Bedding area question
 

I have been hunting the same area for about 5 years. I haven't been able to find a way in to the woods without walking right through bedding areas. What should I do?

They usually have a few places they prefer to bed in, when one gets blown they move on to the other, I always thought when the bugs, biting flies and ticks, get too bad in one spot they move on for awhile. They also seem to like different spots in different seasons. Cooler spots in the summer and places with morning sun in the cooler months, fall and spring. Places out of the wind in the winter.

Two schools of thought on this, one is to use the same trail (into the wind) every time, so you don't spook them completely out of the area. The other is to give them days, typically three for me, so they get comfortable again.

I personally rarely get any closer than two hundred yards to a bedding area if at all possible. I want to know roughly where they are going to be headed come sun up. I ambush hunt. I set up where they are likely to be feeding in the evening and a hundred-two hundred yards from where they sleep in the morning. A lot easier to hunt them if they have a routine.

I usually give a high seat a three day break and move onto another spot. I give them plenty of time to get back into their routine. I don't want to spook them completely out of the area.

If you intensively hunt an area it is likely they will move on or get so nervous you can't get anywhere close to them.

Just opinion as there seems to be no really good answer IMO.

That's a tough situation there. Sounds like getting into the woods super early is the answer. Of course being as scent free as possible is vital in this case. However, as MudderChucker posted, knowing which direction they are coming into the bedding area from needs to be known. Even if you get to where you are currently wanting to be - is this the right position for ambushing them?

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Well you have half figured out, now where are they feeding?


I would skirt the edge of the property as close as I could and set up ambush sites between the feeding and bedding area. I prefer to be closer to the feeding area than the bedding area.


Also the make up of the property can also be a clue. A wood lot surrounded by farm fields is far different than a 40 acre wood plot surrounded by 1600 acres of big woods.


:D Al

Hunt the near side around the bedding area and see what you learn.

Skirt the edge of the bedding area while it's still dark.

Get in down wind onto a high spot as quite as possible, and then take a seat......................................