Staging Deer - Concept Defined

[Smoked'em]

How about a couple inputs on the actual definition of "STAGING" deer?

Fishermen relate the term to fish, like walleyes for example, who stack up as they wait to spawn, but how do we relate that to deer?

Why does a deer "stage" before bedding? A "staging area" in my opinion is the immediate area tightly surrounding the deers bed, no? Why do they do it - mill around before laying down? Are they checking their perimeter searching for any signs (smell, etc) of intrusion before laying down for a rest?

Anyone care to shed some light, as I'm sure there are more out there beside myself who aren't 100% clear on the terminology used so frequently here.

[BackWoodsHunter]

I too am curious, i assume the mill around checking for intrusion as well as browsing. Maybe getting the optimal location to bed and checking the wind to be secure?

[dan]

Why does a deer "stage" before bedding? A "staging area" in my opinion is the immediate area tightly surrounding the deers bed, no? Why do they do it - mill around before laying down? Are they checking their perimeter searching for any signs (smell, etc) of intrusion before laying down for a rest?

I think you got something a little confused...
Most of the bucks I have seen bed down in the morning don't stage they just walk over to there bed and flop down.
Staging occurs mainly in the evening as deer wait for dark before leaving the safety of there safe zone. At least thats my definition.

[onebuck]

Yup, I agree with Dan on this one. Staging is done as deer are getting up for the evening, they stretch, nip some buds off the surrounding trees and bushes, pee etc. They're in a safe area (near their bed, which is as safe as it gets)so they mill around a little, wait for it to get darker, sniff around for anything unusual then they head out to their nightime feeding location.

[huntinfool14]

Most of the bucks I have seen bed down in the morning don't stage they just walk over to there bed and flop down.
Staging occurs mainly in the evening as deer wait for dark before leaving the safety of there safe zone. quote]

i agree....

[GRFox]

Why does a deer "stage" before bedding? A "staging area" in my opinion is the immediate area tightly surrounding the deers bed, no? Why do they do it - mill around before laying down? Are they checking their perimeter searching for any signs (smell, etc) of intrusion before laying down for a rest?

I think you got something a little confused...
Most of the bucks I have seen bed down in the morning don't stage they just walk over to there bed and flop down.
Staging occurs mainly in the evening as deer wait for dark before leaving the safety of there safe zone. At least thats my definition.

Yup,

And for a second I thought I just learned that deer stage in the morning too........

[lungbuster]

Why does a deer "stage" before bedding? A "staging area" in my opinion is the immediate area tightly surrounding the deers bed, no? Why do they do it - mill around before laying down? Are they checking their perimeter searching for any signs (smell, etc) of intrusion before laying down for a rest?

I think you got something a little confused...
Most of the bucks I have seen bed down in the morning don't stage they just walk over to there bed and flop down.
Staging occurs mainly in the evening as deer wait for dark before leaving the safety of there safe zone. At least thats my definition.

X2

[Spysar]

Why does a deer "stage" before bedding? A "staging area" in my opinion is the immediate area tightly surrounding the deers bed, no? Why do they do it - mill around before laying down? Are they checking their perimeter searching for any signs (smell, etc) of intrusion before laying down for a rest?

I think you got something a little confused...
Most of the bucks I have seen bed down in the morning don't stage they just walk over to there bed and flop down.
Staging occurs mainly in the evening as deer wait for dark before leaving the safety of there safe zone. At least thats my definition.

I disagree. Deer don't usually walk straight in an bed.They walk right towards their bed. When they approach their bedding area, they wander around a little bit and browse around a bit. I think Magic might back me on this based on snow tracking. Following a buck track he will go on a non wandering coarse on his way to bed, a lot of times this will be a steady uphill climb. When they get to bedding it's usually in a thicker spot. You will notice the deer start to have a little bit of a zig zag while it browses right before bedding. I think the deer is getting his final food, and also checking for the optimal way to face when he does bed.Often a deer will make a small semi circle, or hook before bedding....no situation is exactly the same.

"Staging" is a termn used by hunters to describe what a deer does when it leaves it's bed. This is when a buck gets up, stands and looks around, slowly browses around, and most likely makes a few rubs. Staging is what a buck does when he leaves his bed before he goes to feed. Once he leaves the vicinity of his bed, he is no longer "staging".

[Singing Bridge]

Staging deer is a confusing concept for a lot of hunters because of popular media and a variety of hunters using it to describe different things. Here are a few examples of what outdoor writers and well known hunters have described as "staging areas":

* An area a buck will pause, possibly waiting for dark, enroute to an evening feeding field, sometimes a hundred yards or so off the field, that typically contains rubs and / or scrapes.

* An area a mature buck will set up in at first morning light to intercept does returning to their bedding area. This is during rut periods and allows the buck to reduce exposure in heavy pressure areas.

* An area a buck will pause before crossing a woods opening- making sure everything is good with the wind, etc. or perhaps waiting until full darkness to cross it. There typically will be a small cluster of buck rubs here- I've monitored one such crossing for over thirty years, the rubs are there as we speak.

