Finding beds in flat country. Dan is right.

[jonsimoneau]

Yep. That is the conclusion I am coming to Dan. Take scrape hunting for example. I spent a lot of time hunting over scrapes when I was younger with little success. Yet I know many people who have shot big bucks over scrapes. My guess is that most of these scrapes that produced for them were already very close to where the buck was bedded that day (evening hunt) or very close to where the buck was headed to bed that day (morning hunt).

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[Darin]

Great thread and good job validating bedding information.

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[PK_]

Since I hunt a lot of 'flat' monoculture I appreciate this topic.

[cbigbear]

I'm bring this one back to the top. Here in southern Louisiana & MS almost all my hunting is on large tracts of river bottom public land. These major river bottoms are miles wide with little evaluation changes & the cover varies from open hardwood flats to impenetrable briar patches. This means the food & possible bedding is everywhere. I have been lurking here for a few years & realize that of all the available bedding the big bucks probably use less than 10% of it. Now the hard part finding that spot. This post really helps in narrowing the ground - as it seems the common dominator in any area is evaluation & wind. I have a few questions for you guys hunting flatland. What kind of map are you using that shows 5' are less evaluation changes? If the area you’re looking at has numerous humps, how are you narrowing it down - highest, biggest, thickest, or location of the humps?

[jonsimoneau]

Cbigbear, the area I conducted this little experiment in is a piece of extremely flat land that had a few humps in it. I could see the humps on a topo on the computer. There was one hump that saw more bedding activity than the others. This hump was setup so that the deer could bed overlooking the "steepest" part of the hump maximizing visibility while allowing the prevailing wind to cover them from behind. The beds on these humps were obvious because I was able to check them in snow, which I realize you don't have the opportunity to do. Even after the snow melted the beds were still able to be found by looking for the tell tale hairs in them. The most interesting thing about all of this is that the deer were not bedding anywhere but on these three humps!

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[cbigbear]

Here is a topo of my favorite river bottom stretch. It has alot of 1'-4' evaluation changes mainly dry creek beds & man made oil well rds, but nothing really shows on topo. This area is about 2miles long by 2miles wide.


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[KLEMZ]

jonsimoneau, interesting experiment. Thanks for posting it.

cbigbear, sometimes you can get more detailed topo contours if you visit the county gis interactive mapping site of the county you are hunting. once you get an aerial photo up you can then click on 'layers' and overlay contour lines onto the aerial. here in Wisconsin I will often get 2' contours on the gis site. This spring I found two different bedding areas that were subtle dry humps that did not show up on standard topos.

[cbigbear]

Thanks, I forgot about the gis sites. They do show 2' contours.

[huntinsonovagun]

Great thread.

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[BJE80]

Our area is flat as well but what really sucks is our land does not have any humps or elevation changes on it. They are all on the neighbors.

[dan]

bump

[Terry]

This is good discussion. I have already learned from it. Now I need to get out and apply it. Thanks for posting!

[SamPotter]

Has anyone tried making a small bedding hump on otherwise flat ground?

[Black Squirrel]

jonsimoneau, were you able to hunt any of these humps? If so, did they produce?

[Jay]

Getting some snow here in KY right now. Can't wait to get out and scout this weekend. You got me pumped up man!!