Buck Bedding Under Rock Bluff

[aclawrence]

Have ya'll ever seen this before? It doesn't make sense to me so help me out. Last year I found a big creek bottom that consistently had rubs and scrapes down the length of it that I walked. One area in particular had a good concentration of rubs. This last year I've stumbled onto Dan Infalt and the hunting beast community and have become very interested in the beast style of hunting. I haven't made any more scouting trips back into the bottom but I have spent a good bit of time on my OnX maps studying the bottom and feeder creeks, ridges, and all that stuff. I'm still pretty green on trying to pinpoint the bedding spots but I did drop some waypoints where I thought I should look. Keep in mind that this is also a huge National Forrest with tons of acres of big woods. With the amount of sign I saw last fall I felt that at least a buck was spending a good bit of time there. I've also heard on podcast that in general bottoms have lots of sign and can be really tough to hunt because of the swirly wind. So yesterday I made my first trip back to the area and heading in to look for sign and check out the potential bedding areas on the points and military crest style spots. This area has a lot of big rocks, vertical rock walls and bluffs. I was navigating my way down the side of the hill and I dropped down and spotted a cool looking rock bluff. I walked over to take a look. I actually took my pack off and was about to sit down when I noticed some matted down leaves. Upon closer inspection I found some white deer hair. There was another spot that was free of leaves and it had a good bit of white hair in it. There is a natural spring coming out of this bluff also that runs down to the creek. I was really surprised to find that a deer had been bedding under the rock bluff. I know in general that deer put the thick stuff to there back with the winding blowing through it and watch to the front with their eyes. In this spot their only defense is in front of them and they would be kind of trapped if something snuck up on them from the front. Have any of you seen a deer bed in a place like this? Now I'm imaging that the deer just beds here when it's raining and the next downpour we get I'm going to sneak in there and get him!

[aclawrence]

Also for a little context, the big creek bottom runs North and South. There is a feeder creek that comes into it from the east and this bluff is located up the hollow that the feeder creek is in about 75yds from the area that had the concentration of rubs in the main bottom. The bluff is facing North.

[PublicLand]

Thermals and sight.
Find his exit routes, the safest spots are reserved for kings.

[brancher147]

I have seen beds like that but never anything I thought a mature buck was using much if it’s down in a bottom below the cliffs. I usually see the big bucks bedding above the cliffs. The only time I have seen a big buck bed against solid rock was on top of a ridge up against a house size boulder. He had other deer bedding all around him and swirling wind I would guess also. But he did seem vulnerable from his back side against the rock but I never hunted the spot to see how it played out.

[Missionshooter]

Pic?

[Singing Bridge]

I've hunted vertical rock bluffs for many years. It isn't uncommon to find buck bedding on an elevated flat just above the valley floor in these conditions. The vertical bluffs I hunt are 3-500 feet in elevation typically with interspersed rock walls that are close to vertical. These bluffs are in big woods and true wilderness areas in Ontario, Canada where I do DIY hunts on my own.

The bucks bed in these areas a lot beginning in mid-October where I hunt. The reason it is preferred bedding at that time is twofold- first, it gets the wilderness bucks out of high winds and high caloric expenditure from bedding on top. The harshness of this environment supersedes buck bedding areas across the whitetail's range. The second reason is the predators are cruising the tops and very active as winter approaches.

In the bottom the buck is actually very well defended. He can't be approached from the backside (vertical rock bluff) and he uses the rising thermals and vision to protect his front. He will walk past his bed above him in the morning and then hook back and lay down. This leads predators that are tracking his ground scent to travel past his bed while he slips out the other side. His airborne scent is rising above him with the thermals.

Although it appears that the buck is not well protected, 40 yards of lateral movement on either side of his bed is all it takes for a healthy, mature whitetail to escape the fastest predator.

You obviously can't hunt by approaching the bed from where he can see you... you set up to hunt just off to the side while paying attention to anticipated thermals and wind as well as the scent you leave on the ground during your approach.

Bridge

[aclawrence]

Thanks that’s really helpful. I’m trying to figure how to attach some pictures if the area. It’s a pretty set up.

[aclawrence]

Here’s a couple pics. I had a short video of the surroundings and inside of the bluff but I can’t load it.

[Singing Bridge]

If you zoom in behind my left shoulder, you can see the vertical rock bluff.