Tips on locating bedding area?
 

One of the guys asked about hunting nocturnal bucks and everyone said hunt his bedding area. That's logical, but it seems to me, the hard part is finding the bedding area. What are some tips to find the bedding area?

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

Deer in my area is all I can speak for. I am located in the flatlands, no hills to speak of.

With that in mind they seem to perfer to bed in smaller sized thickets. Usually 1/2 - 5 acres in size.

Open fields with uncut hay or over grown fields.

They also spend alot of time bedding in the corn fields.

High earth spots in shallow swamps is a favorite for them if they have access to a swamp.

During the summer it is nothing for them to bed right in the middle of the woods with no real cover any where to speak of.

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

Look for the thick nasty areas close to feeding areas.

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

You gotta get out in the woods and walk around. You're looking for thick areas that provide a lot of cover and security for the deer. The thicker the better. If you see a trail going into a group of briar bushes and think to yourself "there's no way in hell I'm walking into that stuff." that's what you're looking for. You should be able to identify beds and look for abundance of other sign like rubs, scrapes, etc.

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

The best answer to this riddle is to be found in late January and February. Especially if there is snow cover, track them in the snow till you start jumping deer. Look for specific tracks that would help you identify a large buck and follow them. You will find his home and it wont matter because by then most seasons are over. Even if there isn't any snow cover, the trails will tell the story. It will be more difficult without snow but the sign will remain. Start at the food source and back track. I will say that just because you see a monster buck on your hunting property during the rut does not mean he will be there pre or post rut. Some deer will travel great distances when the urge makes them crazy, but will live in a very limited area when they are not all consumed by the ultimate urge.

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

Number 1 I would look for the nastiest cover I could find. You know no way a deer would make it thru that stuff much less a rabbit. Food for thought: Set up one evening just to watch deer in the field , then go in mid day and follow the deer run, make sure that scent control is followed. I believe that it is still early enough that the deer won't be alarmed to bad. be carefull..Good hunting. P.S. It sounds wierd but try it during the rain , scent will be down and the woods are quiet.

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

Scouting is the best way to find the good bedding cover. In my area the deer like good thick cover that is void of human presence. This will likely be the case all over. My local spots in the ever sprawling suburbs I find the deer in small tracts of land that offer cover, water and food. My hot spot is an overgrown creek bottom. It offers food, water shelter and many good exits.
Up north where I hunt the bigwoods, the bucks like the confines of what we call the pretty lands. Very thick conifers and green swamps that are boardered by hardwood ridges.This is what makes up the core area for bucks in this area I hunt.

Bottom line get out and find good cover that offers food, water and secure exits and you will likely find the deer.

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

Scouting is the best way to find bedding area`s barr-none ! thick areas is the most common for deer to use in most landscape. However that is not the only place they will use as bedding area`s bigger and older age deer will find areas that most hunters over look such as hillsides facing into the wind with many escape routs, its very hard to hunt an area like this! he can sent you out before you ever get close he can also see any thing that moves in his direction biggerbuck will often find hillsides with high grassy sloops when you out scouting don`t overlook these type areas?

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

Well you have gotten some excellent replies, but one thing that will make it easier to answer this question is where you are hunting and when? Depending on the terrain and time of year deer will bed in different areas, some areas the most important thing to a deer for bedding is to be out of the wind and to be able to see long distances, in other areas the most important thing is thick cover. Most of the places I hunt it is as others have said thick cover, the thicker the better, however that does not always hold true, this one big buck Ihave been trying to stick for several years now beds in the middle of a posted overgrown field, there is absolutley no way to get close enough to him during shooting hours to stick him!

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

Ridges, ridges, ridges...if no ridges then thick & nasty. Thick& nasty ridge lines are the ultimate...good luck killing that buck!;)

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

I'd say if you jump a deer in the thick stuff this time of year its more likley to be a buck from what I saw today. Several does bedded, open area in woods, a stones throw from the road I walked on today. They never moved. Go figure. Up aways and off the same road (dirt) I headed into the woods towards some thicker stuff and jumped what I think was a buck. If its thick, you jump a solo deer, this time of year its gotta be a buck, no guys?

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

first off, DO NOT go in the bedding area in the rain like lou lou said. This would be the exact opposite of what you're trying to do. It's easier for a deer to smell when theres more moisture in the air. thats why gun dogs do better with moist air, because they can smell the birds easier. Yes, during an absolutely downpour i dont think there would be much scent dispersal. but when its lightly raining, i would not go. go when its really dry instead.

Bedding areas: find a rubline made of larger size rubs that starts at a feeding area. follow this into the woods and it should take you right to the bedding area. rubs tend to mark a bucks travel routes through the woods. watch the fields towards dark to figure out where the deer are coming from.follow the runway back down into the woods. i figured out where a bachelor group of bucks bed because of where they have been coming out. i also know what type of cover they're coming out of. its the gnarliest stuff in the area. i also have got a vague location on the bedding area of 3 SLOBS by watching where they feed and where they come out of. hope this helps.

slayer

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

Well, from my experience(which is a lot) There are 2 things to keep in mind here.
1 - There are no absolutes in deer hunting
2 - bedding areas are relative to feeding areas, and feeding areas often change.

With that in mind , just remember that bucks like whatever provides SECURITY. However, on a given day, security may be in the form of visibility, on another day it may be thick cover, etc. I've seen mature bucks bed within 100 yds of barking dogs, I've seen them bed on high brushy benches, south facing slopes, north facing slopes, on fences separating thick timber from a huge wide-open pasture, in deep thick nasty "junk" and in shallow depressions in open fields, etc.

Factor's that affect bedding areas:

Food sources
wind speed/DIRECTION
temperature
stage of the rut
availability of doe groups
time of year(foliage)
parasites
proximity to water
HUNTING PRESSURE
rain
so on and so on.

Since we know the rut is the best time to take a MATURE buck, we'll focus on that time and say that a big buck will always choose his bedding areas with does and security being the only things on his mind. Early in the rut, he will sacrifice the does to maintain security. In the peak of the rut , he will sacrifice security to maintain the does.
My advice is leave your hunting area alone as much as possible until the time is right, then hunt near the security cover proximal to the preferred food source in your area, ALWAYS playing the wind. I hunt the does at this time because the bucks are doing the same thing;). Good luck!!

PS. I don't know where you live, but I will point out that there are areas in the country where the variables don't change that much , and it may be easier to pattern bucks there, but I'm guessing if you lived in one of these ,you wouldn't have this peoblem.

RE: Tips on locating bedding area?
 

Thanks for all of the great tips. Regarding my hunting area, it is Mid Florida where we have a combination of wide open cow pastures, moderately dense palmetto bushes, moderately thick myrtle bushes/fields, a creek that winds through the property and other areas that are very thick and dense, nearly too thick to walk through. To my surprise, some of you have said hunt these thick areas, the ones too thick to walk. I look at these spots and have decided they are too thick for deer to walk through, though i occassionally see light trails in there.

The creek is another good spot since it provides cover for travel. The creek is shallow (3 feet) and the area is moderately mucky, but is moderately thick, consisting of 50-75 yds wide of a variety of oaks, palmetto trees, palmetto bushes, and other tall tree cover. The travel corridor will allow the buck to travel a great portion of the property that is otherwise open fields or lightly dense. At one point, the creek passes immediately next to a food plot.