Suburban Buck Bed Observations

[ajack]

Hey Gents,

I wanted to post some observations I’ve made recently on some local scouting trips to kind of bounce some ideas off you all.

I hunt mostly suburban lots around the Pittsburgh area. We grow some really nice bucks if you can track them down. But the topography and pressure patterns of the land seem to be forming a trend I’m noticing when it comes to buck beds.

First, we don’t really have hills once you get about 20 minutes out of the city. We simply have deep valleys… Now that doesn’t seem like it makes sense but if you look at the topo’s we’d have pretty flat land if it weren’t for the drainages, streams and rivers that break it up. This lends to most of the human population living on top of these hills and the bottoms being the wooded lots rather than the opposite like most other areas. Often time I’m hunting a valley with neighborhoods on top of the ridges to either the side.

This topo/population layout, I’ve noticed, has changed some of the orientation of how our bucks are bedding. Almost every buck bed I find has the protective structure on the downhill side of the bed with a clear view of the hill/houses above. Furthermore, almost every time I’ve kicked a mature buck out of a bed(with visual confirmation) while scouting they’ve been on the windward facing side of that hill or point.

I think this set up gives them the most advantage in this situation. If they’re bedding near the tops of the hills near the houses - having the wind blow over the hills and through the houses towards them is going to pollute what they’re smelling. Since it’s constantly blowing human scent from the houses at them. It’s much more advantageous for them to be looking towards the populated areas and have the wind blowing up the hill from behind them to identify threats from the bottoms.

Also, most of the hunting pressure comes from people walking the valleys or having stands set up in the bottoms near the small streams. I’m assuming because that’s where they find the most sign which as we know is usually due to night time activity. This would be another reason to have the stronger force (the wind) blowing up to them in areas like really tight draws with only a couple hundred feet elevation change where thermals are blunted by a thick canopy and cool streams at the bottom.

Anyways, this seems to be the trend in my unique area. I wanted to throw this out there to see what you guys think. Or maybe you could share any suburban situations you've hunted before.

[bbrilmyer]

I hunt the same exact area as you with the same kind of goals.

Hunting buck beds in this area is surely different, your right about that. Not nearly as defined as what most people are lucky enough to hunt. You really have to find that happy medium between cover and visual/thermal advantages.

If you want to talk about specifics, feel free to PM me! I'd love to shoot it with another local guy that has the same goals as I do.

[ Post made via Android ]

[mheichelbech]

It would be great if you guys could have your discussion on the thread instead of through PM....I hunt several urban areas...some are similar to what you described...some are totally flat. I'd like to see more discussion about urban hunting in general on here. It seems to be becoming an increasingly prevalent way to hunt...between hunters not having the time to go deeper woods areas, no public access nearby and farmland either leased or already taken up by other hunters permission wise.

[cbay]

Would be great to see some topo / ariel examples of where you have got some bucks up from.
I too have found buck bedding on windward hillsides but it is during the pre-rut and rut. This is around a subdivision but in the country where they can get out of dodge when pressure starts. Also it is very thick cover for them to hide.

[Edcyclopedia]

Here is a setup that mimics your findings as well as mine...
South East / East wind directions

Red - Beds
Blue = Trails
Green = Access (end is stand location) and/or food (white oaks)

[dan]

I hunted a bit in West central Illinois years back, and a lot of the properties were accessed from the fields and watched bucks bed on the tips of draws so high up that they could watch the entire field for human entry... And I would bet they never had hunters come from behind untill I got there. They bedded on the windward facing the field just as you described... And in flat farm land its common for bucks to bed on the down wind side of a block of timber smelling the woods behind them and watching the field in front... One thing is consistent though, they bed in exact positions for good reasons. You will see young deer bed in weird spots but mature bucks tend to bed in the spots that give them the greatest or safest combination of scent / sight & sound

[ajack]

[align=center][/align]
Here is an example from the other day. I kicked a monster 10 out of the green dot. The other red dots are other classic buck beds. He was bedded up against a massive red oak on the upwind side of him and had a great view of the houses about 100 yards away. Most people access this property down along the highway or along the trails at the bottoms of this hill.

My strategy is going to be enter that ridge from the north and set up in the oaks far enough behind him so that he can't hear or see me and hope he decides to walk North that night. I can't imagine he'd walk ESE as there is a permanent stand about 75 yards from the south most bed that I guarentee he knows about. That's also the way I was coming when I bumped him.

[headgear]

Good info guys, I've always said each bed is unique. You have to walk the last and listen to what you gut and eyes are telling you. The burbs certainly seem like a prime place to have some unique bedding situations.

[bbrilmyer]

In my experiences so far, I have been rarely able to pinpoint buck beds via maps. The topography and separations of cover are just not distinct enough. In most suburban areas I have hunted, everything could be considered "bedding" in regards to the thickness of the cover. A lot of the topography that would be considered conducive to bedding, are most oftentimes so close to human habitation that the typical rules of the bucks using the traditional wind and thermals do not apply. A happy medium of cover and visual ability to see oncoming threats has been the most common themes in buck beds that I have found so far.

Another things I've run into alot in suburban areas are beds that are just in such a thick area that access to hunt it is impossible without blowing everything out of the area. I'd love to be able to hunt closer to these beds buck access just isn't possible, so I get as close as possible. Educated guesses in these cases aren't the best, but its still going to garner me more success than hunting the typical funnel or trail crossing that the majority of guys are sitting over.

Ground hunting is another option ill be utilizing this year. You can squeeze into these thick areas with alot less disturbance than if you were to try and hang and stand and chop down shooting lanes.