classic buck bed in woods

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kenn1320
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classic buck bed in woods

Unread postby kenn1320 » Sun Apr 17, 2011 1:25 pm

Here is a classic buck bed in a wooded/farm area. Sorry the pics arent great, took them with my cell phone and it was close to dark. The bed was full of hair, and the dropping was within 10ft of it. My hand makes this sample look small, but Id guess this deer is 3.5+ easy. This is the largest I have ever found.

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Re: classic buck bed in woods

Unread postby Dewey » Sun Apr 17, 2011 1:51 pm

I know others here have said that the size deer poop does not predict the size of the deer but I respectfully disagree with that statement.

That picture you have there is exactly what I have seen myself from mature bucks that I have seen myself rise up out of their beds. Quite a few times I have seen clumps the size of a soda can with individual droppings up to 1" in diameter and every time they were associated with a mature buck older than 3 1/2 years old.

I realize that deer droppings are affected by what they eat but I am basing this on my hunting area since the deer all pretty much feed on the same foods every season.
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Re: classic buck bed in woods

Unread postby Gardner Swamp » Sun Apr 17, 2011 2:16 pm

:shock: Now that's a big TURD!! Looks like he needs some fiber in his diet!!

Did you find any tracks to help you determine the size of deer?
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Re: classic buck bed in woods

Unread postby kenn1320 » Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:49 am

For a better reference of the size, my hand is 3" wide from tip of my pinky across to my pointer finger. That clump is a good 2" diameter and 4"+ long. No I didnt look for tracks, got excited to try to find some sheds. Interestingly we found no rubs in or around this area. The area is on a slight hill(about a 15ft elevation change over 300yds) and covered with autum olive, or what I believe is autum olive. The bed laid east/west with the deer looking down hill to the north. The 2 obvious runs leaving this bed were to the south and south west. The closest ag is in that direction approximately 1/4 mile away. I supose the deer could face looking up hill with a north wind, but Im not sure. The runs looked so well used that Id guess he beds there regaurdless of the wind direction.
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Re: classic buck bed in woods

Unread postby gjs4 » Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:32 am

Cool to see some others pounding farm ground.

I totally believe there is proprotion to dropping size and deer sizze and clumping is almost always exclusive to testosterone fueled bucks.....

Just out of curiousity- where do you typically find your beds?
Green and growing... Or red and rotting
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Re: classic buck bed in woods

Unread postby kenn1320 » Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:59 am

I have not figured out a pattern as to where I find my beds. They seem random at best, and in places that you wouldnt expect. If you look at my post in land management, you will see I marked the locations of buck beds I found. One of the beds was on the edge of the woods, not 15yds from an elevated gun shack. The entrance/exit to that shack has always been down the ditch line. I believe this buck beds there and when he see's my dad/brother coming, he sneaks back into the woods. On a property that small, they quickly learn/pattern where the danger comes from. I spent 2 days laying out that property and doing lots of work. There is still lots more to do, but my dad/brother now have a good understanding of what I need them to do. The next step is getting them to hunt correctly and that woods can produce nice deer as its part of a QDM co-op that just produced a 200" buck this year!
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Re: classic buck bed in woods

Unread postby headgear » Tue Apr 19, 2011 5:43 am

Kenn
Where I hunt I know of two buck beds directly under a permanent deer stands, they only do so on the right wind for that bedding location. They are really great spots, they can see, hear, smell the hunter long before he gets there.

Hmmm kind of makes you want to spend the night in one of your gun shacks and catch that buck by surprise.
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Re: classic buck bed in woods

Unread postby gjs4 » Wed Apr 20, 2011 2:09 pm

Kenn- I think we've talked about buck bedding before ;) - how much did those factors you learned come into play?

From my observation on smaller properties in hunter density hell- they go where they have the upper hand or where you would never look for them...hence being so happy about watching the Beast videos..that parking lot bed Dan shows In MB left an impression.
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Re: classic buck bed in woods

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Thu Apr 21, 2011 11:55 am

In farm country, increased stem density of many varieties in the woods can certainly play into buck bedding. Bucks love autumn olive- they will bed on the downwind edge of it, establish trails along its edge, and put a lot of scrapes and some rubs on that edge as well. Also, it doesn't take much of a "thicket" for bucks to be able to take advantage of it. It may not look like a "classic thicket" to you, but if it has an increased stem density when compared to the surrounding forest it may contain bedding. Autumn olive is only one type of increased stem density, the obvious one we see around here is aspen regrowth in some clearcuts. Moving away from the cuts, there are many different types of thickets they may use- dogwood, willows, tagalders, all types of conifers, etc.

Great comments about buck bedding under elevated stands- this goes for hunting on the ground as well. In 2007 I put a tent blind in place on the downwind edge of a doe bedding area on heavy pressure public (no trees capable of holding a stand). This was a conifer swamp, and right behind the blind I had a deep dropoff into a ravine (my approach). Ground blinds do not work well on heavy pressure public, so I put so much dead foliage on the tent you couldn't see any fabric, and located it under a huge white cedar with young pines right on the edge of the dropoff. The first time I hunted the blind was November 16, and I put down a 3 year old nine point an hour and a half before dark. I had a perfect approach and wind advantage- When I removed the tent blind, There was a beautiful six foot wide circle down to the dirt where my stand had been. Imagine my surprise when a short while later one of my other target bucks began bedding where my tent had been- the perfect spot for me to hunt was also the perfect spot for a buck to detect predators.

In farm country a few years back I had tagged out with a buck but still had a doe permit- in muzzleloader season I put a treestand up where a drainage ditch emptied into a creek. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the small autumn olive thicket next to my stand, but was downwind of a major doe bedding area. I got in the stand and kept hearing a rustling below me- this went on for a half hour until a big 8 jumped out right below my stand and ran seventy yards before stopping to look back at me. All I could do was watch him in my scope! He had watched me climb into the stand and stayed put for a half hour- amazing.

My point... it isn't unusual for the best spot for a stand to also be the spot that gives a buck an advantage over predators.
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Re: classic buck bed in woods

Unread postby cwoods » Fri Apr 22, 2011 10:39 am

Nice Find!


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