Finding Buck Beds
 

Attached is a marked-up photo of my hunting area (1/4 section). I am having troubles identifying where the bucks bed. There are 5 average sized bucks on the property and one big boy. My farm is elevated, then drops down to the river to the north.

As you can see most of the sign is in the section of woods to the south where our house is. The abundance of rubs and scrapes are in an open area near the field and in a dry slough. My cam shows they are travelling east-west a lot. When the rut starts all the scrapes open up in this area and I did get the "big boy" on camera but only at 3am making a scrape.

We did see the big boy walk up out of the wooded ridge from the north to feed on oat bales late in the season. I scouted that ridge and found some lightly used trails and very little sign.

So how should I interperet this based on finding bedding sights. Are they passing through the woods to the south making sign and bedding somewhere on the ridge where there is little sign or bedded in the slough area?

Thanks for any input.

This is based on speculations from not knowing the area. It looks like there is a tree line between the oat field and hay field. If you can, put a camera there and see how many deer travel through there. This is one of the main places deer travel through my Grandpa's cattle fields. They might also travel through the oat fields, but less likely. I personally would probably start looking for beds on the NE area of the ridge towadrs the river, and scout Eastward. If that doesn't work out then work the ridge West.

Just remember that big deer get big for a reason and holes up in the thickest stuff he could find and is only traveling through your plot.

I really don't worry about where the big bucks are bedded...For years I hunted with a guy that did and he really hurt all our chances looking for and going through their bedding areas...

I stick with the food sources that are hot at that time and try to keep up with the does... :)

During the rut, bucks travel, just like a young fellow bar hopping...Find a good group of does and pattern them...

A pretty woman will get a fellow in trouble every time...

I don't want to hunt the bedding areas specifically, but the problem is that the mature bucks where I hunt never step out into the field until way after dark so the difficultly is figuring out which trail they used to enter the field. If I had an idea of where the bedding area was I could place my stand on one of many trails from that direction to the field and pretty soon figure out which one is his trail.

If the bucks are not coming out untill after dark, and you know they are. Find the food source they are hitting right at dark and move in on them. Scout the hard woods and thickets close to the food source and move deeper into them. That is the only chance you have in seeing them early in the season without hunting the bedding areas. And I personly wouldnt do that either...

So what's the deal with the flurry of rubs and scrapes in the south wooded area near the house? Are they just travelling through and leaving an abundance of sign there for some reason?

+1 on what Freebird said in post #2

Pete

It depends on there travel schedules. I have found deer beds in strange places, such as in an open field of grass with a dried up pond. Yep they curled up in the grass near the bank, I suppose to get out of winds crossing the 5 acre field.
My Grandpa has over 60 acres with maybe 1/3 of it house barn and fields and the rest is woods. Several deer bed down in an abandoned cattle field that is overgrown. At the edge of this field is a treeline that separates it from a bean field. The treeline runs into the woods. Keep studying and you'll learn your deer.
One year I was sitting on this corner and found out that about 2 hours (probably 3pm) after I left the neighbor saw that Big buck walking along that fencerow of trees. I think that was back in '04.

I would like to see a topo of that land and I think I could point out right where the bucks bed based on elevation.
I think your on the right track hunting near bedding. I have shot my biggest bucks in or near there beds. Its just common sense. The older they get the less they move in daylight. They spend the majority of the day in there bedding area... The closer you are the more your success goes up.

Attached is a Topo of the area I hunt and another zoomed-out satellite image. Note that Canadian topo maps don't have much detail since the contour interval is not as tight, so you will barely notice a river valley. I outlined our property (that the previous satellite picture is representing) but I do have access to neighbor's lands.

I have 5 or so different bucks travelling through that slough area and north down the slope along the west property line into the woods. The old boy shows up near the slough sometimes as well as well emerges from the north river bank from time to time at night.