Cedar Swamp Bedding

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Singing Bridge
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Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Fri May 20, 2011 5:34 am

Thought I'd put up a video clip from when I located a nice buck (and other buck) bedding area deep within the confines of a cedar swamp. Mature bucks are very powerful, and have little difficulty going remote through hellish cover. This particular bedding area is on a micro-island, surrounded by a tiny marsh next to a beaver pond. The surrounding uplands receive hunting pressure that would boggle the mind of the majority of bowhunters. The clips do a fair job of showing exactly what a buck bed looks like in a heavily wooded and very wet swamp, as well as explaining how the buck approaches this bedding area, and finally giving some insight into how a buck may take advantage by bedding with a barrier on his downwind side.

[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzXGJW9AqjI[/bbvideo]

[bbvideo=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuUr_OfEHDU[/bbvideo]


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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby Dewey » Fri May 20, 2011 5:58 am

Very cool Singing Bridge!! 8-) That is some great detective work there and I hope it pays off for you in the fall.

Is this one of your spots in Ontario?
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby headgear » Fri May 20, 2011 6:28 am

Great post SB, I think that is a great explanation and visual of how a buck will both scent check his bed before entering and make a loop and come in with the wind at his back so he can smell anything on his trail.
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Fri May 20, 2011 9:29 am

Dewey wrote:Very cool Singing Bridge!! 8-) That is some great detective work there and I hope it pays off for you in the fall.

Is this one of your spots in Ontario?


Thanks Dewey! This video was shot in the lower peninsula of Michigan, a heavy pressure public land area.

headgear wrote:Great post SB, I think that is a great explanation and visual of how a buck will both scent check his bed before entering and make a loop and come in with the wind at his back so he can smell anything on his trail.


I've hardly ever hunted it, but that buck bedding area has been there for many, many years and has provided a lot of security to different bucks. Using the wind- and putting a barrier in place down wind- certainly may give the buck an advantage.
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby headgear » Fri May 20, 2011 9:56 am

Singing Bridge wrote:
I've hardly ever hunted it, but that buck bedding area has been there for many, many years and has provided a lot of security to different bucks. Using the wind- and putting a barrier in place down wind- certainly may give the buck an advantage.


This is the part that really excites me about these buck bedding areas, if you don't destroy them with pressure they will seemingly be used year after year.

I found a similar cedar swamp bed (not as deep in the cover) as this one. When I found the bed I started to think of some of the nice bucks we have shot or seen right in the general area of this bed and they all probably used the same general area. It use to be crazy to think that it would even be possible but now its really starting to make perfect sense.
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby PLB » Fri May 20, 2011 12:31 pm

You guys hit on a good point! These really good bedding areas that are basically failsafe get used by generations of bucks. If the dominant buck gets killed or relocates, there is another buck willing and ready to take over. Great post S.B. 8-)
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby cornfedkiller » Fri May 20, 2011 1:10 pm

Awesome video and explanation of whats in the video SB! Looks like a great find, and I hope you can put him down this fall!
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby Buckfever » Fri May 20, 2011 1:17 pm

You make a set on this yet? Doesn't look like you can get that close, anything create a funnel out of there?
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sat May 21, 2011 2:00 am

Buckfever wrote:You make a set on this yet? Doesn't look like you can get that close, anything create a funnel out of there?


No funnels nearby, but there is a small barrier here and there along his path. I'm set up just outside of what I believe he can see / hear / smell when he is bedded.
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby JRM6868 » Sat May 21, 2011 2:24 am

Great find! That's half the fun is getting in their head and figuring them out. 8-)
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby headgear » Sat May 21, 2011 4:42 am

All this generations of bucks using the same bedding location has me thinking about a great spot I have yet too scout, I really feel there is a big buck using this area as a bed but I just have to get out there confirm it. It is about a half mile of cedar swamp and another half mile of black spruce bog before you get here so I hope I am right. I could easily access it by hopping across the river from the north or jumping that creek to the east but I think my best access to setup on this bed is from the south so I might as well walk in the long way and check things out.

What do you guys think, is there is big buck in there?

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Singing Bridge
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sat May 21, 2011 8:49 am

headgear wrote: What do you guys think, is there is big buck in there?


I wouldn't be surprised, there's a lot of potential there for both buck and doe bedding... one way to find out- and as you know that will take some but busting scouting missions. 8-)
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby headgear » Sat May 21, 2011 9:59 am

You know it SB! Never had time to get in there this spring but I am going to give it a good look this fall, I don't really care if I blow it for this season, it will be worth it to know for 2012.
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby cornfedkiller » Sat May 21, 2011 11:09 am

Hey SB, which video camera are you using?
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Singing Bridge
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Re: Cedar Swamp Bedding

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sat May 21, 2011 11:40 am

cornfedkiller wrote:Hey SB, which video camera are you using?


This was my scouting camera, a Kodak HD Pocket Video Camera with a 4GB SDHC card. It takes HD video or stills, but only has a 2X zoom. It cost just over a $100 bucks, and I keep it in a small ziplock in my scouting pack- it weighs nothing and is VERY small. I also keep a mini, expandable tripod in my scouting pack for use with this Camera.

Obviously, I film my hunts with a different camera and greatly increased zoom, etc. But for scouting, the little Kodak is what works for me. I do have to stay close to the microphone with this camera, unless I pick up an add-on mic. When home, I push a button and a USB connector pops out of the camera and I plug it into my computer, directly to my hard drive files or youtube, etc.


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