finding pressured beds

[dirt nap giver]

Another awesome thread started by DNG!! This past season i finally put the pieces of the puzzle together for some of the beds i was hunting. Once i figured out the bucks were bedding there once the pressure picked up, my big buck sightings from these beds skyrocketed... I was hunting them all wrong... Both bucks i shot this year were from a bed that they went to, to get away from the pressure.

Also, some of the questions regarding observation stands, i think it definitely depends on the terrain you're hunting. This past summer i did alot of glassing up channels of water in the bigger marshes i hunt. Alot of the terrain i hunt its dang near impossible to sit an observation stand because its just too thick. Im still brainstorming ideas in my head on how to do it with good results, just have to get creative i guess...

Beautiful execution sir!!!!

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[Peeps22]

Not trying to take away from the thread in any way, just figured an example setup would fit in. Heres a link to my thread about how i setup on my buck i shot with the gun this year. This was definitely a "pressure" bed.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34232&p=476718#p476718

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[KLEMZ]

This past summer i did alot of glassing up channels of water in the bigger marshes i hunt. Alot of the terrain i hunt its dang near impossible to sit an observation stand because its just too thick. Im still brainstorming ideas in my head on how to do it with good results, just have to get creative i guess...

Great idea Peeps! you've got my gears turning on a couple spots I may be able to do the same. Did you ever see your quarry crossing the ditch while you were observing?

[Peeps22]

This past summer i did alot of glassing up channels of water in the bigger marshes i hunt. Alot of the terrain i hunt its dang near impossible to sit an observation stand because its just too thick. Im still brainstorming ideas in my head on how to do it with good results, just have to get creative i guess...

Great idea Peeps! you've got my gears turning on a couple spots I may be able to do the same. Did you ever see your quarry crossing the ditch while you were observing?

I saw alot more deer than i originally anticipated (does, small bucks). One night i did see a decent buck as light was fading and i was just about to head out and i heard another deer crossing around the same spot so im guessing it was another buck coming. Going to give it a whirl again this summer/early fall.

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[Zona]

This is where it gets confusing for me at this time of the year. It's been stated many times that sign and beds you find now won't be were you want to be in the fall. Seems to me if mature bucks are using pressured beds MOST of the time, beds being used now with big buck sign I find should be a high priority come early fall. We don't get the yarding behavior the northern guys do, but after months of hunting, deer are confined to less pressured areas. If I am finding deer now, the mature buck beds should be near by.....correct or am I not getting the point?

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[Singing Bridge]

This is where it gets confusing for me at this time of the year. It's been stated many times that sign and beds you find now won't be were you want to be in the fall. Seems to me if mature bucks are using pressured beds MOST of the time, beds being used now with big buck sign I find should be a high priority come early fall. We don't get the yarding behavior the northern guys do, but after months of hunting, deer are confined to less pressured areas. If I am finding deer now, the mature buck beds should be near by.....correct or am I not getting the point?

[ Post made via Android ]

Great question and there are a lot of variables. Most of the guys stating that sign now is irrelevant next fall don't have the amount of hunting pressure you appear to have in your area. When they observe bucks moving closer to wintertime food sources, the pressure since seasons closed for them is reduced. In your area and in mine the poaching / harassment continues and the bucks bed where they are safe as their top priority- safety trumps other types of bedding. If you are finding mature buck beds now there is a decent chance that you have located at least some primary bedding.

Pressure bedding is what I see from transients in my swamps and marshes. When things heat up pressure wise they suddently appear. I see this in early season for some bedding, again in late October with guys hitting the woods for the late pre-rut, and more than any other time I see pressure bedding during our local gun deer season. Buck beds that haven't been used since the previous season suddenly become active during one of the periods I mentioned.

That being said, I have primary bedding in my swamps and marshes that has active buck beds used in spring / summer / winter and fall. The beds based on prevailing wind directions show the most use and are worn to the dirt. Some of them are so heavily used over the years that there is a "dent" in the ground. These mature bucks are what I refer to as "locals."

