atlasman

Maybe it's just me...........maybe it's the pressure........maybe it's the land.


All I know is that I can not say FOR SURE where deer will be bedding from one day to the next........and ICERTAINLY can not tell this simply by looking at an aerial photo and/or topo maps.

It's just not that simple (around here anyways)..........god do I wish it was. What I want to know from guys in other areas is..........is it really that cut and dry where you are??

I hear mention of setting up in funnels between doe bedding areas and other guys saying they are gonna sneak right into their bedroom and take a shot at catching them and so on.

It must be the pressure around here because what is a bedding area one day will sit vacant for weeks and you seriously never know where a couple deer might hop up from.

The problem with trying to pinpoint a bedding area around here is you NEVER know what is gonna happen from day to day..........there is NO WAY deer could bed down in the same area day after day during the season or they would all be dead in a week.

We have everything from idiots prancing through every inch of the land.........to dogs........to ATV's and everything else under the sun. I honestly don't think the deer are EVER comfortable enough to stay in the same spot for long.

I have come up on major bedding sites time and time again around here only to see them go unused for weeks after.

Do your deer all really bed in the SAME area day after day??.........I have just never witnessed this sort of predictable behavior around here.


If your deer DO bed in the same spot daily then please include what the pressure is like in your area.

bawanajim

In my woods they do,some bucks use the same bed most of the winter. I have a sanctuary that is never entered except to shed hunt in March. They are safe there and know it.
Every tree around these buck beds will be rubbed,the sign is remarkable.

I believe this only happens because they are never disturbed here.

Charlie P

I think it has alot to do with the area your hunting,geographically.

Other area's of the country offer less cover and less available bedding area's.

They bed in different are's around here with the season's too. The don't bed in summer where they do cold of winter from what I have noticed.

Same thing with Turkeys' some guys will tell you the Roost here every night. Not where I am at.

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Charlie P

It's also kinda like when some one asks what are the area's are the best to hunt. Someone will alway's say water,they have to drink. That maybe a very easy thing(pinpoint a water source) in different area's of the country but not where I'm hunting, there's water every where.

Hunter_59

I know different areas will force deer to act differently and bed and feed in different ways. When it comes to my hunting area, which is public ground that I've hunted for over 20 years, I've learned where the does will bed at different times during the hunting season. Naturally, I want to hunt close to these doe bedding areas in the hopes of intercepting a buck cruising through as the rut gets going. I can tell you honestly that on any given day, I can sit in my tree stand that I use only for observation over the bedding area, and spot between 10-20 does moving through and bedding down. Some of them may be 1/4 mile ormore away, it's a huge bedding area, but I use this tree to try and discover routines that a buck may be displaying while entering or exiting this area. Sometimes I'm smart enough to pick up on a routine and act on it and other times I'll guess that he may do something and not act on it and sure enough the next day sit and watch him do what I thought he would do. That's the frustrating part! If I do discover a routine, then I'll either hang a different stand or still hunt into the area and wait for an ambush if the wind is favorable.

This area is in a river bottom and it doesn't matter whether it's flooded to a certain degree or not. Their are high areas that may sit 6" above the standing water and they will bed there. I've set there multiple times and listen to the does walk through in the dark splashing in water that may be 12-15" deep, just to get to the area that may be above water. Depending on the moon phase, the action may not pick up until 8-9 in the morning but itsometimes will start between 2-3 in the afternoon.

GMMAT

This was a response I wrote to a similar thread about a week or so ago.

early in

In my hunting area, it's the thickest stuff that you can find that is used as bedding areas. It's public land so I guess it only stands to reason. Area's like this.

Schultzy

In my area it seems the Doe's and fawns and the smaller bucks have there same bedding area year after year. However the older bigger bucks always seem to distance themselves from the other deer when bedding, I've noticed anywhere its very thick or a new downfall has appeared allot of times I'll find big beds in these areas. Too many times I've jumped them in these spots when going in and out of the woods![:@]

peakrut

Atlas bro I would have to say with swamps yes it is around my part of the country.(Wi) Now up in Northern, Wi its a bit harder for me because so many acres were talking about here.
I can find them but when I finally do they are gone. I do have some area's I know year in and year out they bed and I am usually waiting there opening weekend of gun season.
I mostly hunt with a bow in Southern, Wi.