hey this might sound dumb but i really need to know....how do you find the bedding area of a buck if you dont ever see him....we have a nice 8 pointer on our camera that i want to set up on this year, but dont know where to set up....can anyone tell me how to try to find wheres hes bedding with out scaring him.....thanks

i have no idea i am set up on a thicket that i think is the bedding area. i see them coming from the field to the thicket and by the creek where my stand is there are three scraps i can see from the other side of the creek

so what do you think i should do....try to set up where i think he might be bedding....and do you think my best bet would be to sit in the mornings or afternoons....or off hours ???

To be hopnest with you i have the same problem going on right now. There are 2 really nice 8pts in the area ive been hunting. One walks right under my stand in the morning and the other walks about 30 yards from my friends stand every evening. Its still only doe season here so they are safe for now. IM trying to find where they are bedding down to see if any other nice deer come out. The woods im hunting in is known to have some monsters in there. Last year i shot a nice 9pt that was only about 2.5 years old. Im not good at judging the age of deer.

yeah i have 2 nice 8 points on my camera to this year that are close to my stand...but every pic i have of them is late at night and i have NO CLUE where they are bedding....and its hard to tell where abouts they are bedding since they are coming out of a huge grass feild....

I had to get away from thinking "small" when I used to think "bedding areas". I used to think I was looking for a 1/4 acre spot. I've grown to realize that a "bedding area" may encompass MANY acres.....and that a deer will bed almost anywhere.

Now....when I think of a bedding area....I think "area" more than "spot". I have no problems thinking the deer I hunt bed in areas as random as 50-100 acres....and that these areas change according the food source available (or preferred).

Look for what he's eating.....and watch the (general) direction he's traveling to and from. Set up, accordingly.

I look at this like a game of "hide and go seek".....where the ONLY clue I have of where he's hiding is what looks good on paper (to begin with). Then....it's time on stand that'll tell the tale.

I've never had the opportunity to hunt them (bucks) tight to their bedding area.....until this year. And, even still, I'm encumbered this year by property boundaries. I'm gonna play the game smart, though...and err on the side of caution....hunting only good winds....and hunting only the area I think he's in from a comfortable distance to start with. Otherwise....i take the chance that he'll take his game somewhere else.

This is ALL new to me. I have woods that I KNOW he's frequenting.....but the time isn't right to hunt him, there. When it is....I'll be there. I have more grounds to hunt than ever before....and it's hard to stay out of it. But I know it's the right move.

He may beat me. But I refuse to beat myself.

Ihope this makes even a "little" sense.

it makes sence its just i go up there and stay a good distance from all the wood lots and thickets there is up there and i can see just about everywhere he can possibly come out during day light hours...and yet i still havent seen him....only on my camera and thats always way after dark

If you're always seeing him after dark.....MY thinking would be I'm too far (set up) from where he's bedding. You know this....but the closer to his bedding area you can get (safely)....the better odds you have of catching him in the daylight.

Good luck to you.

A good friend here told me....."Right time - Right buck". This may or not be the right time. You have to play it the way you see it.

hey thanks alot your info really helped....and i like what your friend told you....it makes sence thanks again



derek

ya your right. I have my stand near a thicket i think is the main bedding are for the local deer. There is a 11 point i have been watching saw him twice from the road. I have found both rubs and scraps near the clover field. I have also seen them on thw west side i will be hunting right across the creek from my stand. Knowing my luck he will stay on the other side of the creek. Not a big issue thats what the pop up is for. I will set up and shoot him from the other side. Then walk around or across depending on the depth