DROUGHT bedding - same sanctuary or closer to water?

[Kybar]

Was hoping some folks would weigh in on their experiences with mature bucks and their bedding preference during a significant drought. Will the big boys stay in their usual beds with the best security cover, or will they opt to not travel as far and pick bedding closer to the water? Of course, I understand that there is a minimual amount of cover required to hold a mature buck. I'm more interested in will they abandon their #1 bed for #3 or #4 if it's closer to water. How far will they still be willing to travel for water in a hot, dry Sept? Thanks in advance!

[Kybar]

Maybe should have clarified that I'm talking farm country here, not swamp or marsh bedding, so water is few and far between.

[PK_]

They will bed close to water if they can, right down in creek beds and stuff, not normal bedding. It is so situational tho. Lots of bucks this time of year are feeding in fields that usually get covered in dew, they get a lot of water that way in addition to the water content of food/browse. Dry conditions during rut are different those rutting bucks absolutely need water since they aren’t feeding and are running.

[rfickes87]

I often wonder this as well. We've got a bad drought here in PA and any animal must have water. This 10 I've got on camera is one of my target bucks. I have this camera on a spine of where 2 steep ridges meet, this allows deer to easily walk up/down the ridge just like taking the stairs. Down about 250 yards is a small creek. I have another camera on this same elevation but to the right about 150 yards. That camera is much closer to his actually bedding and I had him on camera multiple times in daylight thru June and July and then he never showed again on that camera for a few weeks. Then on July 22 he appeared on this camera which is much closer to water (that creek at the bottom). This is after our drought has been going on for a while. It's getting to be last light in the photo and you'd you think he'd be getting up outta his beds (which are to the right or up behind the camera) and then head down for water but he's actually walking up the ridge instead, coming from the water...

This seemed very odd to me at first glance b/c I thought why in the world would he have been down in the bottoms midday? Usually its the opposite. Bucks always seem to bed up high during the day and cruise the bottoms at night. But I have a hunch that he just had to get up mid-day and go down and get a drink and he's on his way back up. Seems to me he may have had to change his routine to get to water. Seeps and drainage ditches up high in the ridge top aren't offering water anymore.

[Tribute80]

I cant answer about the bedding specifically as I have never really seeked out a bucks bed to hunt but more of general bedding areas. One thing that I have noticed when its drought or very dry is when the deer get up they don't head towards food but instead they head towards water. A rough example would be if there was thick bedding area 150 yards east was a food source and 150 yards west was water they exited on the water side and headed towards water. I would think they would relocate if possible but if they couldn't would just prioritize traveling to water over food. The area i seen this in was farm country in west Georgia.

[Kybar]

Thanks for the replies guys. The creek bottom in my neck of the woods is now dry in the headwaters, which is closer to the prime bedding. I put a couple of cameras up over the weekend on the creek where it's still flowing to try to get a better idea if the bedding has shifted. We really need some rain around here!

[Boogieman1]

I experienced this very thing 6 or 7 years ago and it really through me for a loop. Typically there’s water everywhere around my parts but there was a 2 year stretch everything was dry as a bone. I found one spring fed, deep woods pond and assumed it would be game on. But it wasn’t. I don’t think 20 deer hit it the entire season based on camera pics and it was in a good spot.

Just looking back on those times and basically guessing. But I believe the drastically changing temps that occur going from night to day generates a high percentage of morning dew on all vegetation. I believe this is more than enough hydration for deer. I say this because no deer seemed to relocate to the only water source around during those hard times.

I also have a buddy who is on a lease of 12,000 acres of brush country. There’s two windmill water sources for the cattle on the entire place. I begged him to put a camera on those suckers. He got pics, but nowhere close to what u would think. He says they get most of there water from eating the native cactus. I dunno, but regardless of conditions I’ve never had any kind of luck around a water source except for piggies

[Huntress13]

I just looked this up the other day because I went on a trip to an area where the only water for 15 miles was salt water. And the answer was that they get most of their hydration from the vegetation, dew, etc.