Buck bedding no rubs
- Killtree
- Posts: 353
- Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 12:24 pm
- Status: Offline
Buck bedding no rubs
Anyone ever find a buck bed, but there were no rubs in the vicinity?
I found a bed on a little spur that juts off the lip of a bench on a real steep hill.
The side of the hill was clear cut several years ago so its still pretty thick cover.
There are no rub lines at all. Might be half a dozen rubs scattered around the whole hillside and that is it.
I found a bed on a little spur that juts off the lip of a bench on a real steep hill.
The side of the hill was clear cut several years ago so its still pretty thick cover.
There are no rub lines at all. Might be half a dozen rubs scattered around the whole hillside and that is it.
-
- 500 Club
- Posts: 4576
- Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:26 am
- Location: IA
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
Yes, that is not uncommon from what I have seen. Beds used old mature solitary bucks seem to often have little sign around them.
if it a big bed and in a great spot then its probably a buck bed. I know great spot is hard to evaluate...I would say if it makes a person scratch their head for a while on how to get close to it and set up, then its a great spot Often in the hills there is more than one bed in an area, but if they are all the same size and all in carefully placed locations next to a obstruction with that good visibility downwind I think thats a sign of a large buck's use. Clusters of smaller beds some of them out in the open tend to be does.
Another thing to do is look hard at all the trees right around the bed lots of times there will be tine marks even if the tree wasn't hit hard enough to be "rubbed."
Primary buck bedding areas that get used by a lot of different bucks seem to get the most torn up. But what you found can be a spot to find Mr. Big.
if it a big bed and in a great spot then its probably a buck bed. I know great spot is hard to evaluate...I would say if it makes a person scratch their head for a while on how to get close to it and set up, then its a great spot Often in the hills there is more than one bed in an area, but if they are all the same size and all in carefully placed locations next to a obstruction with that good visibility downwind I think thats a sign of a large buck's use. Clusters of smaller beds some of them out in the open tend to be does.
Another thing to do is look hard at all the trees right around the bed lots of times there will be tine marks even if the tree wasn't hit hard enough to be "rubbed."
Primary buck bedding areas that get used by a lot of different bucks seem to get the most torn up. But what you found can be a spot to find Mr. Big.
- Bonehead
- Posts: 266
- Joined: Sun Oct 15, 2017 12:15 am
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
I found this very thing the other day. A lone large bed with thick nasty cover behind it on a ridge looking down with good visibility. I did not find any rubs at all. I know it’s a buck bed because it meets all the criteria except for their being no rubs.
I will start looking closer to see if I can find some lighter tine marks in the future.
I will start looking closer to see if I can find some lighter tine marks in the future.
- Zona1
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:04 pm
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
I would like to echo Joe's comment on hill country bedding. Rarely is a buck using just one bed, think bedding area instead. If you found one there should be more.
-
- Posts: 402
- Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:43 am
- Location: Michigan
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
JoeRE wrote:I would say if it makes a person scratch their head for a while on how to get close to it and set up, then its a great spot
Wow. I just had a total light bulb moment from your comment! Thanks!!
"I don't know what the f*** this is but it's weird as f*** so i'm leaving."
-The Deep
-The Deep
-
- 500 Club
- Posts: 1369
- Joined: Wed May 13, 2015 5:21 pm
- Location: Buffalo new york
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
Usually if there is no rub it means there's less competition fighting over the bed. Possibly less bucks in the area
YOUTUBE CHANNEL
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC4nCYfIyRKpg_fetLXKBaBA
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC4nCYfIyRKpg_fetLXKBaBA
- ghoasthunter
- 500 Club
- Posts: 2211
- Joined: Thu Jan 04, 2018 6:09 am
- Location: New jersey
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
looked for historical rubs also you will find scaring on trees. then you will have a history as being a good bed. when were the rubs made maybe its a short term time specific bed? how much poo is in their is there old and new? how much hair is in the beds how long is the hair? what color is hair? is there doe bedding near buy? is it doe bedding that the bucks were Making display rubs in? what style rub were they thrashing a bush or making a sign post? how old is the cut maybe the bed just started up a couple years ago? are the rubs facing in and out? do the in rubs come in using thermals or wind?Killtree wrote:Anyone ever find a buck bed, but there were no rubs in the vicinity?
