How do you guys know exactly where your big bucks are bedding?
02-15-2009, 08:39 AM
#51
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 854
RE: How do you guys know exactly where your big bucks are bedding?
I cannot say that this is absolutely fact, but it is as close as I can get.
In the steep blufflands of SE Minnesota I hunt, every now and again while out scouting I come across what I think is not only a bucks bedroom but his bed itself. There are alwasy a few characteristics that these finds have in common...
1. There is always one large bed, worn down to the dirt, with lots of deer hair in. This isnt the kind of bed you frequently see as a depression in the leaves with a few hairs, it is literally a dirt depression that looks like he was groomed with a furminator.
2. This is the only bed with these characteristics in this particular spot. You may see the typical compressed leaves beds here and there, but there is always only one dirt bed leading me to think it certainly isnt a doe with fawns.
3. The bed is never on a flat area. It is usally out on a grassy/rocky pointwhere there is zero chance of something sneaking up from below, and if something is coming out the ridgetowards the point, in two bounds the buck can be off the point and down whichever side he chooses. If the bed isnt on a point, it is usally towards the point but on a steep sidehill leading to the point, again with the ability to survey everything below andtwo bounds away from danger on top. The other characteristic of this bed is it is ALWAYS on the upslope side of a large tree of some sort because the ground is flat there.
4. Rarely do I find a heavy trail leading to or anywhere close to this bed.
5. There is usually a few rubs around the bed, but not even close to as much as what the magazines would lead you to believe.
6. These beds are typically where there is a predictabel wind pattern, not in a deep ravine or gully.
6. I firmly believe a buck uses the same bed on a day to day basis (when he isnt horny) but he may have a half dozen of these beds spread out on his home range and use them based on wind and weather conditions.
7. Outside of the rut, I typically do not see mature bucks using the same heavy trails as does, fawns, and young bucks (with the rare exception of very early season). Sure you see great rubs along heavily used trails proving they do use these trails, but think how many times you see great rubs in the middle of a thicket with seeminglyno trail to or from that rub, leading me to believe they walk to their own beat quite often making them tougher to pattern.
Sometimes I think I give them too much credit, heck its just an animal. I think it is just a different class of animal.
In the steep blufflands of SE Minnesota I hunt, every now and again while out scouting I come across what I think is not only a bucks bedroom but his bed itself. There are alwasy a few characteristics that these finds have in common...
1. There is always one large bed, worn down to the dirt, with lots of deer hair in. This isnt the kind of bed you frequently see as a depression in the leaves with a few hairs, it is literally a dirt depression that looks like he was groomed with a furminator.
2. This is the only bed with these characteristics in this particular spot. You may see the typical compressed leaves beds here and there, but there is always only one dirt bed leading me to think it certainly isnt a doe with fawns.
3. The bed is never on a flat area. It is usally out on a grassy/rocky pointwhere there is zero chance of something sneaking up from below, and if something is coming out the ridgetowards the point, in two bounds the buck can be off the point and down whichever side he chooses. If the bed isnt on a point, it is usally towards the point but on a steep sidehill leading to the point, again with the ability to survey everything below andtwo bounds away from danger on top. The other characteristic of this bed is it is ALWAYS on the upslope side of a large tree of some sort because the ground is flat there.
4. Rarely do I find a heavy trail leading to or anywhere close to this bed.
5. There is usually a few rubs around the bed, but not even close to as much as what the magazines would lead you to believe.
6. These beds are typically where there is a predictabel wind pattern, not in a deep ravine or gully.
6. I firmly believe a buck uses the same bed on a day to day basis (when he isnt horny) but he may have a half dozen of these beds spread out on his home range and use them based on wind and weather conditions.
7. Outside of the rut, I typically do not see mature bucks using the same heavy trails as does, fawns, and young bucks (with the rare exception of very early season). Sure you see great rubs along heavily used trails proving they do use these trails, but think how many times you see great rubs in the middle of a thicket with seeminglyno trail to or from that rub, leading me to believe they walk to their own beat quite often making them tougher to pattern.
Sometimes I think I give them too much credit, heck its just an animal. I think it is just a different class of animal.
02-15-2009, 09:47 AM
#52
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Ohio and Indiana
Posts: 2,088
RE: How do you guys know exactly where your big bucks are bedding?
Steve--Thanks for making this thread, I feel like I've learned a lot from it. There is a fine line betweenfact andopinion on HNI though haha
Seriously though, youmake a very good point about 'time of year', I learned a lot about that this past fall.The few times a did see an older buck, it was at times where even though it was not during the rut, any type ofpattern seemed non-existent. But I was wrong.Setting up strategically on doe beds or groups of does was never really hard last (early) season, but those "truly mature" bucks. Man I have a lot to learn.