* The definition used most often on this website- Dan's and many others- "Staging occurs mainly in the evening as deer wait for dark before leaving the safety of there safe zone. At least thats my definition."

You get the idea- determine which type of staging area is being discussed and go with it is my best recommendation. There is a lot of disagreement as to what a staging area is. On this website, it most often describes Dan's definition. Hope that helps a little.

[Stuart]

I'm with Dan and Singing Bridge on this one!

[dan]

Why does a deer "stage" before bedding? A "staging area" in my opinion is the immediate area tightly surrounding the deers bed, no? Why do they do it - mill around before laying down? Are they checking their perimeter searching for any signs (smell, etc) of intrusion before laying down for a rest?

I think you got something a little confused...
Most of the bucks I have seen bed down in the morning don't stage they just walk over to there bed and flop down.
Staging occurs mainly in the evening as deer wait for dark before leaving the safety of there safe zone. At least thats my definition.

I disagree. Deer don't usually walk straight in an bed.They walk right towards their bed. When they approach their bedding area, they wander around a little bit and browse around a bit. I think Magic might back me on this based on snow tracking. Following a buck track he will go on a non wandering coarse on his way to bed, a lot of times this will be a steady uphill climb. When they get to bedding it's usually in a thicker spot. You will notice the deer start to have a little bit of a zig zag while it browses right before bedding. I think the deer is getting his final food, and also checking for the optimal way to face when he does bed.Often a deer will make a small semi circle, or hook before bedding....no situation is exactly the same.

"Staging" is a termn used by hunters to describe what a deer does when it leaves it's bed. This is when a buck gets up, stands and looks around, slowly browses around, and most likely makes a few rubs. Staging is what a buck does when he leaves his bed before he goes to feed. Once he leaves the vicinity of his bed, he is no longer "staging".

I have seen some deer browse slightly before bedding. But not usually. The ones I have seen bed generally do just walk in and flop down. Every now and then I will see one munch a little, but they are pretty quick about bedding. Andrae has two he shoots on the Hill country DVD in the bedding area. One came in two days in a row straight top its bed and flopped down. The other one did not browse, but he did stop for about a minute and rub a tree before resuming his path to his bed. Thats pretty typical of what I see when hunting bedding areas and snow tracking deer.
I to read what magic said, and it made me stop and think about the times I have tracked deer in the snow, and I almost commented about the feeding comment. I have seen that happen, not often but yes.
However, they are eating machines and there is a big difference between a deer that is staging in the evening and one that hesitates along the trail to bite off a tasty morsel. The deer that leave there bedding area have not eaten in hours and are very hungry but still don't want to jeopardize there safety so they hang around the bedding area eating buds, acorns, etc. waiting for dark and building up the courage to leave the safe area.
In the morning they have fed all night and are ready to nap.
Back to what Magic said, my comment would be that when tracking deer in snow I have noticed the straight line wander around bedding areas, but not so much to search for food. Probably more to navigate the thicker cover around the bedding area, and to get the wind to the back for tracking predators.

[headgear]

Dan you need to come out with "The Hunting Beast Dictionary". Put your own spin on all these hunting terms we throw around.

[dan]

Dan you need to come out with "The Hunting Beast Dictionary". Put your own spin on all these hunting terms we throw around.

I think you might be right...
Seems like there is a lot of confusion in posts based on several views of what certain terms mean.

[magicman54494]

In regards to Dan & Spysar's discussion about staging before bedding.
A buck will almost always feed before bedding. He might feed by nipping buds or grabbing whatever without hardly breaking stride. It's easy to miss if your not watching. They may really start to zig zag and show tons of feeding sign. It's rare for them not to feed. If they have been bumped or in heavy snow they seem to just bed. Keep in mind that most of my tracking is done during the rut and often times (I believe most times) they are not using their primary bedding spots. They run hard this time of year and bed just about anywhere. But these are not the classical bed sites Dan refers to in the marsh DVD. I would'nt doubt that bucks using their usual beds might feed up on a prefered food source then bee line back to their bed before first light. If your in heavy cover (in a tree stand) you probably wouldn't see them feed because they may start 200 yds away and stop feeding before you see them.
They almost always hook left or right off of their line of travel to bed. I tracked one this year that made a big loop and crossed his track then bedded down. I believe this was a scent trap set to give him time to escape in case a preditor was tracking him. (It worked )

[Edcyclopedia]

I've witnessed deer gathering snacks on there way to bedding on the hills. Chewing their cud is like cats kneading before sleeping. Natural occurane... The pic I show is an 8-pointer I called off his bed, his mouth full of cud stuff, a little hard to see, but it looks like he went to the dentist

As far as evening stagging areas... I would consider this the 50-100 yard "safe zone: before venturing out for the evening. Maybe a quick snack, sip of water, a little back stetching, scratching his junk, etc...