How Long Can He Lay?

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Apex
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How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby Apex » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:02 pm

How long can a MB stay locked down in his bed without feeding? Is sun-up to sun-down common? Likely? Would like to hear about some experiences or observations to back it up. Thanks.

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PK_
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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby PK_ » Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:34 pm

Deer defecate around 10 times during a typical day (dawn-dusk). They get up to answer natures call, stretch and many times they take a few minutes to browse and rub their antlers, moving several yards before lying back down. 10x a day and say he wanders 10 yards on average before lying back down each time, that buck may move 100 yards through the course of a day, if there is that much security cover available. But a buck is not going to move any amount of distance just to feed during daylight, in most cases. But that is just my .02
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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby dan » Tue Jun 23, 2015 8:26 pm

I have watched bucks bed, and then not seen them move again till a 1/2 hour before daRK. I have also seen them rise and move like PK said... During rut and summer they move a lot more than non-rut hunting times. And when they do move midday it usually ain't far e nough or predictable enough to kill them.
Certain weather conditions or rut can change that up though... One of my biggest bucks was arrowed midday over a scrape 75 yar5ds from his bed right after a light rain stopped.
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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby Stanley » Wed Jun 24, 2015 12:55 am

I have actually had bucks get up from their beds and move closer to me (within 20 yards) and then bed down again quite a few times. I personally have never seen a buck stay in one bed all day. Not to say they don't just never have seen one do it. I had a very nice 11 point buck in 2008 get up and move closer to me and bed down again at 15 yards. The buck bedded there for about an hr then got up and moved on.

I was on pins and needles the whole time he was bedded there. For some unknown reason I decided to pass a on him. I went back forth in my thinking until I finally decided to not take him. I hung the bow up to remove any further temptation. The buck never knew I was there. He was a 140 class buck. I set a good friend up on the buck the next year and he arrowed him, he scored 150.

In answer to your question I believe most bucks get up and move around a little during the day. I have seen them just stay bedded and defecate, but usually they get up to drop a load of pellets.
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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby mauser06 » Wed Jun 24, 2015 1:21 am

I've never watched a buck bed all day...


But I agree that deer in general do move at times through the day...its just not real predicable from my experiences...

When I'm not bed hunting I see regular movement up until 9-10-11am even early season...

There was one time a doe and yearling came in as I was climbing down..it was about lunch time...odd I thought...I had nowhere to go..early season..had no plans to hunt all day...but I did..I had deer filter through all day...it wasn't steady..it wasn't consistent...I don't think any had antlers on their heads till 1.5yo bucks fed in the evening..

I started hunting when I can hunt...if I have the time I will spend it in a tree or scouting..

Now...that's all prior to bed hunting/knowledge..

I really think there is something to deer having most hunters patterned..around here 98% of the guys are out of the woods before 9-10am and aren't in the woods till 3-4-5pm..I always thought that could be part of it..

I have noticed they tend to stay in or closer to cover and move slow and cautious..

Early season on a hot day I'd think a watering source could be a hot spot especially midday if its a place that water is harder to come by...I don't know how much water a deer drinks a day...but if I had an area I knew water was hard to come by I'd hunt a water source...for me water isn't real hard to find..though I had a old bathtub turned watering trough that isn't used that was the last water to freeze in the late season...it was a mega hotspot till it finally froze over...reminds me....I wanna carry a shovel and pick in and "improve" it....and make sure it flows well.. If I can get it to flow well itd probably never freeze in our hunting seasons anyways

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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby dan » Wed Jun 24, 2015 2:22 am

The times and places I watched bedded deer stay bedded all day were all pretty much high pressure times like gun season and public.
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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Wed Jun 24, 2015 4:46 am

Hey Stanley - I'd like to be your friend :lol:
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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby JoeRE » Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:01 am

Yea my observations have been similar, I haven't seen a deer stay bedded for more than an hour or two max before it gets up stretches, takes a dump and lays back down. Most of the time its less than an hour.

Also most of the time when I watch them through the fall they do not lay back down in the exact same bed - they move a few feet or a few yards (farm and hill country observation - probably depends on terrain). However when I watch deer when there is snow on the ground in the winter they are more likely to lay back down in the exact same hollowed out bed all day long unless the wind switches or something.

I could imagine during gun season with guns going off all day a buck laying in his bed all day.
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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Wed Jun 24, 2015 6:11 am

In the swamps I hunt, bucks will definetly stand up, relieve themselves, but they bed down in same bed and may move 2-3 yards but not enough to even make a difference or to kill or pattern. There are exceptions, such as super hot days for water, or the rut, extreme cold days for food. But they are usually bedded close to water and don't have to leave security of wind or terrain to get a drink. A lot of the areas I target have the bucks bedded close to creeks, rivers, or features that do not allow access without him knowing from that direction. They are there because of that. I have also watched bucks bed all day long without getting up, Michigan gun season, and public land pressure as Dan stated. Still the most important and best way to hunt him is bed to food or food to bed or rut funnels and doe bedding. Just food for thought as I see it.

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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby stash59 » Wed Jun 24, 2015 6:51 am

Good thread. In the videos and some of the threads examples were given of bucks being observed in the same bed just prior to a kill or oppurtunity.

Weren't those bucks in those beds all day? Or at least getting up to relieve themselves and then going back to the same bed?
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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby PK_ » Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:02 am

dan wrote:I have watched bucks bed, and then not seen them move again till a 1/2 hour before daRK.


Stanley wrote:I have seen them just stay bedded and defecate


:shock: @ both of those observations!

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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby dan » Wed Jun 24, 2015 9:31 am

JoeRE wrote:Yea my observations have been similar, I haven't seen a deer stay bedded for more than an hour or two max before it gets up stretches, takes a dump and lays back down. Most of the time its less than an hour.

Also most of the time when I watch them through the fall they do not lay back down in the exact same bed - they move a few feet or a few yards ([glow=red]farm and hill country observation - probably depends on terrain[/glow]). However when I watch deer when there is snow on the ground in the winter they are more likely to lay back down in the exact same hollowed out bed all day long unless the wind switches or something.

I could imagine during gun season with guns going off all day a buck laying in his bed all day.

Thats a good point about the terrain, I think bucks bedded based on thermals would be much more likely to move as they change and shift.
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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby stash59 » Wed Jun 24, 2015 9:37 am

Another question. So would all these close together buck beds be a situation where the bedding area could be confused for doe bedding?
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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby dan » Wed Jun 24, 2015 10:42 am

stash59 wrote:Another question. So would all these close together buck beds be a situation where the bedding area could be confused for doe bedding?

I have seen people confuse the two... Yes.
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Re: How Long Can He Lay?

Unread postby Dewey » Wed Jun 24, 2015 11:18 am

dan wrote:
stash59 wrote:Another question. So would all these close together buck beds be a situation where the bedding area could be confused for doe bedding?

I have seen people confuse the two... Yes.

More than once I have found a very secure bedding areas with the typical circular pattern bed patterns associated with doe family bedding. Judging by the bed and track size in the snow I know it was at least one buck that was re-positioning thruout the day.

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