Hardcore bedding pictures.

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Ghost Hunter
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Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby Ghost Hunter » Wed May 18, 2016 12:37 pm

I have searched around most of my areas which are for the most part bottom land an thickets. I have found beds upon beds but nothing that look like hardcore bedding areas. How about some pictures of some of those areas.


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Lockdown
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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby Lockdown » Wed May 18, 2016 1:03 pm

Define "areas". You talking pic from a distance? Rubs in the staging areas? The beds themselves? All of the above?!

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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby Ghost Hunter » Wed May 18, 2016 1:16 pm

All the above.

An common ground of hardcore bedding areas. Including beds, anything that is common within a hardcore bedding area. All I have found is beds with rubs in the general area. Beds do not look to be used excessively that I have located.
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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby purebowhunting » Wed May 18, 2016 2:20 pm

This is the bed I'm most excited to hunt this fall. It in a text book spot, a wet bottom between 2 public parking spots where everyone walks past. This bed is pounded, he has water and brush at least 50 yards in all directions. There are less used beds around where lesser bucks bed when this one is taken. There are some rubs in the wet area but not a ton. I think when the pressure is on, the bucks will be here and this year so will I! :L:

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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby Hawthorne » Wed May 18, 2016 2:29 pm

I found a ton of beds this winter and spring both doe and bucks. Only two or three i think might be primary. Wish I could of took more pics. Now I can walk a property and pretty much find beds right away. Just need to figure out how to hunt them and when. One of the best ones I found was within 75 yds of a major highway with rubs all around the beds actually he had 3 beds in a small area I think he changed with different winds.

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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby TNstalker » Thu May 19, 2016 1:38 am

I think bedding areas will vary a lot. The best one as far as sign for me was a high spot in a swamp. It didn't have great cover it was a mixture of cedar an a slick bark tree. Didn't pay attention to what it was. The buck had 3-4 beds under cedars. There was 10-15 rubs from the size of my calf to my thigh. Found the Bucks track in the mud was as long as my hand. An there where rubs from last year to prob 3-4 years ago. Has water on north side butting up to high spot an 100 yards south of it is a buck brush hole with water in it. Sorry though I really didn't take a lot of pics to give u an idea of what it looked like. Only one bed was to the dirt even though I feel like this is the best bedding in that area one other might bed South east of there but water stayed to high to check it.

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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby MOBIGBUCKS » Thu May 19, 2016 3:01 am

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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby trailboy » Thu May 19, 2016 6:34 am

Mobi,

Can you explain a bit at how you know these are buck beds? I walk by stuff like this all the time in the woods. I have only been hunting for 4 years now, and haven't really started chasing bucks yet.

Thanks
Tim
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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby MOBIGBUCKS » Thu May 19, 2016 6:47 am

trailboy wrote:Mobi,

Can you explain a bit at how you know these are buck beds? I walk by stuff like this all the time in the woods. I have only been hunting for 4 years now, and haven't really started chasing bucks yet.

Thanks
Tim



Sure. The first one is in a fenceline way out in the middle of two intersecting huge fields. That particular bed if you look close, is down to bare ground it's used so much. Lots of hair, four finger tracks coming in and out, and rubs out away from the bed on the edge of the cover. It's pretty isolated out there and big bucks in general love areas like that.

Second one I should have shown the other view looking out. I know it's a buck bed because I jumped a 180 plus typical out of there one year and a 145-150 buck the next season. It's overgrown brush in the middle of a 640 acre cow pasture. looking at the bed itself, there is hair in it and his tracks in a nearby creek were a dead giveaway.

The common denominator here is these are tough places to bowhunt. The big bucks know this though and that's why they utilize overlooked places like this.
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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby Ghost Hunter » Fri May 20, 2016 11:59 am

Those are the examples I was looking for. How far are the rubs from those areas? The only areas that I have located like that was in the middle of the rut. The area was more in an area where hot does were at an the beds were soaked with urine an droppings so much so it could be smelled from yards away with the right wind.
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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Fri May 20, 2016 11:08 pm

The type of terrain you have will be a big indicator to where the bucks are bedding. Hill country or marsh or big woods. Lots of times, in bigger woods, bedding will not be quite as obvious. The terrain will make them obvious, but the beds themselves are not like finding a marsh bed where the grass is all packed down. It will be a subtle elevation spot, a hummock near water. Alder thickets where the deer can walk through them easily.

I have a lot of pics of beds, buck beds and doe beds. BUT I hunt mostly woods/timber type terrain. Really is not much help to post pics unless your hunting the same type of terrain.
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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby Lockdown » Sat May 21, 2016 12:05 am

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Bed at the base of the tree. Located in the very lowest spot on a field edge transition. There are a half dozen old rubs within 15 yards and one fresh rub. I'll post more when I have better service... Photobucket is crazy slow right now

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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby JoeRE » Sat May 21, 2016 12:07 am

Almost all the great big buck bedding locations I have found, I figured out were great NOT by physical sign of a heavily worn bed but by secondary observations sometimes over several years. Tracks to and from it every time I scout the area, trail cam pics, dead bucks in beds, observations. I could show you dozens and dozens of buck beds in good locations with a good tall rub or two near them here in hill country....most get used occasionally, a few bedding locations get a ton of use by big bucks and those are the ones I always try to find. Like I mentioned, often I figure out what sets certain bedding apart only by long term, low impact observations. Its usually not just a bed that is more worn, with more rubs around it, than anywhere else. In hill country its often a few lighter used beds in a small area.

Maybe I am just not a very instinctive hunter, but I suspect most folks are the same way. The best bedding are in the most secure locations but that doesn't tell you much without deep knowledge of the area, how humans use it, etc, etc.
Last edited by JoeRE on Sat May 21, 2016 12:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Sat May 21, 2016 12:07 am

While this is not "a bed" it is a good example of staging area which then led me to a primary bedding area. What I find is that bucks have primary bedding areas with multiple beds in most primary areas. I forget the exact number of beds I found in this small 2 acre area but I believe it was around 5 or 6 used beds.

[bbvideo=425,350]https://youtu.be/GeWxwIo-aKc[/bbvideo]

And this is probably one of the better actual buck beds I have found. What I look for in a primary bed is wind advantage, good visibility (higher ground), a close by water source and abundance of natural browse. There will also be a definite escape route or two. This bed has all the above and is about 1 mile from the nearest entry point.

[bbvideo=425,350]https://youtu.be/9kFuDm62ewU[/bbvideo]
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Re: Hardcore bedding pictures.

Unread postby seazofcheeze » Sat May 21, 2016 1:59 am

JoeRE wrote:Almost all the great big buck bedding locations I have found, I figured out were great NOT by physical sign of a heavily worn bed but by secondary observations sometimes over several years. Tracks to and from it every time I scout the area, trail cam pics, dead bucks in beds, observations. I could show you dozens and dozens of buck beds in good locations with a good tall rub or two near them here in hill country....most get used occasionally, a few bedding locations get a ton of use by big bucks and those are the ones I always try to find. Like I mentioned, often I figure out what sets certain bedding apart only by long term, low impact observations. Its usually not just a bed that is more worn, with more rubs around it, than anywhere else. In hill country its often a few lighter used beds in a small area.

Maybe I am just not a very instinctive hunter, but I suspect most folks are the same way. The best bedding are in the most secure locations but that doesn't tell you much without deep knowledge of the area, how humans use it, etc, etc.


I'm seeing this more and more myself. I'm in a transition phase as a hunter where I am trying to focus more on terrain, security, and pressure and less on rut sign. It's very counter intuitive at times, and I find myself struggling a lot.

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