New England timber Beds and Rubs

[MaineVanes]

I spent the day scouting for buck beds in the Maine timber and for the most part came up empty. I found some areas that would suit as a bed but couldn't find any clear cut evidence that a buck was or had bedded there (falling leaves also makes this challenging). Im curious what a buck bed looks like to all you northern New England timber hunters. What characteristics/sign do you look for such as terrain and what the bedding looks like once inside the bedding area? Are there always rubs inside the bedding area where they are bedded? There area that Im hunting isn't big woods but it is a large chunk of land and consists of a few very small swamps/ wet land and a clear cut from a few years back

Second Question

In my search I also found any area in the timber that was extremely rubbed up. There were at least 10+ rubs that I found in a 60 yards stretch, the trees ranged from 8 inches to 1 inches. The largest rubs were brand new. I found them in a area that I have a lot of good pictures over the years of two nice bucks. They were near the vicinity of an area I suspected a buck would bed but couldn't find any obvious beds. What do rubs mean to you? And what would your next step be?

Thanks Guys

[headgear]

I'm no New Englander but we generally hunt similar woods as in Maine, the beds are there but you have to work a little hard to find the best spots. Generally thinking I will find one quality bedding area per square mile, that is just a rough guestimate, you might find more if you have higher deer numbers. The hill bedding, swamp bedding and marsh bedding all come into play here, plus a few out of the box spots will hold bucks as well, you just have to keep after them and live in the woods for a couple of years. After a fresh snow get on some big tracks even if you don't plan on tracking your buck, you can learn a ton by following them. I have found several beds and rut travel routes this way. It doesn't mean every spot they bed is a killer spot but you can still learn a ton following them.

If you found 10 rubs in a small area you probably have a bed nearby, for now I would hunt that area but scout that place like crazy in the spring, there is likely bedding there somewhere. If you want PM me some maps and I will take stab at bedding.

[cw2gsp]

I hunt in far northern NH and Maine. Most will probably disagree with me but IMO, regularly used buck beds are rare up there. There is just too much bedding area’s and no single food source to create a bed to feed pattern. It’s much more generalized. I know that doesn’t help you much, but that’s just been my experience in 20 years of hunting up there. We have several deer on the wall from up there and a few over 200lbs but most were shot while still hunting or on “crossings”. Crossings are different than trails as you probably know. A crossing could be a 200 yard stretch on a tote road or in a saddle.

[mainebowhunter]

I spent the day scouting for buck beds in the Maine timber and for the most part came up empty. I found some areas that would suit as a bed but couldn't find any clear cut evidence that a buck was or had bedded there (falling leaves also makes this challenging). Im curious what a buck bed looks like to all you northern New England timber hunters. What characteristics/sign do you look for such as terrain and what the bedding looks like once inside the bedding area? Are there always rubs inside the bedding area where they are bedded? There area that Im hunting isn't big woods but it is a large chunk of land and consists of a few very small swamps/ wet land and a clear cut from a few years back

Second Question

In my search I also found any area in the timber that was extremely rubbed up. There were at least 10+ rubs that I found in a 60 yards stretch, the trees ranged from 8 inches to 1 inches. The largest rubs were brand new. I found them in a area that I have a lot of good pictures over the years of two nice bucks. They were near the vicinity of an area I suspected a buck would bed but couldn't find any obvious beds. What do rubs mean to you? And what would your next step be?

Thanks Guys

What part of Maine are you from? That will determine a lot.

[MaineVanes]

I spent the day scouting for buck beds in the Maine timber and for the most part came up empty. I found some areas that would suit as a bed but couldn't find any clear cut evidence that a buck was or had bedded there (falling leaves also makes this challenging). Im curious what a buck bed looks like to all you northern New England timber hunters. What characteristics/sign do you look for such as terrain and what the bedding looks like once inside the bedding area? Are there always rubs inside the bedding area where they are bedded? There area that Im hunting isn't big woods but it is a large chunk of land and consists of a few very small swamps/ wet land and a clear cut from a few years back

Second Question

In my search I also found any area in the timber that was extremely rubbed up. There were at least 10+ rubs that I found in a 60 yards stretch, the trees ranged from 8 inches to 1 inches. The largest rubs were brand new. I found them in a area that I have a lot of good pictures over the years of two nice bucks. They were near the vicinity of an area I suspected a buck would bed but couldn't find any obvious beds. What do rubs mean to you? And what would your next step be?

Thanks Guys

What part of Maine are you from? That will determine a lot.

