Bedding Areas?

[wildernessmaster]

See my other post about nearly being ready to sell my gear...

Many of you posted "find their bedding area"...

This a topic that has perplexed me with Eastern WT deer...

First what really constitutes a bedding area? WT move around a lot. On big woods public lands (from what I have seen) they really don't fixate on A bedding area. They typically have dozens over and area they are in - plus they will move to other areas overnight.

Second how do you determine what the bedding area really is... The ground is hard as nails, its mostly pine straw or leaves... Its rare you find this nice "bed" impression. Yes, I have but even then I have looked around the same area and found dozens (like around a peak).

Thirdly when you don't have structured food sources (like an ag field or a food plot) and you do think you have found a bedding area, what does it tell you? It looks to me like in these scenarios the food is all around them (mast, forb and fauna) so how do you figure out what they are moving to/from?

Let's take a few recent scouting scenarios...

Hilly/Mountanous peak about 2.5 miles in a section of public land. There is a creek at the base that is actually also a saddle between it and another peek. At the top of the peak in question I found several areas that looked like impressions of group beds and digging into the leaves some old poo. Also it is an acorn site, but acorns hadn't dropped. While getting to the top, it sounded like I bumped a deer off the northern side of the peak. On the way down we found in the general area of that sound closer to the base pee on leaves.

What's the bedding area? What's the hunting area? Nearly any place I set a stand I am going to see maybe 30 yards... this is probably 20 acres of just these two topographic locations (peak and creek). Oh and night or day, it is going to sound like an army moving in... its triple layer dried leaves and twigs.

Scenario 2
About 2 miles down a driveable trail, I found a small hill top with a nice low saddle and another small hilltop near it. On either side of both hills is a pretty deep cut/drainage probably with water during rainy times. The first hilltop is probably 50ish yards off the driveable trail. Mast (white oak) acorns are falling all over the place (just starting). The first hill top is covered in deadfall. I find glistening poo near and on the top, mainly in the areas where acorns have dropped. Walking to the saddle, I note what appears to be an old abandoned ATV trail (not accessible or visble from road). it runs down the Western side of the saddle and 2nd hill top). The saddle is a transition from hardwoods (hill 1) to primary/secondary) pine thicket (hill 2). All along the trail about every 30ish yards are classic scrapes (some you could see fresh hoof scrapes) - scraped earth with limbs overhang. There are some secondary scrapes along the path as well. On the trail and both sides of the road are some rubs. This goes all the way down this trail and past hill 2 all the way to a 3rd hill.

Where's the bed? I imagine that (and scouting seemed to validate) that they beds are all in those pines... Everywhere. probably 10+ acres of area to cover.

Where would you hunt? If you hunt the trail the best shot scenario you are going to get is 10ish yards and you are going to be set in a tree visible to the world.

Just trying to ascertain what you guys mean by beds and hunt the beds.

 

[JBrew]

Scenario 1: Personally, I'm finding a creek crossing and hunting it.
Scenario 2: It reads like you are walking through a feeding area to get to a saddle? Maybe I read that wrong. IMO, I'd start off on that spot by getting the wind right on your entrance from your vehicle, since you're not sure where they are coming from to begin with. Gotta start somewhere.

 

[Drenalin]

Does and younger bucks may very well bed just about anywhere and sometimes even just plop down right next to a given food source. As bucks mature, they begin to bed in specific locations based on specific conditions (wind, thermals, cover, visibility, lack of pressure, etc.). Once you learn those tendencies, you can quickly scout areas looking for beds. If no beds, check another area, and another, and another. There usually isn't "a" bed. There's a bed for this time of year on this wind where the buck isn't disturbed, and can change as rapidly as the food sources and will very likely change when he starts getting interested in does.

Your scenario one sounds like doe bedding to me. Does generally bed in little groups and watch out for one another, and I typically only find doe beds right at a peak. Bucks will be off the sides or better yet, off on the spurs/fingers, and generally on the leeward side. Your hunting area is as close to the bedding as you can get without the deer knowing you're there. Preferably inside 100 yards from beds to stand.

