Finding the beds.....but.....

[jonsimoneau]

We all know it takes practice when trying to employ a new hunting strategy. I have seen some guys on here having trouble finding beds. I feel lucky because I am having little trouble finding the beds but am having difficulty in picking the right tree. HA! One really great bed I have discovered, I have been there three times and spent a lot of time but am having difficulty deciding on a tree to hunt. Frustrating to say the least!

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[whitetail007]

have you thought about setting up on the ground?

[jonsimoneau]

I setup on the ground when it's the only option but I don't prefer too. The problem I'm having is not that there are not enough good trees but rather trying to decipher which way the deer is most likely to go after leaving his bed. Sometimes I find a tree and then second guess it thinking its too far from the bed or too close to the bed etc. It's gonna take some practice but its a little harder than just picking a tree in the downwind side of a funnel! LOL!

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Chris Conroy]

There was a tip on here by Singing Bridge I believe, about using an orange glove to locate trees for hunting beds. You place the glove about the deer’s head height in the bed. When you are looking for trees, you will be able to see how close you can get to the bed without the deer seeing you. I have used that trick a few times already and it has helped a lot.

[xpauliber]

I'm in the "having trouble finding the beds" boat so I can't comment from personal experience but when I do find a bed, my strategy is going to be to try and identify what wind the buck will be using that bed.

Once you determine the wind direction that you're going to be hunting it, it's going to dictate what trees you CANT hunt. From there, you can then do the orange hat trick to pick specific trees, entry/exit routes, etc. That's my plan at least. Will see how it pans out.

[Singing Bridge]

There was a tip on here by Singing Bridge I believe, about using an orange glove to locate trees for hunting beds. You place the glove about the deer’s head height in the bed. When you are looking for trees, you will be able to see how close you can get to the bed without the deer seeing you. I have used that trick a few times already and it has helped a lot.

As Dan has written and spoken about so many times, it is important to be just out of sight / sound / smell of the bedded buck. Map out his entrances and exits to the bed(s). My trick is to put an orange glove or hat on a stick right in the bucks bed at the height of a bedded buck's head... walk those entrance and exit trails and pick your tree's where you cannot be seen. The orange glove really helps a lot, as you move away from the bed, to tell "exactly" where it is and whether or not you will be in sight with the tree you have selected. Get as close as you can and not tip the buck off.

jonsimoneau, a lot of us can "outhink" ourselves when making these stand site selections. Pick your tree's to cover the best exit(s) or entrance(s) trail while staying just out of sight, and use your scouting knowledge to factor in food sources and wind / weather, other deer, etc. Make your best play and if it doesn't work out, what you have learned will improve your next hunt there. Be confident and go for it!

[jonsimoneau]

Good stuff guys. Thanks. Singingbridge I have been known to over think strategies before!

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[admiral04]

I'm in the "having trouble finding the beds" boat so I can't comment from personal experience but when I do find a bed, my strategy is going to be to try and identify what wind the buck will be using that bed.

Once you determine the wind direction that you're going to be hunting it, it's going to dictate what trees you CANT hunt. From there, you can then do the orange hat trick to pick specific trees, entry/exit routes, etc. That's my plan at least. Will see how it pans out.

x2

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[jonsimoneau]

Those of you having trouble finding the beds, what type of terrain are you hunting? I bet people here can help. I hunt low density deer areas for my state and I have little trouble finding them. Post what you are dealing with.

[ Post made via iPad ]

[PK_]

Having trouble finding beds because I have no time to scout!!!!

Now that is frustrating...



For what it is worth xpauliber's advice seems very solid.

[Sweet Shot 7]

Found another this weekend. Right off a point of the woodlot 10 yards in from the field edge. No sheds though.

[Sweet Shot 7]

[jonsimoneau]

Palmettokid, I have never deer hunted in the South, but I have been down there pig hunting a few times, and I can assure you that your situation down there is much more difficult than what we experience in the midwest. I used to be against baiting deer until I went to an area of South Texas. Place was flat as a pancake, and nothing but brush and mostly cactus. The cactus was so bad you really could not walk around much out there. Most guys hunted over a feeder in a clearing. And in Florida the cover was so thick that it seemed to me the deer would bed down wherever they damn well felt like it! No funnels, not much for changes in topography. My hat goes off to anyone who can kill deer with a bow in these areas.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

There was a tip on here by Singing Bridge I believe, about using an orange glove to locate trees for hunting beds. You place the glove about the deer’s head height in the bed. When you are looking for trees, you will be able to see how close you can get to the bed without the deer seeing you. I have used that trick a few times already and it has helped a lot.

As Dan has written and spoken about so many times, it is important to be just out of sight / sound / smell of the bedded buck. Map out his entrances and exits to the bed(s). My trick is to put an orange glove or hat on a stick right in the bucks bed at the height of a bedded buck's head... walk those entrance and exit trails and pick your tree's where you cannot be seen. The orange glove really helps a lot, as you move away from the bed, to tell "exactly" where it is and whether or not you will be in sight with the tree you have selected. Get as close as you can and not tip the buck off.

jonsimoneau, a lot of us can "outhink" ourselves when making these stand site selections. Pick your tree's to cover the best exit(s) or entrance(s) trail while staying just out of sight, and use your scouting knowledge to factor in food sources and wind / weather, other deer, etc. Make your best play and if it doesn't work out, what you have learned will improve your next hunt there. Be confident and go for it!

^^^^This

[xpauliber]

Those of you having trouble finding the beds, what type of terrain are you hunting? I bet people here can help. I hunt low density deer areas for my state and I have little trouble finding them. Post what you are dealing with.

[ Post made via iPad ]

The biggest issue I face is just the sheer amount of wooded property. I don't have statistics, but I would bet that 80-85% of the county I hunt is wooded. You physically can't walk every piece of cover that could conceivably be bedding.

I am fairly good at reading topo maps to select rut locations, but using them to narrow down bedding areas was tough. That's been a huge skill that I've learned here on the beast. Here is a picture of one of the areas I was scouting 2 weekends ago. It consists of thousands of acres of forest which mainly consists of oak trees, and thick laurel, and a bunch of different streams running through the area. It was frustrating because it seemed the deer could literally bed, eat, & drink anywhere because they had everything they needed right there:


When I started hunting southern-Ohio, it really opened my eyes up to how different terrain can be. I was hunting farmland and was looking over aerial maps and nothing looked good to me. It just seemed like fields everywhere with small drainages and woodlots connecting them. Even when I scouted it on foot, I was depressed because I couldn't believe that deer would be in woodlots like that. When I actually hunted it in November however, I could not believe how many deer I saw, and how they worked fence-lines, downwind sides of woodlots, funnels, etc. So many things that I had read in magazines started to click and make sense where it didn't make sense when I tried to apply those tactics back home in PA.

At any rate, that's my problem, but with alot of help from the Beast, I've slowly began to start narrowing down what ingredients are necessary to make buck bedding areas and it's starting to pay off. Live & learn!