Farm country bedding question

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cornfedkiller
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Farm country bedding question

Unread postby cornfedkiller » Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:18 am

Ok this is a very loaded thread, with alot of questions. Blame 'dreaming bucks' for getting the wheels turning in my head with his cornfield question :mrgreen:

Will bucks bed on the banks of drainage ditches in farm country. Not sure what your drainage ditches look like there, so I've attached a picture of exactly what Im talking about..

I have once seen an immature buck bedded on the bank, but I am unsure if mature bucks would bed here.. I know gun hunters typically like to push along the ditches, but Im not sure how well they do.

Image

Also, what about grassy fence lines between fields? Its really hard to explain what those look like around me (and I cant find anything on google images that resembles what Im talking about, so I'll have to get a picture for you later this week).

If they bed in either of these two places, what would the tendency be? For instance, if they are on ditch banks, would they be there when the wind is coming down from over the top of them - like hill country? How do you go about finding these spots?

Or do the deer skip these two locations and bed mostly in farm place groves? Do you see an tendencies here? Thick stuff? Abandoned farmplaces more often? Heres a picture of what the area around me looks like for instance..

The blue is a drainage ditch like pictured above. The yellow is CRP grass. The farmplace with the black arrow pointed to it is abandoned. All the other farmplaces have people that live there, but dont necessarily hunt. Everything else is crop fields - corn and beans for the most part.
Image

I just dont really know where the deer are in farm country..


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GRFox
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby GRFox » Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:49 am

cornfedkiller wrote:.........what about grassy fence lines between fields? Its really hard to explain what those look like around me (and I cant find anything on google images that resembles what Im talking about, so I'll have to get a picture for you later this week).


Im no expert on hunting farm land, but mature bucks will probably bed in a grassy fence row separating the fields, most likely around a tree or blow down or thick brush with the fence at his back and a good location to view out in front of him.

As for the drainage I have no Idea.... :?
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Southern Man
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby Southern Man » Tue Aug 09, 2011 10:54 am

I have seen deer bed on the edge of ditches but, our ditches aren't that well manicured. Usually the bedding is associated with tall grass / weeds of some type. If you would add some trees along that ditch, they'' ll bed there in a heartbeat. Especially to escape pressure. Not down in it but up on the edge.

There is a creek across the road from one farm I hunt where deer bed there regularly. You can watch them come out of it every evening. It's only maybe 20-25 yards wide but has trees along the banks. The ground cover isn't really thick at all but there is no way to get to them without their knowing it. The farm country deer here will bed close to where they feed and not travel much. It's not unusual to watch them come out of the creek in the evening and see them in virtually the same spot at first light.

Weedy fencerows are the same, especially with trees. Anything tall enough to give some cover is a possible bedding sight.

Are those spots preferred? I doubt it. But they learn quick that nothing bothers them there. In the week after gun season ends, you'll see that kind of behavior often....... but that's here. People would call you crazy if they seen you hunting that kind of place. Guess that's what makes it a good spot :mrgreen:
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby goldtip5575 » Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:55 am

The grass on your ditch banks doesnt look tall enough for deer to bed not to say they wouldnt.If you had some crp grasses or red willows growing in or along them that would give more cover.Fencelines with crp grass growing along them are good spots during rut and even for early leaveing or late returning bedded bucks.
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby goldtip5575 » Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:05 pm

Is there any big blocks of woods close by? You should get deer that use that ditch as a travel route.
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby dan » Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:11 pm

WITH A DITCH OR FENCE LINE THE GENERALLY BED USEING BOTH VISION AND SMELL And will often put the waterway or fence at an advantage... As someone mentioned. Your ditch picture looks to well cut. It would need some cover. the buck would be in the cover, but able to see out one direction and have wind from behind.
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby muddy » Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:58 pm

Whenever I've seen big deer bedded in "odd areas" like you're explaining it's because they've got a doe pushed there during the rut. Other than that, I haven't seen a buck religiously bedding in such an open area.
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby cornfedkiller » Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:09 pm

dan wrote:WITH A DITCH OR FENCE LINE THE GENERALLY BED USEING BOTH VISION AND SMELL And will often put the waterway or fence at an advantage... As someone mentioned. Your ditch picture looks to well cut. It would need some cover. the buck would be in the cover, but able to see out one direction and have wind from behind.


muddy wrote:Whenever I've seen big deer bedded in "odd areas" like you're explaining it's because they've got a doe pushed there during the rut. Other than that, I haven't seen a buck religiously bedding in such an open area.


So where do they bed? In the groves?

And with crops everywhere like this, do you find they still have a primary food source (ie, a field they go to first every night), or what dictates bedding in a different bed throughout the summer/fall (if anything?) - just the wind? And when they are bedding there one day, do they just come out of that grove in the evening and eat at that nearest field that is up against that grove?

And like I mentioned, if they are bedding in the groves, what do they look for in there (ie, what should I look for when scouting)? Thick areas? Large trees down? On the edges? In the middle?
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby muddy » Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:13 pm

Right now they're unpressured and they could flat bed in the crops or those groves or just about anywhere it's so hot and green. In another month some crops will be coming out, a lot of grasses will start browning up and dying, and deer hanging out in these weird areas will likely up and move to more typical locations. This is my opinion though, a few may stay put.