Your scenario two sounds like a feeding area. I don't have much experience with big chunks of pines, but what little I do was frustrating - seems like does bed all over in there. Generally, terrain features are less productive if there are multiple similar type features in close proximity. For example, I'm only looking to hunt a saddle or a deep cut if it's the only one on that ridgeline for a good distance, if there's something on each side of the saddle that would cause me to think a deer should cross there, and if it's not easily accessible to other hunters. Any jackwagon can look at a map and identify a saddle, and for a lot of guys it's the first spot they'll try in an area. That pressure makes them unappealing for deer, and for me. Something that helps with any terrain feature is if there's also some type of vegetative edge either through it or funneling to it. If the area in your scenario is that easy to get to, I wouldn't expect to see deer feeding there in daylight (but you know the area better than I do - if you're fairly certain it's low pressure, may be worth a shot).

Hunting beds is interesting, frustrating, and has a steep learning curve. I'm far from an expert. As a starting point, thick stuff, steep stuff, leeward slopes, and edges are worth checking out. Most probably won't produce.

 

[Don Qui Puncher]

Whenever I find multiple beds like that I take note and when I see chasing I set up down wind of the doe beds. I’d say 80% of the mature bucks I’ve found in my area bed in swamps/marsh areas, lots of the swamps here have small islands and even tiny 5x5 tufts of moss almost like pillows above the water that I find them using as satellite beds when primary bedding is compromised. I’ll put the waders on in the spring and jump them off the bigger islands to take a look and will find them there in the fall as well. Most spots i find them have 20-50 yards of the thickest briars or cattails they pass through to get to bedding and if I can get in a bit and find a tree I’ll set up over the transition off the bedding area through the thick stuff. Days with extreme weather when hearing is compromised is a good day to sneak into primary bedding areas. Look up Dan Infalts stuff on bedding, I’ve always followed the bigger deer to the edges of the swamps prior to finding his stuff now I go in. I have no desire to figure out the hill bucks I’ll play in the mud any day.

 

[elkyinzer]

Early season big woods is really really tough to kill a decent buck. I wouldn't get too discouraged. If you are to the point of throwing in the towel, just do it...for now. Get some yardwork done, wine and dine the lady, scout when you get a few hours, and come back in a month and things will be a lot faster paced. Now is not the time to get burnt out. I've been bowhunting big woods/mountains about 10 years and I've never tagged a buck before October 22 and I get one almost every year. It's definitely more of a rut game than hunting farmland and swamps.

You'll tend find does in concentrated clusters where there is good food in or very nearby cover. Often acorns this time of year. It's a bit of a catch-22 too as far as bedding is concerned. You can hunt those concentrations of deer, at the risk of blowing them out. You generally won't find many bucks around now but I do like to fill the freezer with a doe or two so I try to do that early season in areas where I don't feel I am hanging my rut strategy on. I want live bait around in the rut and I don't want to be killing them or pressuring them out of the area.

Buck beds are a tough game in the mountains. They do tend to stay off in more isolated areas. Can really be needle in a haystack. A lot of mature mountain bucks are very nomadic. A lot bed in completely airtight, unapproachable areas. Give it about 3 weeks though and they start scouting for does too, making more forays around their area noting where those ladies are hanging out. Eventually they shift and start bedding closer to the ladies. That's when the buck sightings really turn on for me.

