Thick brush at back

[TNstalker]

So me an a buddy where talking bout some of our spots. An we where talking about deer bedding with thickets at there back. He said he has seen them bed there with wind to there face not wind to back. Has anyone else seen this? Just wonder if it is something to look for?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[PK_]

I have seen it when the thicket behind them is impossible for anything to approach quietly. I have also seen them bed right up in the middle of those nasty thickets if the edges get too much pressure. The bedding in and around those kinds of thickets can become non-wind-specific much like swamp/marsh beds can be, because they are using sound as their warning, if that makes sense…

Also if that thicket is adjacent to some form of treeline or canopy edge you could get really shifty winds right there and the wind might not actually be hitting the buck in the face like you think.

[TNstalker]

Yes it makes sense. When he told me his senerio it made sense just wondered how many others see it an if it was more of a high pressured thing or not.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[JoeRE]

Do some searches on wind specific bedding and non wind specific bedding on here, there have been some good old threads about it. In the medium sized hills (100-300 foot) around here bedding is almost always wind specific with wind coming over a deer's back, but I would not be surprised if that is different in other places.

Always keep in mind there are big differences between "deer" and older deer, particularly bucks. I have seen a lot of young deer bed every which way to the wind. Older does and bucks bed most consistently with wind to back. Doe family groups do often bed in sort of a fan shape to observe multiple ways but the general direction they observe is downwind. Thats just hill country.

[mainebowhunter]

So me an a buddy where talking bout some of our spots. An we where talking about deer bedding with thickets at there back. He said he has seen them bed there with wind to there face not wind to back. Has anyone else seen this? Just wonder if it is something to look for?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I have observed much of the same things. Many areas I hunt, I am do not believe they are using wind specific beds. BUT I also am hunting bedding areas and not necessarily individual beds. And I am hunting areas that are pretty flat.

1. If a deer is bedded in an alder thicket, on a hump, with alders all around him, there really is no wind advantage. 360 degrees, the view is the same way
2. I have found, deer prefer more open terrain in the bigger woods as long as there is water around. Its at the point now, my focus has shifted to looking for more terrain with water/swale/stagnant wet holes than anything else. I have always been about thick alders...but from what I have observed, really has changed my thinking. Thick alders with wet open swampy spots in them has a lot more interest to me. It is my guess, predators don't like the water so much...so wherever they can get water surrounding them on any side, that is the choice they make. It makes these areas tougher to hunt as you cannot approach them like you can an alder thicket.

I have also observed, that bucks will bed in alders that I can walk through. If I have trouble walking through it, they do too. And, I do not find many beds in that type of cover.

That being said, I am pulling from a pretty small sample size. If I get one chance a season in this state to shoot a 3.5 archery buck, it has been a good season. So to pin down a buck is using a certain bed on a certain day on a certain wind is pretty tough to determine.

[dan]

Do some searches on wind specific bedding and non wind specific bedding on here, there have been some good old threads about it. In the medium sized hills (100-300 foot) around here bedding is almost always wind specific with wind coming over a deer's back, but I would not be surprised if that is different in other places.

Always keep in mind there are big differences between "deer" and older deer, particularly bucks. I have seen a lot of young deer bed every which way to the wind. Older does and bucks bed most consistently with wind to back. Doe family groups do often bed in sort of a fan shape to observe multiple ways but the general direction they observe is downwind. Thats just hill country.

I agree with this... Mature bucks tend to bed wind to back. If they bed against a thicket and the wind is blowing in to the thicket, I would expect them to be facing the thicket. The older they get, the more they learn, and one thing experienced bucks learn is to never leave a direction vulnerable, meaning they need to either see, smell, or hear every direction. I see young inexperienced bucks bed on wrong winds, and facing wrong directions occasionally. But big old bucks rarely make mistakes...
I can remember a scenario (actually a couple, but they are rare) where I found a big buck bedding in a spot that did not make sense, but further investigation with milkweed showed a wind current was coming from the blind side.

It happens, nothing is guaranteed with whitetails. But for regular success you need to play the percentages, and of all the bedded bucks I have observed during my lifetime, I can count on one hand the exceptions... Did you see the bucks bedded to know which way they were facing?

[mainebowhunter]

Do some searches on wind specific bedding and non wind specific bedding on here, there have been some good old threads about it. In the medium sized hills (100-300 foot) around here bedding is almost always wind specific with wind coming over a deer's back, but I would not be surprised if that is different in other places.

Always keep in mind there are big differences between "deer" and older deer, particularly bucks. I have seen a lot of young deer bed every which way to the wind. Older does and bucks bed most consistently with wind to back. Doe family groups do often bed in sort of a fan shape to observe multiple ways but the general direction they observe is downwind. Thats just hill country.

