Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

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Re: Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

Unread postby AvidHunter88 » Sat Feb 18, 2017 3:40 am

dan wrote:cONGRATS ON THE FIND!!! As far as rubs not being fresh, that's common in low densities. Not enough big bucks competing for that bed.



That's good to know! I too have found obvious buck beds but with rubs a year or two old and always wondered why there weren't fresh rubs.


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Re: Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

Unread postby rfickes87 » Tue Mar 21, 2017 4:19 am

Well guys, I made it out to this spot again. 5 weeks since I was there before. I had a camera pointing down right on the bed but surprisingly only a little button buck had shown up on camera in all that time. I was really disappointed at first. My intentions had been to get pictures of a nice buck and start recording the days he was there with the wind direction and weather and use that info for this fall. I was able to do this last summer with some other beds in a different area. But it was a no go this time! I did find several new beds. Probably a dozen or more. Mostly doe bedding it seemed. Tracks everywhere. There was 3 inches of snow still. Clearly they are in there and using that area so I was pleased to see all the other beds in the snow but that one deer with the large poopies didn't reuse the big bed I had found previously. Seems to me he or they are clearly bedding in that "area" just didn't use that one bed I found. Really kicking myself also that I put the camera right on that one bed and not on the entrance/exit trail. I realize now from all the other beds and tracks if I would have done that 5 weeks ago I would have gotten many many pictures. Oh well. I'm learning. I did find several kill trees that I like. A cluster of 5 or so mature oaks on the north edge of that green brier patch that I would like to climb up with good shoot lanes. Probably just stay of there now for a few months.
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Re: Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

Unread postby rfickes87 » Mon Aug 21, 2017 9:58 am

I made it out to this area again today to check a camera i had hung on 7-30-17. I usually leave my cameras sit longer but finding time to get out has been tough so i took my opportunity.

I found this bedding in the spring. This camera is about 75 yards from a nice bed along the same hillside on a nicely worn trail. Mostly does buck 2 decent bucks seem to be using this bedding area. I jumped these 2 bucks when i went in to hang the camera as they were drinking out of a nearby creek. Activity is about 60/40 daylight. So im very happy with that.

This area is proving to hold buck bedding year round. Everything seems to be going to plan so far... Found the beds in early spring, found trees to climb, and now with nice buck sightings. I only wish they could be a little bigger. Im trying to turn a corner here in my archery career but i can't get away from the 2 1/2 year old 100 inch bucks it seems haha. Still above average I'd say for PA public.

https://youtu.be/tUiXt8T1LQc

https://youtu.be/sEXHrDODYgM
"Pressure and Time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time..."
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Re: Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

Unread postby BA-IV » Mon Aug 21, 2017 12:22 pm

Public land is tough! I like the updates though.

So what's your plan? You going to target those two bucks or go after bigger and let them go for another year?
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Re: Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

Unread postby rfickes87 » Mon Aug 21, 2017 1:27 pm

BA-IV wrote:Public land is tough! I like the updates though.

So what's your plan? You going to target those two bucks or go after bigger and let them go for another year?


Good questions! This is my second year bed hunting. Its slowly, slowly starting to come together for me. And its a fun game to play so Id be happy if I took either one.
"Pressure and Time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time..."
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Re: Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

Unread postby BA-IV » Mon Aug 21, 2017 1:40 pm

I've always wondered if I located a buck bed and it wasn't a buck I wanted to target just yet if he would likely be there next year if he wasn't pushed hard and made it through the season...with another year means more maturity, maybe more dominance, maybe he whips another buck and takes over his homersnge or better bedding areas.
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Re: Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

Unread postby rfickes87 » Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:18 pm

BA-IV wrote:I've always wondered if I located a buck bed and it wasn't a buck I wanted to target just yet if he would likely be there next year if he wasn't pushed hard and made it through the season...with another year means more maturity, maybe more dominance, maybe he whips another buck and takes over his homersnge or better bedding areas.