 

[Bmoore]

As others have mentioned, if your finding multiple beds, it’s more than likely does. They will bed in groups. A mature bucks bed will be isolated. Often times it’s in the thickest stuff you can find and it’s impossible to get to it without bumping other smaller bucks and does out of the less desirable bedding adjacent to it. The bedding changes woth wind, food, and pressure. So finding a bed may not be that useful. The best you can do if find the spots that may be bedding and scout them. If there’s really fresh sign set up and hope. If your not fixing. Fresh sign move on. There’s plenty of info online on how to find buck bedding but the reality is is really hard to do. That’s why it’s hard to kill buck bucks. It takes a lot of time and a lot of Experience I think.
As for setups as mentioned by others, set up as close to bedding as possible in the direction you think they’ll travel. This is based on wind and food. If you find a scrape or rib line a buck may be using set up on the line as close to bedding as possible. If you don’t spook a deer on occasion your not close enough to the bedding to be effective. In big woods a deer can stand in their bed and normal browse around for hours within 20 yards of it before moving to better food sources. That’s why you may not be seeing anything during daylight.

 

[wildernessmaster]

Does and younger bucks may very well bed just about anywhere and sometimes even just plop down right next to a given food source. As bucks mature, they begin to bed in specific locations based on specific conditions (wind, thermals, cover, visibility, lack of pressure, etc.). Once you learn those tendencies, you can quickly scout areas looking for beds. If no beds, check another area, and another, and another. There usually isn't "a" bed. There's a bed for this time of year on this wind where the buck isn't disturbed, and can change as rapidly as the food sources and will very likely change when he starts getting interested in does.

Your scenario one sounds like doe bedding to me. Does generally bed in little groups and watch out for one another, and I typically only find doe beds right at a peak. Bucks will be off the sides or better yet, off on the spurs/fingers, and generally on the leeward side. Your hunting area is as close to the bedding as you can get without the deer knowing you're there. Preferably inside 100 yards from beds to stand.

Your scenario two sounds like a feeding area. I don't have much experience with big chunks of pines, but what little I do was frustrating - seems like does bed all over in there. Generally, terrain features are less productive if there are multiple similar type features in close proximity. For example, I'm only looking to hunt a saddle or a deep cut if it's the only one on that ridgeline for a good distance, if there's something on each side of the saddle that would cause me to think a deer should cross there, and if it's not easily accessible to other hunters. Any jackwagon can look at a map and identify a saddle, and for a lot of guys it's the first spot they'll try in an area. That pressure makes them unappealing for deer, and for me. Something that helps with any terrain feature is if there's also some type of vegetative edge either through it or funneling to it. If the area in your scenario is that easy to get to, I wouldn't expect to see deer feeding there in daylight (but you know the area better than I do - if you're fairly certain it's low pressure, may be worth a shot).

Hunting beds is interesting, frustrating, and has a steep learning curve. I'm far from an expert. As a starting point, thick stuff, steep stuff, leeward slopes, and edges are worth checking out. Most probably won't produce.

Thank you for your insight...

 

[bjfoxhoven]

Not sure if you ever listen to podcasts or not. Troy pottenger is a great listen though. He is a huge proponent of hunting “community” scrapes, but he is one of the most thorough hunters I’ve listen to talk. He hunts mountain whitetails in north Idaho, targeting only the most mature and biggest bucks basically within a couple hundred yard radius. Might find some tips to help you out.
as far as I know, I tend to think of mountain Huck bedding as a general big area, not one specific tiny place. Look at a topo and focus on leward ridges with cover.

 

[cuttiebrownbow]

Pressured mature eastern whitetails are as tough as it gets to put an arrow in IMO.

Best advice I can give you is to scout right before snow comes off the ground after season ends. That will show you where the deer go when they are pressured.

I don’t put boots on the ground after the spring because my scouting and prepping possible stand locations is already done. I am mobile but it is nice to have a tree pre trimmed for hanging or climbing when the conditions are right to hunt that area.

Get on does, once you find the does there will be bucks come rut.

I use cameras and leave them soak all season in places I can’t figure out. I don’t have that many but spreading our 4-5 cameras in a small area by trail intersections or pinch points has helped me a lot.

If my spots are producing I wait until rutting activity starts and look for rubs and scrapes and hit them hard. Scrapes have been very good to me on otherwise tough years.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hunt41]

Some good advice here. My thoughts on mountain buck have also been targeting swamps if available and acorns about now. Hunt the does in late October and into November. The buck will come to them.