Buck Bed study

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BigHills BuckHunter
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Buck Bed study

Unread postby BigHills BuckHunter » Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:34 am

Im Taking inventory right now but had a new idea. Since the hunting is over for us in one of our pieces of land I was thinking about putting up a trail camera on a known bucks bed. I would put the camera high in the tree aimed down. I know somebody else tried this on the BEAST but cant remember who it was that tried it. I think they left the camera out on the bed for several months. I just dont know if the bed will still be used now that its winter...however there is a great winter foodsource within a few hundred yards where there is standing corn all winter. This is a buck I tried setting up on 3 times and saw him twice...first time busted me....second time I was too loud and kicked him out of bed. 3rd time I didnt see him. From what I saw of him I have no trail cam pics of him or video footage.

If I put a cam there Is this too much damage to the bed site and he wouldnt come back?

I would record the wind direction everday while the camera is out there even though it seems he uses the bed with a NW wind. I would post a topo map if I get pics of him using the bed. Its a bed that gets taken over by a new buck once the one that has control of it dies. I noticed while doing deer drives that the buck using it this year did not make a rub nect to it like in years past.


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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby dirt nap giver » Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:56 am

I have done this last year as well as this year. Given the fact that we are in late season as well as you have bumped him a couple times whether or not he would still be using it. I put mine out in early August and leave it til after the new year. It worked last year, the only problem I have now is that my computer crashed and I didn't back up my files to an external hard drive. So everything I had is gone. Except for what is in my head. It works as long as you leave it there with new batteries and a large enough SD card.

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Stanley
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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby Stanley » Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:37 am

Great idea. I located a bed I had seen different bucks bed in last year, the bed was never used again that I could tell. I was going to set up a camera. Would have loved to set up a camera. I don't know of anyone that has tried and gotten repeat beddings on camera.
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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby hunter_mike » Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:58 am

Awesome idea. While i do not have near enough knowledge to make a call on if a buck would come back after being bumped twice, i myself feel as though your chances are decent with that food source nearby. I am definitely going to try this idea just to gauge how much damage is done to the bedding area by tromping thru it

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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby hunter_mike » Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:59 am

I would definitely try it if i were you. At least you would learn from the situation

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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby dreaming bucks » Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:13 am

I believe it was klemz that tried it last year. Try a search for it here on the beast.

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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby Swampthing » Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:27 am

I would interested for the results if you try it.
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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby ScoutHuntShed » Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:40 am

I'm planning on trying this also, but I'm thinking about getting a Plotwatcher instead of using my trail camera so I don't have to worry about the trigger. I want to mount it high pointing down into the bed.

I bumped a big buck in a hill county bed the last week of October. The bed definitely gets used as it was worn down to dirt even on a heavy oak ridge. The bed was actually directly on top of the ridge and in front of a natural hinge cut type tree. If I come up with the extra funds for a Plotwatcher I'm going to try it and will post results.
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BigHills BuckHunter
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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby BigHills BuckHunter » Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:55 am

i will post the results when im done showing wind direction and maybe a topo.

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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby KLEMZ » Wed Dec 05, 2012 12:48 pm

BigHills, I think its a cool idea! I did try that a couple times now (with disappointing results). I set the cams looking straight down into a bed (two different beds) and I used time lapse mode. Unfortunately, I never got much buck bedding action. When I do it again I will use motion detection instead of time lapse.

I like your idea of plotting wind direction and providing a topo. I assume this is a hill country bed?

The beds I monitered were marsh/swamp beds in Wisconsin CWD public land. probably not the best scenario for monitering buck beds. I did learn from it though. I know that ALOT of the "buck" beds I think i'm finding in spring scouting, aren't well used. It gives me some feedback on what to look for when trying to set up on primary used beds.

