The Hunting Beast

[glow=red]Anyone have an opinion on any of these?[/glow]

This root system rises above cattails out in the middle of the marsh. From the bed a buck can see every huntable tree within 200 yards and has thick dogwoods and marsh bushes to his West and NW. Would be tough to get within 150 yards of this bed unnoticed, might be able to get an observational sit on it with some better binocs than I currently have.




Some of these snow beds are not that easy to spot. This may be a younger buck bed, about 60 yards from the elevated root bed. In some thick stuff, about 10 yards from the edge.




This is my first season really getting out and scouring for beds this time of year. The snow makes it tough to spot what appear to be heavily used fall or summer beds. This is an inside corner to a farm field.


A different bed in the same area... there were 2 or 3 in a line, all decent size. May be doe beds, but the size and apparent heavy use have me leaning bucks. Overlooks two fields, pine plantation and a hill to the east. Good view of approaching threat. I did find these after east and SE winds. (South is to the right) Weird it's not backed up to the tree?

How do you tell the difference between a buck and doe bed? Sometimes I can tell in the fall cause it stinks like rut musk . Today I saw a lot of beds, many in a small area, but no single beds at all.

ihookem wrote:How do you tell the difference between a buck and doe bed? Sometimes I can tell in the fall cause it stinks like rut musk . Today I saw a lot of beds, many in a small area, but no single beds at all.

by positioning and size... Bucks place beds in an exact location for certain reasons, nothing is random. Does bed in circles each watching a different direction. Lone does, a couple does sometimes bed in buck beds. Bucks tend to have an obstacle to there back, wind to back... Sometimes you will see several beds from a buck too, but there are from shifting with the wind, not circle fashion.

Bucks are solitary animals that worry only about themselves.Does worry about the family group.

Is this a buck bed? It was on the south side of a little high spot surrounded by cattails and ash swamp . There were a few other beds around but not within 20' or so. No rubs in the area.

Do you think this is a buck bed? It was a good hike back in the Kettle Moraine and very close to an area loaded with rubs and scrapes. I found this bed today. It had one other bed about 5 ' away. One thing I noticed, it had it's own droppings in it's bed and it layed right on them. I have heard a buck will do this from a poster on here. Think it's abuck bed??/

Yes... I believe thats a bucks bed... I would keep an eye on the area, but not to sure it will be a good spot. Maybe...

Gee thanks Dan for the fast response. This bed is about 50 yds from my stand .I felt this was the closest thing to what most here would call beast hunt'n. The bed is a bit up the hill, maybe 50' from an area full of cattails, red dogwood, fallen elm, a small creek. In that area a few 4" Tamerack trees were rubbed up heavy and a long ways up the tree. This seems like an older buck in this area. I saw some beds in the high cattails last fall. DOn't know if they were buck or doe beds though. It is 1/2 mi. walk in ..but not a hard walk though. I hunted it twice , once on the last day of gun when football games were on and the weather was real nasty. I figured if a buck was gunna move before dark during gun, it would that day, but nuthing. There is no way to approach this bed without him knowing it. The pic is facing east and that seemed strange till I figured noone can sneak up on him from the east. It is so thick with prickery ash and spruce branches from logging. He could see to the south and north in plenty of time to sneak into the 4-5' high spruce trees where you can't see 20'. If you aproach from the west he is higher. With a west wind he will smell me. I could sneak in 75yds down one of the trails and hope he heads that way. The wind will have to be from the north though, and with a north wind he most likely won't exit down wind... If he does though, I have tree picked out.

March 6th 2015 Bed 4'X3.5'

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I think this is a buck bed too. It was under a downed popple tree. Lots of rubs near by . Funny thing is, it is about 200 yds from a parking area in the Kettle Moraine. I became suspicious it was a hideout for deer . Just a 5-10 acre area in a field. Seems noone goes there , not that is is far but they hunt the hardwoods behind it. There is a heck of a trail leading from the bed to the hardwoods where a buck might go after dark to east acorns and chase does.

This is a pic from the parking lot. Noone bothers to hunt there though. ALmost funny.

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Bare with me. First time posting pics. Just trying to figure this out:)






All of these beds were found in the last month except for the last pic. I have been scouting pretty hard after finding this site and going to Dans workshop. I have found a new outlook on locations and methods that I wouldn't have without it. Thanks to everyone's input and knowledge shared!

This last pic is of a rather large bed about 75 yds from the road overlooking the parking lot of which I could plainly see my truck parked. On both sides of the bed he has a view of both access trails to this public property.

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wow those are awesome pics. Where I hunt you will seldom find beds that used. I would love for a few days of snow to be able to locate some bedding areas. As it is, we have no snow, huge expanses of thick brush and the deer seldom use the same beds - they more often use areas. The only effective way I have been able to hunt these beds is to isolate and set up on their morning approach (usually downwind - always downwind in the case of 4 year old bucks). Evenings are typically a bust as it is too hot (bucks stay pretty nocturnal until Late Nov) and just to noisy to approach close enough.

Great pic's mario... I like the ones in the snow that show the body shape.