I found a bed on a little spur that juts off the lip of a bench on a real steep hill.
The side of the hill was clear cut several years ago so its still pretty thick cover.
There are no rub lines at all. Might be half a dozen rubs scattered around the whole hillside and that is it.
THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL A HUNTER HAS IS BETWEEN HIS SHOULDERS
- hunter_mike
- Moderator
- Posts: 8297
- Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 3:24 pm
- Location: south central WI
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
All the time. Though i can usually find other sign nearby such as tine marks on trees and a licking branch.
“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
- flinginairos
- 500 Club
- Posts: 931
- Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 7:11 am
- Location: WV
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
All three of my bucks from this past season there wasn't a single rub within 200 yards of the beds. If you were just walking through and were looking strictly for rubs to hunt by you'd keep right on walking past all the spots I killed my bucks in. The sign I found a distance away from those areas certainly pointed towards those bedding areas they just weren't super close to bedding.
- Ragingun
- Posts: 344
- Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 12:03 am
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
Found a good one in a swamp the end of season just like you described, everything but rubs. In fact, no rubs for well over 100 yards that I could find although since it was season I did not thoroughly scout. I'll be back out there this week and plan to setup a cam in the area pending the current sign. This bed was wore down to the dirt with a ton of hair on a knob towards a point in a swamp, typical buck bedding setup. I aerial scouted this area and walked out scouting with the stand on my back. I saw a good set of tracks headed out to the tip of the point so I setup 100 yards back. Once I got into the tree I looked down 10 yards away to see the bed. Obviously I got much closer than I thought to but it simply gave me another confidence booster for my aerial scouting abilities. Can't wait to see what's using it.
Dogs have many friends because they wag their tails, not their tongues.
-
- Site Owner
- Posts: 41638
- Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:11 am
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HuntingBeast/?ref=bookmarks
- Location: S.E. Wisconsin
- Contact:
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
A lot of my best buck bedding areas are void of rubs. It seems to have a lot to do with competition. I have a low deer density in a lot of my areas and it often shows / or don't show, in the bedding areas.
- Lockdown
- Moderator
- Posts: 9957
- Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
- Location: MN
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
d_rek wrote:JoeRE wrote:I would say if it makes a person scratch their head for a while on how to get close to it and set up, then its a great spot
Wow. I just had a total light bulb moment from your comment! Thanks!!
Joe's comment is true no matter what terrain you're hunting.
- Tater
- Posts: 140
- Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 4:14 am
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
So glad to read this thread. Had a good scouting trip last week and found tons of beds, some of which were secluded and solitary, which i thought were probably buck beds, but found almost no rubs on the whole scouting trip. Maybe 4 or 5 and i walked about 4mi.
-
- Posts: 402
- Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:43 am
- Location: Michigan
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
Lockdown wrote:d_rek wrote:JoeRE wrote:I would say if it makes a person scratch their head for a while on how to get close to it and set up, then its a great spot
Wow. I just had a total light bulb moment from your comment! Thanks!!
Joe's comment is true no matter what terrain you're hunting.
To be clear I am not making light of his comment! There was an area i scouted last year that I found a couple of beds in but couldn’t figure out how the heck I would even hunt it... if I would have had a cooperative wind I might have been able to but even then it would have been challenging! But it just made me think back to that spot and I had a little “aha!” moment.
"I don't know what the f*** this is but it's weird as f*** so i'm leaving."
-The Deep
-The Deep
- Babshaft
- 500 Club
- Posts: 608
- Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2017 12:00 pm
- Location: Ontario...Great White North
- Status: Offline
Re: Buck bedding no rubs
flinginairos wrote:All three of my bucks from this past season there wasn't a single rub within 200 yards of the beds. If you were just walking through and were looking strictly for rubs to hunt by you'd keep right on walking past all the spots I killed my bucks in. The sign I found a distance away from those areas certainly pointed towards those bedding areas they just weren't super close to bedding.
What sign clued you in to those bedding areas? Was it just the size and location of the beds? Hair in them? Tracks? Just trying to put some puzzle pieces together for myself. Those are 3 beautiful bucks by the way.
Cheers
-
- Advertisement
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: Google Adsense [Bot] and 45 guests