Deer facing certain direction when bedded

[willsk85]

Hey guys,

When scouting, have you noticed what direction bucks, or deer for that matter are bedded, if they are on a transtion line point between wood lot and marsh? Do they generally bed looking away from the marsh, meaning the wind/thermal is coming from the marsh? To me, that would make more sense, deer could look out into the wood lot, while using the wind to help them from a more unlikely area of entry for predators.

Let me know your thoughts/insight.

Thanks!

[Joe68]

I am fairly new to this, but I think most bedding is based on wind direction. Example. Big marsh to the west and woods to the east. Buck bed on a point that goes out into the marsh with red brush surrounding the point. With a westerly wind I would say the buck is bedded facing the east. The wind would tell him what is behind him in the marsh, and he will be able to see what is coming from the woods. That is my take on this subject. Hope this is helpful.

[ Post made via Android ]

[dan]

Wind to back... If they bed on an edge they usually look towards the more open area with wind from the thick.

[MentatArcher]

I've had a couple fawns nearby this year. They'll often bed in a patch of woods like 40 ft from my kitchen window and I've been watching them a lot. They are commonly eating in bed and licking at stuff and looking around all over the place. If they can already see 310 degrees.. they only need to turn their head a tiny bit for 360.

If you're thinking you're going to sneak in without them seeing you, you better be going snails pace. Ideally you'd be in a ditch or behind thick cover. Line of sight, I think they'll probably nail you unless it's real windy or you have something in your favor. Here's a youtube vid of one sleeping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfhfXum6JF0

[willsk85]

I've had a couple fawns nearby this year. They'll often bed in a patch of woods like 40 ft from my kitchen window and I've been watching them a lot. They are commonly eating in bed and licking at stuff and looking around all over the place. If they can already see 310 degrees.. they only need to turn their head a tiny bit for 360.

If you're thinking you're going to sneak in without them seeing you, you better be going snails pace. Ideally you'd be in a ditch or behind thick cover. Line of sight, I think they'll probably nail you unless it's real windy or you have something in your favor. Here's a youtube vid of one sleeping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfhfXum6JF0

Thanks MentatArcher, I question was more to decide on where I wanted to go, versus stalk them. Knowing what the wind direction is, I have multiple spots. Some have marsh in east side of transition line and some on west side of transition line, with wooded lots on the other side of transition line. Based on the wind expecting to be westerly, and on what Dan was saying, I will take the route of hunting spots where the marsh is on the west side of the transition line, expecting them to be bedded up against the marsh, facing east.