I agree with this... Mature bucks tend to bed wind to back. If they bed against a thicket and the wind is blowing in to the thicket, I would expect them to be facing the thicket. The older they get, the more they learn, and one thing experienced bucks learn is to never leave a direction vulnerable, meaning they need to either see, smell, or hear every direction. I see young inexperienced bucks bed on wrong winds, and facing wrong directions occasionally. But big old bucks rarely make mistakes...
I can remember a scenario (actually a couple, but they are rare) where I found a big buck bedding in a spot that did not make sense, but further investigation with milkweed showed a wind current was coming from the blind side.

It happens, nothing is guaranteed with whitetails. But for regular success you need to play the percentages, and of all the bedded bucks I have observed during my lifetime, I can count on one hand the exceptions... Did you see the bucks bedded to know which way they were facing?

Ok. So I may have understood the question wrong. i was thinking the question about wind specific bed --- not which way they were laying. So on a Northeast wind a deer would be in a certain location because of an advantage. Is that the question being asked?

Is this question about WHETHER a deer would bed with this thicket to his back, open in the front and wind in his face - OR is it which way was the deer laying in the bed? Because if a deer was bedded in a thicket with the trees all around him, I would guess he would bed with this head into the wind. Like I said, I do not hunt individual beds, I hunt bedding areas. Many areas that I hunt, deer would just need to move to the other side of the muck hole / swamp water to catch keep the wind to his face and his back to the water. May only be 25' foot difference.

[TNstalker]

Maine

The question was how many people have seen bucks bed with there back to an thicket an the wind in there face?

Dan

My buddy killed the buck out of that bed took him couple years but he was mature. Said he felt like the deer was really confident in that spot. But with anything but a high wind there deer could here anything approach from behind him if it was thick enough so how would that be a weakness?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[dan]

Maine

The question was how many people have seen bucks bed with there back to an thicket an the wind in there face?

Dan

My buddy killed the buck out of that bed took him couple years but he was mature. Said he felt like the deer was really confident in that spot. But with anything but a high wind there deer could here anything approach from behind him if it was thick enough so how would that be a weakness?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

if its really thick, he could be bedding there on any wind, or like your buddy mentioned, he could be very comfortable in that spot "to a fatal flaw" if they did not make mistakes we would never kill them... My point was that I rarely ever see a buck bed face to to wind... Its more likely to be a buck bedded facing the thicket. Thats why I asked if he saw the buck bedded there or had pictures from a cam.

If you ever watched a big buck bed, they come in from down wind then turn around and watch there back trail... Its a pretty smart tactic, almost to smart for an animal to figure out. Maybe its instinct, but it does seem to be learned cause older animals follow it like a religion. If the buck came in from any other direction he would have two scent trails. His ground scent, and his wind scent and would be twice as vulnerable as he is with one scent trail that is both his ground scent, and his wind scent. Because down wind is vulnerable, that is the way he faces. He can smell behind him, and trusts his nose. But it would drive a lone buck crazy if he looked into the wind and could not smell or see what is behind him.

[TNstalker]

Dan

Gotcha. My reason for asking if anyone has seen this is bc I see places with several different things that I call barriers that have obstacles present at the bedding areas that would alert a buck with all his senses an it makes me wonder sometimes at a place like that would a buck bed there or multiple winds or a wrong wind. Also I see the way of other hunters access the place an wonder if there pressure would make a buck bed at a certain spot over an over with a slight disadvantage but I don't think the places I hunt have that much pressure.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[dan]

Dan

Gotcha. My reason for asking if anyone has seen this is bc I see places with several different things that I call barriers that have obstacles present at the bedding areas that would alert a buck with all his senses an it makes me wonder sometimes at a place like that would a buck bed there or multiple winds or a wrong wind. Also I see the way of other hunters access the place an wonder if there pressure would make a buck bed at a certain spot over an over with a slight disadvantage but I don't think the places I hunt have that much pressure.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I was scouting for a guy today. He pointed out an area where he had jumped big bucks on a couple occasions. I found a real nice buck bed near that spot with two large rubs in the bed... It looked at the surface to be a horrible spot to bed. It was low on a hill side and out of the natural wind from behind... Yet, this was the best buck bed we found on the property. So what gives? To me it was obvious, but I have seen this before... The shape of the hill and the wall of nearby pines was creating a toilet bowl effect with the wind and the buck was able smell behind him even though he was below the wind flow... There are exceptions rarely... But for the most part expect them looking down wind.