[DaveT1963]

Recent telemetry studies show that as bucks get older their home ranges actually tend to shrink and for the most part they live their entire lives in the same core area unless something dramatic occurs (forest fire, flood, clear cutting, etc.). While they often use different beds in some areas they tend to do the same thing every year. If you find a big boy chasing does in Nov then pay attention to the date and wind.... More then likely he will return to the same areas around the same time the next year.

I sometimes tend to think deer have the brain power we have.... They don't. They live and react and most of the time they bed where they have wind and eyesight advantage... Not just because they never smell human scent there. I've seen way to many deer killed right by the camp, the truck, the barn, etc.

Yes human pressure does disturb them... But more times then not they go nocturnal not leave the area.

When I am hunting a "pressured deer" I usually try to find areas where he has wind and eye advantage not just those far away isolated places.

Between coon hunters, duck hunters, fisherman, kids, trappers, etc..... There are very few spots in this country that bucks don't get disturbed.... Yrar round They just adapt to the threat. Hogs down here take over deer areas and run deer off.... Guess what... The deer don't abandon ship... they have learned to avoid the hogs in the same basic areas. I think they do the same with us.

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[9pt]

Great thread. I just keep hearing about observation stands. I'm thinking more and more about where to set up observation on the beds I have located. I have no problem finding beds (with and without rubs), now I need to figure out when and who is bedding there. Observation and cameras seems to be the next step.

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[dirt nap giver]

Observation stands are used more for this seasons Intel and confirmation.
Regular cam's are placed over beds to obtain Intel for coming seasons.
Cell cam's can be used for either this season and coming seasons.

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[mainebowhunter]

How many observation sits are you guys doing during a season? Pre season? During season? Curious to know... How many nights do you sit observing a bed?

Don't do much of it here in the northeast as much of the bedding areas are alder thickets. Really challenge just to see them from any kind of distance especially when the bucks are moving 70yds to an apple tree that is also in the cover.

Now you guys got me racking my brain...lol

[Hawthorne]

Observations sits is something I need to do more of in season I always want to be hunting because I can't hunt everyday like some of you guys. I do them in summer and see some slammers I wont see during season. I got some Intel on a nice 3.5 year old this summer from sitting an observation stand. I knew I wasn't gonna be able to.hunt that area the first week of season so i told my dad the Intel. He shot that buck coming from the bedding area on Oct 3rd. Him shooting that buck kinda felt like a victory for me because it never usually would work that way for me early season. I've killed my big bucks during oct26-nov12

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[dirt nap giver]

Observations sits is something I need to do more of in season I always want to be hunting because I can't hunt everyday like some of you guys. I do them in summer and see some slammers I wont see during season. I got some Intel on a nice 3.5 year old this summer from sitting an observation stand. I knew I wasn't gonna be able to.hunt that area the first week of season so i told my dad the Intel. He shot that buck coming from the bedding area on Oct 3rd. Him shooting that buck kinda felt like a victory for me because it never usually would work that way for me early season. I've killed my big bucks during oct26-nov12

[ Post made via Android ]

Nice!
Congrats on both parts. Finding that buck, and transferring the Intel to your dad so he can close the deal. Having a loved one score is sometime better than you closing the deal yourself.
if I may, What made you decide to set up that observation stand?

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[dirt nap giver]

Well, I learned a lot in the 6 hours of putting this together. It was time for me to learn how to do this.

I can't even read it! Dang it!
Anyway!
Red is buck beds. The one in the center is early season and the one on the right is the pressured bed where the pictures were taken and where the buck was killed.
Pink is doe beds
Green is rubs
Blue is scrapes
The X at the top is the observation stand location
Yellow line is hunter foot trail that has tree stands located just off the trail.
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[Lockdown]

Thanks for taking the time to do this DNG!

Great example

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[Darion]

This is another great thread, reading this really motivates me to continue what I've been doing. I know it is going to take some time to gain the knowledge and experience and it gets down right frustrating at times but at least here on the Beast I can see others on various stages of there journeys. There is so much shared here that I feel honored to be Part of it, and I can't wait to be where some of you guys are.
Thank you

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