Lake Points

[headgear]

Would these points with the red dots hold deer like a point in regular Hill Country? It just kinda seems like they are blocked in if they bedded here.

I think you are on the right track here, I know bucks in my area like bedding near lakes but not right on top of the lakes, there has to be an escape route or buffer zone. I think the like the security a lakes gives because they know odds are low of danger getting between them and the lake without them knowing about it. Not to mention all the thermal benefits of lakes.

I don't think you will find the best bedding on those points near the lake, however it looks like you have several other great bedding points close by, and lots of bedding options in and around those feeder creeks or small valleys. It doesn't alwasy have to be a huge hill country point with hundreds of feet of elevation changes, I sometimes find my bigwoods bucks bedding on smaller points or overlooking a small dip, not huge thermals there but they can sure see danger coming.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

Would these points with the red dots hold deer like a point in regular Hill Country? It just kinda seems like they are blocked in if they bedded here.

I think you are on the right track here, I know bucks in my area like bedding near lakes but not right on top of the lakes, there has to be an escape route or buffer zone. I think the like the security a lakes gives because they know odds are low of danger getting between them and the lake without them knowing about it. Not to mention all the thermal benefits of lakes.

I don't think you will find the best bedding on those points near the lake, however it looks like you have several other great bedding points close by, and lots of bedding options in and around those feeder creeks or small valleys. It doesn't alwasy have to be a huge hill country point with hundreds of feet of elevation changes, I sometimes find my bigwoods bucks bedding on smaller points or overlooking a small dip, not huge thermals there but they can sure see danger coming.

I think you are right about the lake bedding not being the best. However, I wanted to see if anyone has ever hunted anything remotely like this and had success. This area has 3500 acres on it so there are plenty of other options. If there isn't much to the bedding there, I can cross this type area off my scouting list.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

The reservoir.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

yup, the pink is the reservoir.

[magicman54494]

Deer bed near water all the time. I could never understand why because this seemed like a bad place for defense purposes but I was thinking in human terms. Water is great defense because they can just jump in and swim to safety. In wolf country I'm seeing this more and more. It's one of the easiest ways for deer to escape a wolf. They like to bed on islands for the same reason.
Colder weather brings ice and I have noticed that deer hate ice and I wouldn't doubt that they might change bedding because of the lack of escape.
Maybe Dan or other marsh hunters could elaborate on this. Do deer abandon their swamp island beds for a while until everything freezes up? Do they still attempt to get to those islands with thin ice conditions?

[headgear]

[
I think you are right about the lake bedding not being the best. However, I wanted to see if anyone has ever hunted anything remotely like this and had success. This area has 3500 acres on it so there are plenty of other options. If there isn't much to the bedding there, I can cross this type area off my scouting list.

I would give the area a good scout, they might not bed up close to the lake but the area holds a lot of bedding options close by or within view of the lake. I also recall someone fishing a reservoir like this and seeing all kinds of deer bedding right next to the lake. I think it was summer and we had some serious drought conditions going on but it might be worth noting if we get seriously dry again.

[dan]

Deer bed near water all the time. I could never understand why because this seemed like a bad place for defense purposes but I was thinking in human terms. Water is great defense because they can just jump in and swim to safety. In wolf country I'm seeing this more and more. It's one of the easiest ways for deer to escape a wolf. They like to bed on islands for the same reason.
Colder weather brings ice and I have noticed that deer hate ice and I wouldn't doubt that they might change bedding because of the lack of escape.
Maybe Dan or other marsh hunters could elaborate on this. Do deer abandon their swamp island beds for a while until everything freezes up? Do they still attempt to get to those islands with thin ice conditions?

I do see some bedding near lakes, but most of it is not on dead end points with no escape but the water, however, as mentioned earlier, I had a big buck get away by jumping in a lake and swimming away just as Magic mentioned once...
As far as the ice comment, I agree, They really hate thin ice that they break thru. In the marsh, they tend to leave the remote beds surrounded for a period of time when the ice 1st starts and then come back after it gets thick enough to walk on... During that time period the edge of the marsh beds get used more.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

I'll scout these areas out this spring and update this thread with pictures as I go along. Maybe I can shed some light on what I find.