I live in southern coastal maine

[mainebowhunter]

I spent the day scouting for buck beds in the Maine timber and for the most part came up empty. I found some areas that would suit as a bed but couldn't find any clear cut evidence that a buck was or had bedded there (falling leaves also makes this challenging). Im curious what a buck bed looks like to all you northern New England timber hunters. What characteristics/sign do you look for such as terrain and what the bedding looks like once inside the bedding area? Are there always rubs inside the bedding area where they are bedded? There area that Im hunting isn't big woods but it is a large chunk of land and consists of a few very small swamps/ wet land and a clear cut from a few years back

Second Question

In my search I also found any area in the timber that was extremely rubbed up. There were at least 10+ rubs that I found in a 60 yards stretch, the trees ranged from 8 inches to 1 inches. The largest rubs were brand new. I found them in a area that I have a lot of good pictures over the years of two nice bucks. They were near the vicinity of an area I suspected a buck would bed but couldn't find any obvious beds. What do rubs mean to you? And what would your next step be?

Thanks Guys

What part of Maine are you from? That will determine a lot.

8
I live in southern coastal maine

Yeah...they are there for sure. I hunt lots of the same kind of terrain. It's all about terrain and edges. I hunt a lot of alder / cutover edges and it's where I find majority of the beds. The best time to find them is in the spring. I spend 100s of hours off season and inseason scouting to find this stuff.

But you can find them now. Found good bedding area the other day...another marshy alder edge where it met hard wood. Scapes and rubs sometimes but not always will indicate bedding. In the right terrain when I see them...I start looking hard for beds.

Bucks bed differently here because of the lack of pressure. It's really closely tied to food sources not so much security cover. Security cover is abundant. It's no secret I am a big fan of wild apple trees. I really like destination food sources in known bedding areas. Most bucks we are killing are within 60 to 100yds of these beds....headed to a destination food source.

I spend a lot of time hunting bedding areas rather than individual beds.

This type of terrain is different than say northern or western maine. Still all timber but more roads...more houses and typically more deer numbers. So it's big woods but not northern maine big woods.

[MaineVanes]

I spent the day scouting for buck beds in the Maine timber and for the most part came up empty. I found some areas that would suit as a bed but couldn't find any clear cut evidence that a buck was or had bedded there (falling leaves also makes this challenging). Im curious what a buck bed looks like to all you northern New England timber hunters. What characteristics/sign do you look for such as terrain and what the bedding looks like once inside the bedding area? Are there always rubs inside the bedding area where they are bedded? There area that Im hunting isn't big woods but it is a large chunk of land and consists of a few very small swamps/ wet land and a clear cut from a few years back

Second Question

In my search I also found any area in the timber that was extremely rubbed up. There were at least 10+ rubs that I found in a 60 yards stretch, the trees ranged from 8 inches to 1 inches. The largest rubs were brand new. I found them in a area that I have a lot of good pictures over the years of two nice bucks. They were near the vicinity of an area I suspected a buck would bed but couldn't find any obvious beds. What do rubs mean to you? And what would your next step be?

Thanks Guys

What part of Maine are you from? That will determine a lot.

8
I live in southern coastal maine

Yeah...they are there for sure. I hunt lots of the same kind of terrain. It's all about terrain and edges. I hunt a lot of alder / cutover edges and it's where I find majority of the beds. The best time to find them is in the spring. I spend 100s of hours off season and inseason scouting to find this stuff.

But you can find them now. Found good bedding area the other day...another marshy alder edge where it met hard wood. Scapes and rubs sometimes but not always will indicate bedding. In the right terrain when I see them...I start looking hard for beds.

Bucks bed differently here because of the lack of pressure. It's really closely tied to food sources not so much security cover. Security cover is abundant. It's no secret I am a big fan of wild apple trees. I really like destination food sources in known bedding areas. Most bucks we are killing are within 60 to 100yds of these beds....headed to a destination food source.

I spend a lot of time hunting bedding areas rather than individual beds.

This type of terrain is different than say northern or western maine. Still all timber but more roads...more houses and typically more deer numbers. So it's big woods but not northern maine big woods.

Thanks for the info guys i love the your input!

When you find sign like rubs and scrapes outside of bedding is it usually in close proximity like within a 100yrds or do I need to cast my scouting net further out?

If you dont have a hidden apple tree, or maybe white oak how do you hunt these bedding areas? As you know Red Oak are very abundant and are not very destination obvious how do you locate the specific location to set up outside of the bedding areas? Do bedding areas like individual beds have regularly used entry and exit routes?

