A farmland buck observation

[DropTyne]

I observed something pretty interesting this fall that I thought I would share. Looking back at my journal and trailcam pics I put together a pretty interesting observation. It seemed like the deer on the farm I hunt were leaving their beds in directions that were dependent on wind instead of bedding because of a certain wind direction and leaving toward the closest food source. This was especially true on days where the morning contained next to no wind and the evening had a directional wind.

This is pretty flat farm country with a few low elevation ridges and some swampy areas that maily contain tall grass and dogwood. These areas seem to be the preffered bedding but I believe since there is so much food surrounding them the deer use the wind for safety to enter and exit the food sources.

Has anyone else observed this? Do you think it's just coincidence?

[huntinnurse]

Seems if there is food all around, it would stand to reason they would use the wind in their favor. May be also checking for abnormal scents on their way to the food to help determine how they will head back to their bedding area. Given deer can tell age of scent.

[dan]

I have heard others make that claim but have never observed it on a consistent pattern personally. I do see bucks scent check food sources quite often during rut, but thats to check for does or competing bucks.
Did you notice this behavior consistently prior to rut?

[cornfedkiller]

....It seemed like the deer on the farm I hunt were leaving their beds in directions that were dependent on wind instead of bedding because of a certain wind direction and leaving toward the closest food source..

So were they bedding in the same bed every day? Or how do you think they picked which bed to head back to at first light?

[Swampthing]

I not following what your sayin ,what am I missing ?

[cornfedkiller]

I not following what your sayin ,what am I missing ?

He is saying that rather than a buck choosing which bed to go to based on the wind then traveling to his predicted food source in a predicted direction, they went to [the same?] bed each time but left the bed and went a different direction/food source based on which way the wind was blowing that day...

They changed their eating based on wind, not beds..

[Swampthing]

I not following what your sayin ,what am I missing ?

He is saying that rather than a buck choosing which bed to go to based on the wind then traveling to his predicted food source in a predicted direction, they went to [the same?] bed each time but left the bed and went a different direction/food source based on which way the wind was blowing that day...

They changed their eating based on wind, not beds..

O.k. I got it tuff to confirm that one .

[BackWoodsHunter]

I hunt one farm in a huge agriculuture area but most of my hunting is done much further north in WI. I have yet to hang cams or do extensive scouting bcause of the little hunting I do there but this observation makes some sense to me. I have noticed that even does we cannot get a solid pattern on. My buddies family owns two awesome pieces of land surrounded by agriculture. One borders a tiny public swamp and the other has a good chunk of woods and swamp. For his area we have access to the thickest cover around and yet our deer sightings are never consistent. We see random deer, and groups of deer, no real signs of feeding patterns or travel patterns. We hunt over trails leading to fields beat down like cow paths. And we never see a deer and in scouting in winter and spring see no tracks like those trails are ever used yet they are beat down and are apparent travel corridors. Farmland is just plain puzzling to me.

[Swampthing]

I hunt a small mabey 40 acre farmland woodlot .A guy would think it would be easy to nail down a pattern within such a confined area.But the activity is haphazard at best.Mabey i should fence in 3 sides to boost my odds a little.I can go in a big marsh and find a 1/2 dozen beds and come up with a pretty predictable pattern.But this little swampy 40 acre woodlot I,ve already found 20 + beds within it.Hunted it many times and have yet to set-up right on a buck.It,s like there is a damn merry go round in there that spits out a buck at a different spot each day.Very frustrating.

[DropTyne]

Did you notice this behavior consistently prior to rut?

Yes. It's strange, I have a long strip of woods that has crops to the north and to the south. During a north wind the deer will move to the south side of woodlot to feed. During a South wind it is the exact opposite, they will feed to the north side.

Even when certain crops are down, say for example the fields to the south of the woodlot are beans and alfalfa and the fields to the north have corn, now imagine the beans and alfalfa being cut/harvested but the corn is still standing. With a South wind the deer will feed to the North fields where the corn is, with a North wind they will not come out until after dark because the beans/alfalfa field are useless and the corn field will not see action until late if at all or the deer will wait until after dark to feed somewhere else.

It seems most true with mature deer, the occassional yearling will do something out of the ordinary as expected for a deer this age.

This year for instance with my buck I had three sits around mid October:

Oct 12th - calm wind morning/SW evening saw big 8 at 50 yards and other deer

Oct 15th - calm wind morning/NW evening saw no deer

Oct 22nd - calm wind morning/SW evening shot big 8 at 30 yards and saw other deer

This is just one example. Now my only wonder is if maybe although the forcast says calm and it is "calm" there is still a very minor breeze. Maybe he was using this bed in a "Calm/ever so slight SW wind" and potentially he didnt bed there with a "Calm/ever so slight NW wind".

It seems however to be a trend on the property that I hunt.

All I was seeing around when I took this buck was a little pre-rut activity. Nothing major, his stomach was stuffed with corn so he was still on a feed/bed pattern.

[DropTyne]

So were they bedding in the same bed every day? Or how do you think they picked which bed to head back to at first light?

The deer were utilizing wind to pick beds but they seemed to also utilize wind in picking which direction to leave the bed to feed/which fields to go to.

I've been racking my brain over this for a few weeks, I 100% know they utilize wind to pick which bed they will use, but I think there is something else going on here. There are too many consistancies in regards to what areas they choose to feed and the wind direction.

[cornfedkiller]

Interesting observation, and it makes sense, but brings up another question..

If they were choosing both their beds and food source based on wind, wouldnt that always be the same? If on a west wind, they bed in Bed A, when they left Bed A, they would travel to the west. If it was an east wind, they would bed in Bed B, but then would leave the bed heading east..Correct?

If they were bedding in Bed A (because of a west wind), they wouldnt get up and leave to the east (or south/north), so wouldnt it still be consistent with each bed?

Maybe I am missing something here? Or maybe the wind had switched by the time they got up out of their bed?

[DropTyne]

They would bed in which ever wind was favorable with morning wind.

Once there the bucks would exit and head to food sources depending on a favorable wind direction.

example:

Morning wind N bed A , if Evening wind N food source 1, if Evening wind S food Source 2.

Morning wind E bed B , if Evening wind N food source 3, if Evening wind S food Source 1.

Morning wind S bed c, if Evening wind N food source 1, if Evening wind S food source 4.

just keep in mind that the bedding areas which are dependent on wind might be a ways away from each other. Also remember that in some cases they may bed dependent on wind direction and find that the evening wind is not favorable for the food source they seek in which case I've noticed less daytime feeding activity. This last sentence is especially true when some food sources are depleted.

Say for instance the morning wind is N and the buck beds in A and the favorable food source is 4 he may stage longer or wait until after dark to head that direction.

Like I said I don't have it figured out yet, I'm just playing with the idea because it seems from my patterns that in this particular scenario they are using the evening wind to dictate how/where they feed.

[cornfedkiller]

Makes sense - Thanks for clearing that up DropTyne..

[jigglestick]

so with the observations and deductions based on those observations, are you now able to figure out where to set up, correctly most of the time?