If you are still seeing them come time to hunt then the small groves may be the place to be, but getting in there without blowing all the deer in the fields out will be tricky. Probably best for a morning hunt but I'd say they're also probably coming into the groves under the cover of darkness so hunting here may be almost impossible?
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby Zap » Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:22 pm

Maybe glass at dusk/shine right after dark.

Then look at the topo/aerial within a few hundred yards of where they were/where they came from.

That could narrow it down.
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby cornfedkiller » Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:40 pm

muddy wrote:Right now they're unpressured and they could flat bed in the crops or those groves or just about anywhere it's so hot and green. In another month some crops will be coming out, a lot of grasses will start browning up and dying, and deer hanging out in these weird areas will likely up and move to more typical locations. This is my opinion though, a few may stay put.

If you are still seeing them come time to hunt then the small groves may be the place to be, but getting in there without blowing all the deer in the fields out will be tricky. Probably best for a morning hunt but I'd say they're also probably coming into the groves under the cover of darkness so hunting here may be almost impossible?


I gotcha..Im fairly certain they bed in the groves, since I used to get quite a few daylight pictures and found a bunch of rubs in the groves when I hunted here a few years ago (before I knew anything about bedding). I have no idea how I would get into some of these groves without bushing the deer out of there like you mentioned - Not to mention in the flat farmland, the deer can see pretty much 360 degrees for a few hundred yards..And I think once they are busted out of there, they would probably just relocate to one of the groves that I cant hunt (which is about half of them in that picture) where they are safe for the season...

I can sometimes catch a few nice bucks while shining and glassing, but it seems kinda random. I went back to some old trailcam pics and looked up the wind on those days, and there is absolutely no coordination.

Also, once the crops are all out, the deer all disappear, so hunting around there is pretty much done then anyways.

I dont hunt there often, but Im just trying to come up with a little bit of a plan of action in case I ever do.. I think its pretty tough around there though..
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby Swampthing » Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:49 pm

Farmland deer really can put a hunter in his place. Hunt the woods or swamps and a guy feels like he has a college deergree .After a week of farmland buck hunting you feel like it,s your first day of kindergarten.
Like Muddy said, I too have seen a bunch of bucks bedded down in field drainages( while tending a doe in heat ).
One exception to that for me was this year. I have a buck I just cannot figure out. I've spotted him shining, trailcams, etc. But always far enough after sunset that could.ve came from an adjacent Neighbors woodlot, or just late to rise out of mine.
But finally this summer I had a hunch and set up in a small woodlot that was about a 1/4 mile away from a CRP area (about 40 acres)that a major Drainage ditch running right through the middle of it .(east to west) and another ditch branches off that one ( to the south) . Basicly forming a T. All the spottings kinda centered around it. But my mind kept telling me." No he must be living in one of the woodlots".
Well, anyways I glassed the T in the ditch and nothing ,nothing and when I looked up again there he was. Out of nowhere he rose. I,m not sure how often he beds there. But all I know is he was there last week. There are 6 or 7 small woodlots with-in a 1/2 mile of him. But the drainage he was bedded in does,nt have a tree in it. Just thich grass, couple shrubs.
It seems like such an obvious spot now. Prominant wind at his back , visability all directions. And water barrier on 3 sides. Most of all , escape routes to East, West and South along the ditch.
And when he wants to feed for the night. Just get up from bed and follow a ditch out of view in any direction. Or head into the wind for a snack in the beanfield directly behind him.
Here is a crappy little map I drew up .X marks his bed.
Image

[ Post made via Android ] Image
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby WEEGEE » Tue Aug 09, 2011 5:01 pm

YES THEY DO BED OUT IN THOSE DITCHES

they will lay down just so they can see out.
their horns will blend in real well.
we have those here ..looks the same...hard to get with bow..drives with the shotguns are the only way,they usually get shot.

the shortest distance from that woods is the ticket.
he won't come out on a corner ,but appx 20-30 yrds. from it.

you need to watch him from a distance...look for the bones,in the weeds.
where the red fox beds ,he won't be too far away.

he will if jumped will run right down that ditch until he thinks he's safe and then bust out for the woods right out in the open 100yrds. from anything

if it was me i'd scout the woods closest to the ditch (3) look for his primary scrap and set up appx. 50 yrds. downwind of it .
some cold nov. morning he will come to you!
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby Beason » Tue Aug 09, 2011 5:25 pm

looks like tough hunting cornfed! i have seen some 3.5 yr old big racked bucks bed in corn in low spots that dip in from the woods under 100 yards out from an inside corner during mid-day with the wind blowing from the woods to the wide open field. scout and you might find them. generally, the corn is actually kind of stunted in these spots, grassy swells or not.
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Re: Farm country bedding question

Unread postby Zap » Tue Aug 09, 2011 11:23 pm

I have seen alot of bucks bed in CRP. Thats tall native grass.
Some CRP fields have small bushy trees in them and ditches and fencerows with small trees.

In 2008 I was hunting a public spot in KCMO. Late afternoon hunt early October..
Pull in and the lot has a few cars, as I gear up some more show up.

There was a pretty good breeze out of the north.
One path from the lot goes N then turns N/W.
The other goes W. There is a twenty acre CRP field in between.

I still hunted it from the south, busted a real nice buck out before I saw him.
I was moving too fast. He got up when I was about 35 yards away.

Found his bed next to a six foot tall hedge tree.

Anyway I assume he bedded there about 100 yards from the parking and waited for everyone too leave after dark until he moved out.

I would agree that the grass in that ditch is kinda short to hide a deer.
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