wait for an ambush if the wind is favorable.

This area is in a river bottom and it doesn't matter whether it's flooded to a certain degree or not. Their are high areas that may sit 6" above the standing water and they will bed there. I've set there multiple times and listen to the does walk through in the dark splashing in water that may be 12-15" deep, just to get to the area that may be above water. Depending on the moon phase, the action may not pick up until 8-9 in the morning but itsometimes will start between 2-3 in the afternoon.

RE: Bedding areas
 

This was a response I wrote to a similar thread about a week or so ago.

RE: Bedding areas
 

In my hunting area, it's the thickest stuff that you can find that is used as bedding areas. It's public land so I guess it only stands to reason. Area's like this.;)

RE: Bedding areas
 

In my area it seems the Doe's and fawns and the smaller bucks have there same bedding area year after year. However the older bigger bucks always seem to distance themselves from the other deer when bedding, I've noticed anywhere its very thick or a new downfall has appeared allot of times I'll find big beds in these areas. Too many times I've jumped them in these spots when going in and out of the woods![:@]

RE: Bedding areas
 

Atlas bro I would have to say with swamps yes it is around my part of the country.(Wi) Now up in Northern, Wi its a bit harder for me because so many acres were talking about here.
I can find them but when I finally do they are gone. I do have some area's I know year in and year out they bed and I am usually waiting there opening weekend of gun season.
I mostly hunt with a bow in Southern, Wi.

RE: Bedding areas
 

The 125 acre woods I hunt in IL is one big bedding area. It consists of a small creek running the lenght of the woods, that has a water flow year round, with smaller ditches and rolling hills. The woods itself is pretty thick in most places, with lots ofgood cover. There are 4 guys hunting this woods, but 2 aren't that serious, and I usually only hunt weekends. I have found deer bedding from one end to the other and anywhere in between. They can be on top of the ridges to laying right next to the creek in the bottom.Now they do have a few favorite spots, like a couple of really thick overgrown ditches, that are great spots to sit in during the rut.

But to answer your question, NO it is not cut and dried where they will be bedded on any specific day.

RE: Bedding areas
 

Right in my back yard is a strip about 200 acres, but the area I hunt in is only about two acres. One of my neighbors is clear cutting his property line. I have never failed to see deer back there. I jump at least three of them when I am walking back there in the day. I have intercepted 3 deer going to and from it. I usually sit about 3-400 meters off. I am going to push closer next year during bow to see what I catch. This bedding area is only 2-300 meters from houses with chain saws going all day...doesn't seem to disturb the deer which is good for me because they are more desensitized to human activity.

RE: Bedding areas
 

Atlas, I know exactly what you mean .....it's the same way where I hunt .......it has to be the area like Chuckles said .....

RE: Bedding areas
 

consider this, this year i found a great bedding area, i saw 2 150-170" bucks staying in it. it is on public hunting land right off the road. people park 100 yards from the spot every day and most of them overlook it. first time i saw them i tried to go in and get a shot, i didn't get the shot. the next day i sat down where one of the bucks exited prior and had my buddy push out the area, well it worked and the buck came running right for me, i didn't get the shot off again. i believed the bucks would never come back after that so i gave up on it. later that week i told 2 out of state hunters right where i had the encounter and told them they were more than welcome to hunt it. they did the following morning and shot my buck as he was walking back into the bed. the buck was a 10pt 160, lesson learned.

RE: Bedding areas
 

That is one of the biggest dislikes I have about my area. They can, and do bed anywhere. It never used to be like that back in the day, until logging created ideal habitat to do so. It makes it very tough to hunt anywhere but the edges, because unless you can 100% go in well before light and sit all day, you have way too much chance of spooking deer on half day sits.

RE: Bedding areas
 

It's likely because of lack of ideal bedding cover, and too much pressure. They weren't as predictable at my place until we created the cover and stopped pushing them all over........you really need sanctuary if you want them to be predictable. Find a nice south facing hillside, drop some trees in it to create browse and cover, and then leave it alone.............draw a line between that hillside and whatever the primary food sources are and look for pinchpoints along the way to setup on (or create some) and now you will see some VERY predictable movement.

RE: Bedding areas
 

Just not an option Matt.........Idon't have the luxury of knowing that if I did all thatI would reap the rewards.Too many guysout there that eitherdon't know what the heck they are doing and/or just don't care. I have tried too many times toimprove the lands I hunt only to see those efforts wasted by everything from ATV's to just plain stupidity.

Not griping.......because these people all haveas muchright to the land as I do........just reality.

RE: Bedding areas
 

Atlas if you do buy land,you will really see the difference keeping stupid people away makes. One idiot is all it takes to mess up a great stand.

RE: Bedding areas
 

Yes, they have areas they typically bed in but I think when many of us think of a bedding area we want it narrowed to to a 5 acre patch. All deer have their bedding areas but it may be an area that is 10 acres, 50, 100, 150, etc. Its not always as small as we think it is.

I also think they have multiple bedding areas that they may rotate to depending on the food source.I think this is very overlooked. If the acorns are hot in an oak grove a mile away, well they probably have a different bedding area while they are using them and the same goes for corn or beans or anything else they key in on throughout the year. And remember a little pressure, running into a coyote, running into another buck, all can change where they may bed that particular day.

In my part of the country, the key is to know where they typically bed. Sure they may not be in there everyday, but if you know typical locations, eventually it will pay off.

RE: Bedding areas
 

Agreed.

RE: Bedding areas
 

I think what you deal with is something a majority of hunters face as well. I never know where deer will bed, but I can always pinpoint areas that they are most likely to be. Bedding areas, where I hunt, are generally the thicker cover in any given area. However, they also change due to weather and season. I hunt a mass of timbered bluffs and valleys that wrap around ag and crp fields. Doe populations rarely bed further than 300-400 yards from thier primary food source (XX field) here. I know, for instance, if there is a severe cold snap, most deer will bed on southerly facing hillsides as opposed to a traditional bedding area with lots of brush on the other side of the hill. However, every time I think I have it down I will bust a herd of deer walking that shouldnt have been there. I am happy if I am right 80% of the time.