Jeff, very interesting question andi think your onto something here. My question for you is, if you are allowed to make these bedding areas, how do you plan on going about it? Are you simply going to cut down some trees and leave them where they lay or are you going to try to get them to fall in a tight area? I have a 50 acre piece of land that i own that this could be perfect for. Interested in any ideas in how to make it a prime bedding area as well.

Not my claim. But if you have NO deer bedding on your property....(due to no preferred bedding habitat).....how can providing said be a BAD thing?

On this property.....I would say that yours and it are equal. So....why not tryo to provide them with bedding area ON this property? You know.......make your property more coducive to holding more deer.

YOUR property, Rybo......it sounds as though it isn't necessary. You HAVE bedding areas. That wasn't the focus of my post.

Well I'm certianly gonna do some research......and if I had to do it now.....I'd make my select cuts on select TYPE trees.....and stagger the height of the cuts.....from say 1' to 6'.....felling the trees, still attached to the tree trunk. I'd have to think the trees might still live for a while, this way.....and still provide limb growth (to an extent) and browse for the deer. But yeah.....felling them in a prescribed area (tight) would be my goal. Maybe 1/2 acre areas.

I believe this very question was addressed by the Drurys in their video last year called Spot On. Basically what they said was in areas with vast areas of food sources (the Midwest) creating attractive bedding areas near those food source can help keep deer not only where you want them, but moving in a direction beneficial to you for hunting. The problem with this is that the amount of land they have accessible to them for doing this is in the 1000s of acres and not practical for the everyday hunter.

I think the idea has merit, but for the parcels I hunt I'll have to stick to the natural bedding areas and setting up to catch the deer coming and going from them.

Equally important as bedding areas, are to leave these areas alone as in sanctuary, never go in there. Youcan fell some trees tight, preferably in a thick and swampy area, maybe transplant some fast-growing cover brush, but once set up and working ,DO NOT ENTER the area! But you have to have a large enough parcel. Remeber also, that if you blow it in the bedding area the game is over. I personally would prefer staging areas near food.

BRy.....let's take my real-life scenario I have as the "example".

150 acres of mostly hardwoods and evergreens. No "attractive" bedding areas......just years and years of overgrowth (trees). The canopy is full......but the undergrowth is nearly non-existant.

Ag fields abound on the outskirts.

HOW could providing a few 1/2 acre bedding areas hurt?

BINGO!

Jeff, I think it can vary quite a bit due to location. Here we have lots of agriculture, and lots of pasture/bedding areas interspersed together. One or the other may be locally abundant, just depending what part of the county you are in. The trick in my mind is to find which part you are lacking or are limited by and try to supplment that portion. It could also be water, or staging areas, or some other factor.

Over on the QDMA forums a while back I was reading an article on creating bedding areas that was very interesting. Ed Spinnazola also has a section in his book "Ultimate Food Plots" that deals with some seeding mixes to put down in these bedding areas. His theories on that are very interesting to say the least. I have really been wanting to try it but have been limited on time due to a new member in the family.

Just think of it as plugging the lowest hole in the bucket. A hole near the top will not let as much water drain out as one in the bottom. Whatever is lacking on your particular property is what you need to be focusing on. Same with antle size on bucks. First they must grow up. second they must have nutrition, and a far distant third is genetics.

I'd love to hear my homeboy Dan (130Woodman's) take on this. He's a guy who is successfully growing and holding big deer on a property that had NO history of growing/holding big deer before he got there.

Cutting timber and creating bedding areas, at least from what I gather in talking to him, seems to be a very integral part of what he's doing.

I don't think it can hurt at all if it is practical and can be done. Do you think it would be better to provide a few 1/2 acre bedding areas or one larger one that is completely off limits?

Jeff, creating bedding areas just maybe the key to getting big bucks on your property.

Excellent question......and I honestly don't know.

What I'd theorize is........creating a few smaller areas "might" attract (strategically placed) bucks to utilize one of them. Creating one, large area would "seem" to benefit MORE deer.....and that (here) means DOES.

I honestly don't know, though. I could actually hurt myself (for buck hunting purposes) by doing this....by introducing more does.

Again....I haven't researched it.....yet.