Windward Bedding

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Harvestor
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Windward Bedding

Unread postby Harvestor » Sat Oct 28, 2017 2:13 am

Spending my time, as usual, in Northern PA/Southern NY. The area is a mix of ag high and low, with wooded side-hill timber blocks of varying sizes. I've seen a lot of deer coming off beds on the windward side of hills, and not just once this year, actually with a lot of consistency. My father had a mature buck come out of a known bed on an east facing slope on a south east wind, I watched another buck come out of a west facing wood lot late in the evening and feed into a corn field on a due west wind. I shot a doe out of a group that were bedded on a south slope and working toward food in the evening, this was on a south east wind. And most recently I was still hunting the 2/3 elevation along a bench and came within 30 yards of a bedded buck. He was bedded on a west facing slope on a south west wind. His was facing Northeast so the SW wind was hitting his back, but he wasn't looking downhill. I watched him for several minutes and when the wind shifted and came from the northwest he got up and re-positioned himself so he was looking south east (still not downhill). Seeing a buck do a wind shift was awesome, but it has really thrown me for a loop encountering all this windward side bedding. It makes predicting high % movement difficult as the bedding seems more random. Bedding seems to be more determined by food sources and cover in these areas than prevailing wind/thermals. Still much of the bedding (not all) is at the 2/3 elevation, its just also being used on days when its the windward side of the hill. Any thoughts on this? Should it be hunted differently than leeward bedding?


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Re: Windward Bedding

Unread postby Mgaspari » Sat Oct 28, 2017 5:18 am

I am encountering some of the same stuff on public in Ohio. Seems here that pressure (past or present) has the more mature bucks bedding regardless of wind in certain spots. I finally somewhat figured this out last night when I dropped down the ridge to the 2/3 mark with wind in my face and had a Buck move right at last light up the ridge. The most pressure from hunters I would say here is from the top and on the south facing slope but the north facing slope doesn’t really have much cover. It’s very weird or very smart I should say where this buck is bedding because he is only 75yards from a popular hiking trail that you can’t hunt near. Dan has said before that the 1/3 rule is not inclusive but the wind issue has me baffled.
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Re: Windward Bedding

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Sat Oct 28, 2017 7:12 am

Sometimes there are wind variables that we don't quite understand. I know a guy that has killed at least 2 good bucks (one was a slammer ) out of a bed that to look at on a topo doesn't make sense for leeward. But if he gets a SE wind the biggest buck on the property is going to be in that spot. You wouldn't know it by looking at a topo.


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