Thats the thing about HNI...Ive always loved to hunt whitetails butI still consider myself a "newbie" to bowhunting.... so every now and then when there is a good informative thread, I gotta thank the thread starter...and all the rest of the exerienced guys sharing their knowledge
Seriously though, youmake a very good point about 'time of year', I learned a lot about that this past fall.The few times a did see an older buck, it was at times where even though it was not during the rut, any type ofpattern seemed non-existent. But I was wrong.Setting up strategically on doe beds or groups of does was never really hard last (early) season, but those "truly mature" bucks. Man I have a lot to learn.
Thats the thing about HNI...Ive always loved to hunt whitetails butI still consider myself a "newbie" to bowhunting.... so every now and then when there is a good informative thread, I gotta thank the thread starter...and all the rest of the exerienced guys sharing their knowledge
02-15-2009, 02:01 PM
#53
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Central Minnesota
Posts: 9,445
RE: How do you guys know exactly where your big bucks are bedding?
I like your whole post BlackFive! Makes allot of sense. Below I pointed out a few things that I myself really agree with on what you said.
I think there Is more truth to this then I 1st realized. Maybe we'll never know exactly but Instead we can have an Idea of the area he's bedding In like you had said.
Aren't we all.
The time a person quits learning Is the time they better hang It up.
I think finding the exact bed that a particular buck uses, is one of the most difficult tasks a hunter can face.
I'm learning by making mistakes.
The time a person quits learning Is the time they better hang It up.
02-16-2009, 05:10 AM
#54
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,102
RE: How do you guys know exactly where your big bucks are bedding?
In the mountains where I hunt I am looking for clusters of old rubs or new rubs adjoining very thick area's,if the area's have characteristics that favor a deer bedding in them all the better,wind direction,visability,steep or rough terrain etc.
I came upon an area last year while after season scouting,I actually jumped a very big deer out of it.I laughed as I was assessing the area,a deer bedded in this area had every conceiveable advantage possible,terrain,wind,escape routes etc. I don't believe unless you beat the deer in to this area in the early,early morning you would ever have a chance of killing an animal in it.It doesn't mean I wont be trying though!
I came upon an area last year while after season scouting,I actually jumped a very big deer out of it.I laughed as I was assessing the area,a deer bedded in this area had every conceiveable advantage possible,terrain,wind,escape routes etc. I don't believe unless you beat the deer in to this area in the early,early morning you would ever have a chance of killing an animal in it.It doesn't mean I wont be trying though!
02-19-2009, 07:28 PM
#56
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Kansas Unit 7
Posts: 576
RE: How do you guys know exactly where your big bucks are bedding?
For my location, I believe the bucks have numerous beds or bedding areas, This first buck, some evenings he would show coming from the east going west, other evenings he would show coming from the west going east, he had numerous scrapes and rubs around the area, I also saw him come from the north, he passed by me about 100 yards to my west, after he got about 150 yards south of me, he went east a couple hundred, turned north, came out of the woods, hit a scrape, then came right by me, went down the creek bank and crossed to the other side going back north, all in about 30 minutes. I believe I saw him to one degree or another 7 times out of over 20 hunts.
02-19-2009, 07:32 PM
#57
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Kansas Unit 7
Posts: 576
RE: How do you guys know exactly where your big bucks are bedding?
Now, same area, I got this bucks pic and out of those 20 some hunts, I never once saw him alive and walking, I dont know if it was just a fluke that he was in the area, or if he's just simply nocturnal, so I wouldnt have a clue as to where he might be bedding
02-20-2009, 11:31 AM
#58
Typical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location:
Posts: 570
RE: How do you guys know exactly where your big bucks are bedding?
I have noticed alot of times a buck will move bedding areas depending on the time of year and wind direction. In the summer/ early season I look for bucks ina summer food source and then find the roughest area close to that field or a drainage ditch in the middle of the field and I will usually find amature buck. They like to bed close to their food source this time of year.I have noticed several times that a buck likes to bed on an outside corner of the woods next to a field with the wind to his back and eyes on the open field. It also changes when he is with does his bedding areas will change to their bedding areas. During that 2 week lull in october it is very hard to find a mature buck because there bedding area is changing and they are not on their feet very much at all during daylight hours. During the rut I think they just bed where ever. Late season I look deeper in the woods and on vantage points or holed up in the roughest country around because they have been pressured beyond belief.
02-21-2009, 05:43 AM
#60
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Central Minnesota
Posts: 9,445
RE: How do you guys know exactly where your big bucks are bedding?
ORIGINAL: Edcyclopedia
I have proof, SHULTZY, they hide in the trees.
If we can't find them on then ground look UP!
I have proof, SHULTZY, they hide in the trees.
If we can't find them on then ground look UP!