Buck bedding without sign

[jdeer96]

Hunted until about noon today and then decided to do some scouting as I didn't plan to return to that particular piece of ground this year. As I walked a bench (SE OH public hill country) I jumped a nice two year old that was bedded above me. I found his bed which appeared to be heavily used, and immediately thought of the satellite bedding that I've heard Dan talk about and seen illustrated on MW whitetail recently. Sure enough i walked about 10 more yards and up jumped a big bodied tall tined buck. I could not find his bed but what confused me is I did not see a lick of fresh buck sign in the area. Some of last years rubs and maybe some early season scrapes but absolutely nothing that would suggest that two or more bucks were using the area to bed. Anybody have similar experiences?

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[brkissl82]

I found a spot similar today looked prime. Overlooked spot had to cross 7ft deep river thick as heck and bordered huge cattail marsh. Not very much sign at all. A few trails but nothn that made me excited. Now im not sure if its worth a hunt

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[osage]

Jumped a nice buck yesterday. Only two rubs on his exit trail that I didn't find until after I jumped him.

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[nor' easter]

I hunt a 5 acre cattail swamp bordered by elevated railroad tracks at the back and alders/small trees at the front. I know of 3 bucks bedding in there, absolutely zero sign at the transition besides faint trails in and out. Not a single rub, scrape, nothing.

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[brkissl82]

Why would they not rub or scrape a home area?????

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[UofLbowhunter]

Im fairly new to this sight, but all ive read about buck bedding suggest that most big bucks in pressured areas, don't leave sign near bedding, most sign is found futher out like 200yds plus. Unless theres more than one dominant buck in the local area all the time. A ratio thing has something to do with that. Now being there are smaller bucks the big bucks dont worry about them.

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[BayStateBowhunter]

I forget where I read or heard it, but I came across this recently and the gist of it was this...
A bed with a lot of sign is basically multiple bucks competing to a degree for that bed. Marking it as theirs to claim the bed. But a bed that's heavily used with little sign around it is because there isn't competition for it, the dominant buck owns it and all the other bucks know it. If another dominant bucks moves in... the sign will start again.

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[Ol'DanBoone]

I wish more people would weigh in on this. Ive become WAY more interested(almost obsessed) with beds these past couple weeks.

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[john1984]

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=24454&hilit=without+rubs&start=0

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[titan23_87]

What I learned from Dan and confirmed with some beds is that older more mature bucks seem to lay down less sign than immature ones near their bedding.

And this is amplified when there isn't multiple mature buck using a bedding area. Less competition =less sign.

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[dan]

A lot of it has to do with timing as well... An early season, or late season bed will have less marking than than a late October bedding area, or a rut bed.

[Swampbuck]

I just saw this yday. There is very little sign this time of year here as it isand was hitting the thicker areas looking for old rubs and such. Cutting between 2 soft spots I noticed a secluded mound 10 yds thru the brush. Sure enough a well used bed. NOT the faintest trail within 50 yds. NO droppings, no rubs. Not even broken sticks in the brush. IT'S boggy all around him so it prolly covers his trails well but still. There was an old rub or two 100 yds away but very little sign. If not for the and history knowing a couple hundred yds away gets alot of activity the area would seem barren

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[whitetailassasin]

I personally find my best bedding areas without rubs or scrapes in the bedding but outside of it or leading to and from I do. It's almost as if the bucks are trying to not give there bedding away. Maybe the scent left and predators. I'm not exactly sure why but I what I do know is tracks in and out of areas doesn't lie. Knowing the bedding locations all around your area is a must. Even if ground isn't soft, leaves overturned leading to bedding tells a tale as well. Locate the areas where sign usually does open up in those spots and maybe you can monitor that as an indicator.

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[Lockdown]

The bed or bedding area itself is the most important detail IMO. How worn beds are, overall size, etc. a lot of times you need to look at the big picture... Is this bed in a classic big buck location? Is it in a bullet proof location that's very hard to hunt? Is there big buck poop all over in the vicinity of the bedding area? Even though there may be very few rubs, are there rubs from multiple years? Those types of details are super important.

The more I scout the more I realize that every buck and every scenario is different. I mentioned in a recent thread about a huge public land buck that I had a good line on. I KNOW I had two of his beds figured out. He left a TON of sign and it was fairly easy to discern due to his obvious rub and scrape lines. Unfortunately for me I made a solid game plan for him after he was already dead.

There was so much sign back there (over 20 scrapes on a several acre island of trees.) that I thought there were multiple big bucks there. Nope. Just him. None of that sign showed up this year minus a piddly few scrapes. Moral of the story is the amount of rubs you find doesn't necessarily dictate how good the bed(ding area) is. (In this case it's more of a staging area where multiple bedding areas meet.) It's still a great spot even though the big one is dead. Right now there's not much buck sign in there at all. I passed multiple yearlings there this year and my buddy Dylan killed a yearling 8 from it last weekend. That area will always be good until someone else finds it. How good though? Are the rubs and scrapes going to tell me exactly what's there? No. Not exactly. It's up to me to figure out what's there and if it's worth my time.

That's what makes Beast tactics difficult... There isn't an "always". It takes a lot of work on our part to put the puzzle pieces together. The harder you work at it, the easier it becomes to figure out those subtle details.

The land I shot The Hulk on has ZERO big buck sign. There are two scrapes the size of a volley ball if that. Then a couple rubs on some trees the size around of a broom handle. However, this spring I did find a monster rub on the public nearby but I knew he wasn't bedding there. You have super high pressure public and a small 20 acre patch of low land next to it. Where do YOU think the big buck will feel safe???

The main reason there isn't any big buck sign on the low land is because there are no suitable trees to rub on. You can't let yourself be blinded by the sign itself. You really have to look at the big picture and always keep in mind that some deer don't leave much sign, and some leave LOTS.

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