Yes that makes sense. When I come across a buck I'm not interested in I just move to another area and keep scouting. Save that spot for another year.
"Pressure and Time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time..."
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Re: Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

Unread postby tgreeno » Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:27 pm

Just because there's a little smaller buck in the bed, don't write-off the bed or bedding area. Different bucks use different beds all the time. It may still be a primary bed, but the big guy is in another area at that specific time. Doesn't mean he couldn't be in there at a later date. Or it's possible, it's a satellite bed. Which means there may be a primary bed around the area. Like Dan has said many times. The best primary areas usually have multiple beds in one general area.
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Re: Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

Unread postby Lockdown » Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:28 pm

rfickes87 wrote:
BA-IV wrote:I've always wondered if I located a buck bed and it wasn't a buck I wanted to target just yet if he would likely be there next year if he wasn't pushed hard and made it through the season...with another year means more maturity, maybe more dominance, maybe he whips another buck and takes over his homersnge or better bedding areas.


Yes that makes sense. When I come across a buck I'm not interested in I just move to another area and keep scouting. Save that spot for another year.



Just keep in mind there will be a lot of fall range shifting the next couple weeks. If that's a highly desirable bed it's not impossible a bigger buck moves in and takes over. Multiple bucks can and will use the same bed through out the year.

*edit- tgreeno beat me to it :D
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Re: Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

Unread postby tgreeno » Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:33 pm

Lockdown wrote:Just keep in mind there will be a lot of fall range shifting the next couple weeks. If that's a highly desirable bed it's not impossible a bigger buck moves in and takes over. Multiple bucks can and will use the same bed through out the year.

*edit- tgreeno beat me to it :D


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Re: Buck Bed Found - Maybe that "Aha!" Moment as Dan says...

Unread postby rfickes87 » Tue Aug 22, 2017 4:35 am

tgreeno wrote:
Lockdown wrote:Just keep in mind there will be a lot of fall range shifting the next couple weeks. If that's a highly desirable bed it's not impossible a bigger buck moves in and takes over. Multiple bucks can and will use the same bed through out the year.

*edit- tgreeno beat me to it :D


Great minds think alike LD!
Lockdown wrote:
rfickes87 wrote:
BA-IV wrote:I've always wondered if I located a buck bed and it wasn't a buck I wanted to target just yet if he would likely be there next year if he wasn't pushed hard and made it through the season...with another year means more maturity, maybe more dominance, maybe he whips another buck and takes over his homersnge or better bedding areas.


Yes that makes sense. When I come across a buck I'm not interested in I just move to another area and keep scouting. Save that spot for another year.



Just keep in mind there will be a lot of fall range shifting the next couple weeks. If that's a highly desirable bed it's not impossible a bigger buck moves in and takes over. Multiple bucks can and will use the same bed through out the year.

*edit- tgreeno beat me to it :D


Thanks guys, you gave me some added confidence. Its funny... I too had thought about the possibility that once the hard antlers come and they make that shift, that a new buck(s) could move into this area. I just sometimes don't believe myself haha. I've been burned before where summer bedding is vacated but I don't think that will happen to this spot. When I found it in February it was the only spot for a good in the area that I could find with consistent bedding and deer sign. So if the deer were spending December/January in here, the highest pressure of the year, well then its high end real-estate for these deer in my eyes. I'll just leave it alone now until the season starts.

Some other observations I saw...

-A handful of does and some fawns are bedding in this area. Along the deer path where this camera is, the green briers and other vegetation is chewed down. Telling me they don't need to leave the area for food (many oaks around too).

-Also, when I first hung this camera 7/30-17 I said before about jumping these 2 bucks as they drank from a creek. I walked in on them from the West. Well the wind was an East wind. So it makes sense I was easily able to walk up to them before they ran off. But my point is that they were using this bedding area that day on and East wind. This bedding is on an East facing slope, So you'd think they'd want to bed here leeward to a West wind, not an East wind. But perhaps since its a prime bedding location they feel safe here on any wind?
"Pressure and Time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time..."


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