Good luck on your experiment!
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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby BigHills BuckHunter » Wed Dec 05, 2012 3:40 pm

KLEMZ wrote:BigHills, I think its a cool idea! I did try that a couple times now (with disappointing results). I set the cams looking straight down into a bed (two different beds) and I used time lapse mode. Unfortunately, I never got much buck bedding action. When I do it again I will use motion detection instead of time lapse.

I like your idea of plotting wind direction and providing a topo. I assume this is a hill country bed?

The beds I monitered were marsh/swamp beds in Wisconsin CWD public land. probably not the best scenario for monitering buck beds. I did learn from it though. I know that ALOT of the "buck" beds I think i'm finding in spring scouting, aren't well used. It gives me some feedback on what to look for when trying to set up on primary used beds.

Good luck on your experiment!


Thanks...we will see what happens. He beds on a point that shoots North and beds there with a NW or WNW wind. He beds on the side of the point that works out for him having wind at his back and he can watch our 4-wheeler trail and the neighbors 4-wheeler trail from this spot. I think thats why its been used by bucks for so long. Also within 200 yards of a thick doe bedding area and many food sources and a pond within 150 yards of his bed. Thurday morning its supposed to rain so I will go out then, to put out the cam.
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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby Stanley » Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:45 pm

KLEMZ wrote:BigHills, I think its a cool idea! I did try that a couple times now (with disappointing results). I set the cams looking straight down into a bed (two different beds) and I used time lapse mode. Unfortunately, I never got much buck bedding action. When I do it again I will use motion detection instead of time lapse.

I like your idea of plotting wind direction and providing a topo. I assume this is a hill country bed?

The beds I monitered were marsh/swamp beds in Wisconsin CWD public land. probably not the best scenario for monitering buck beds. I did learn from it though. I know that ALOT of the "buck" beds I think i'm finding in spring scouting, aren't well used. It gives me some feedback on what to look for when trying to set up on primary used beds.

Good luck on your experiment!

I think that would be the way to go. Time lapse eats up batteries, card space and longevity. You gotta let those cameras roll for 3,4,5 6 months uninterrupted in my opinion. Going through 10s of thousands of pictures is a monumental task also.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby KLEMZ » Thu Dec 06, 2012 12:16 am

Stanley wrote:I think that would be the way to go.


I agree that motion detection may be the best camera setting option (as long as you have a stout tree to mount the camera in, so false wind triggers dont wear down the batteries).

surprisingly, the battery life was excellant in the time lapse mode. I left my most recent cam out for six months and it could have run a lot longer. I had it taking 18 pics per day (dawn thru dusk)
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Stanley
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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby Stanley » Thu Dec 06, 2012 4:49 am

KLEMZ wrote:
Stanley wrote:I think that would be the way to go.


I agree that motion detection may be the best camera setting option (as long as you have a stout tree to mount the camera in, so false wind triggers dont wear down the batteries).

surprisingly, the battery life was excellant in the time lapse mode. I left my most recent cam out for six months and it could have run a lot longer. I had it taking 18 pics per day (dawn thru dusk)

What camera? just curious. I'm a camera junkie. I have an older plot watcher and it will go for about 3-4 weeks is all. Not good enough for a bed set up.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Buck Bed study

Unread postby KLEMZ » Thu Dec 06, 2012 5:30 am

Stanley wrote:What camera? just curious. I'm a camera junkie. I have an older plot watcher and it will go for about 3-4 weeks is all. Not good enough for a bed set up.


I have some older Reconyx RC 60 cameras. They are big by todays standards. They run on C cells but I always use adapters to allow AA lithiums. They use 6 batteries. The meter readout said 99% when I picked up the cam after 6 months! I think I could get close to a year. part of that is lithiums go full strength until the end and then suddenly die, so the 99% is misleading probably.

I think another reason they lasted so long is that the vast majority of the time lapse pics are daylight, I didn't take pictures of the bed at night (flash pictures burn alot more energy) I only took one picture an hour so the total picture count was like 3000.


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