[headgear]

I hunt in far northern NH and Maine. Most will probably disagree with me but IMO, regularly used buck beds are rare up there. There is just too much bedding area’s and no single food source to create a bed to feed pattern. It’s much more generalized. I know that doesn’t help you much, but that’s just been my experience in 20 years of hunting up there. We have several deer on the wall from up there and a few over 200lbs but most were shot while still hunting or on “crossings”. Crossings are different than trails as you probably know. A crossing could be a 200 yard stretch on a tote road or in a saddle.

Lets just say I hunt further north that the very tip of Maine, the bucks have preferred bedding locations. In these kinds of low deer densities it is harder to catch a buck in the beds because of the number of bedding location vs mature deer but if you have a buck working an area and know the best bedding in that area you can get on them. You have to do a lot more scouting to find the hot spots and it never hurts to do some in season scouting.

[headgear]

When you find sign like rubs and scrapes outside of bedding is it usually in close proximity like within a 100yrds or do I need to cast my scouting net further out?

It varies a ton, I have beds where all the rubs are within 50 yards of the bed and other where they travel over 200 yards, until you scout it out and find it there is no set rule for this kind of stuff.

[mainebowhunter]

I spent the day scouting for buck beds in the Maine timber and for the most part came up empty. I found some areas that would suit as a bed but couldn't find any clear cut evidence that a buck was or had bedded there (falling leaves also makes this challenging). Im curious what a buck bed looks like to all you northern New England timber hunters. What characteristics/sign do you look for such as terrain and what the bedding looks like once inside the bedding area? Are there always rubs inside the bedding area where they are bedded? There area that Im hunting isn't big woods but it is a large chunk of land and consists of a few very small swamps/ wet land and a clear cut from a few years back

Second Question

In my search I also found any area in the timber that was extremely rubbed up. There were at least 10+ rubs that I found in a 60 yards stretch, the trees ranged from 8 inches to 1 inches. The largest rubs were brand new. I found them in a area that I have a lot of good pictures over the years of two nice bucks. They were near the vicinity of an area I suspected a buck would bed but couldn't find any obvious beds. What do rubs mean to you? And what would your next step be?

Thanks Guys

What part of Maine are you from? That will determine a lot.

8
I live in southern coastal maine

Yeah...they are there for sure. I hunt lots of the same kind of terrain. It's all about terrain and edges. I hunt a lot of alder / cutover edges and it's where I find majority of the beds. The best time to find them is in the spring. I spend 100s of hours off season and inseason scouting to find this stuff.

But you can find them now. Found good bedding area the other day...another marshy alder edge where it met hard wood. Scapes and rubs sometimes but not always will indicate bedding. In the right terrain when I see them...I start looking hard for beds.

Bucks bed differently here because of the lack of pressure. It's really closely tied to food sources not so much security cover. Security cover is abundant. It's no secret I am a big fan of wild apple trees. I really like destination food sources in known bedding areas. Most bucks we are killing are within 60 to 100yds of these beds....headed to a destination food source.

I spend a lot of time hunting bedding areas rather than individual beds.

This type of terrain is different than say northern or western maine. Still all timber but more roads...more houses and typically more deer numbers. So it's big woods but not northern maine big woods.

Thanks for the info guys i love the your input!

When you find sign like rubs and scrapes outside of bedding is it usually in close proximity like within a 100yrds or do I need to cast my scouting net further out?

If you dont have a hidden apple tree, or maybe white oak how do you hunt these bedding areas? As you know Red Oak are very abundant and are not very destination obvious how do you locate the specific location to set up outside of the bedding areas? Do bedding areas like individual beds have regularly used entry and exit routes?

You really have to figure out the destination. Oaks, apples, browse, grass...I spend a lot of time learning and understanding all my food sources in an area and their rotations. I scout 1000s of acres a season...and in all those acres, only a small percentage of it produces.

But my focus is sept and early oct beca use I hunt the midwest during the rut. My focus would change if I was hunting during the maine rut. Doe bedding areas I completely ignore first of oct is now heating up with the approach of November. My focus would definitely shift.

Headgear is right...it really varies. I know when I start seeing a LOT of sign here, it really gets my attention, especially when it related to terrain. Little different than the midwest. Generational sign also gets my attention. Killed one buck this year that was hammered with generational rubs. Beds were within 100yds.

Yes. Bedding areas do have exit routes...but they are usually tied to a destination food source. You have to figure out a direction of travel.

Here is a bedding area I scouted last week.


I will come back here in post season and scout it more. Looking for destinations. I found one apple tree that has potential. ..but really I need to figure out the highest probability spot of that buck exiting. Found a ground scrape...thst is a clue. Found only 1 rub. At some point I will run cameras on the sign...in the area to find out of its a buck worth hunting. I need to understand timing. Just lots to figure out...and I really dont have high hopes for the spot. I mark it and move on. The terrain says it's a great spot.