Possible Bedding Areas?

[wappkid]

Here is a place I am scouting it is public property. I did not have a topo before I went.So I got on the ball on trying to figure out how to print some maps.I ended up finding one bed.There is not as much snow down here in SE Mo so it is a little harder to find the beds. The red spot is a bed and the tracks are rubs. and the yellow triangle I believe is a big doe bedding area.Any more input would be appreciated.Its a pretty big area. And I put in 4.5 miles this morning.I am going to check more of those points to the NE in that valley.

[cornfedkiller]

Question for hill country guys..

On a property like this, with small points all over the place, how do you go about scouting them for bedding areas? Do you check every single point? Walk along the top 1/3/bottom 2/3 the whole way around that whole thing?

[wappkid]

This is forest with no fields. I did find that one bed on that one point. This bedding area was in an area so thick. I thinks thats where they are bedding is in the really thick stuff.This is a 36000 acre conservation area.I have picked out a couple of more areas to scout by the river near an area that is restricted to hunting.The reason I was scouting this area I found a couple of nice rubs there last year. And its only a couple of miles from town.I figure this area gets overlooked for big bucks.

[dan]

On a property like this, with small points all over the place, how do you go about scouting them for bedding areas?

Most of the buck bedding will be at a certain elevation and only the point where the elevation starts to drop off where the beds are needs to be searched.
Yes. This property has a ton of that type of bedding area, but if you break it down and scout a small section at a time its not that bad. Its also important to realize that they tend to bed so the wind comes from the point blowing over the valley, so on certain winds there might onl6y be a few bedding areas making it much easier when that wind shows up.

[dan]

Been really busy... But I wanted to give you something to work with. Its a pretty big area, and I did not mark all the locations. I marked enough to get you started, and thinking.
Red dots show potential North wind bed locations.
Green= West
Blue= South
Yellow=East

[dan]

One more thing I should mention... Primary bedding often occurs in spots where bucks can bed on all or most winds with just a short repositioning move.

[cornfedkiller]

Most of the buck bedding will be at a certain elevation and only the point where the elevation starts to drop off where the beds are needs to be searched.

I understand what you are saying..so with a property like this with so much up and downs, do you walk along that (1/3)/(2/3) line all along the whole property, out onto each point and back in, then out to the next point, and back in, etc..Or do certain points stick out more than others?

Are there things you look for besides points and elevation changes, or does every point have an equal chance of a bed being there (at that elevation, or "thermal tunnel" zone)?

And sorry for getting off topic with this next question, but which way does a buck usually travel when he leaves his bed? If he is bedded on a point jutting out to the north, he will be bedded there on a south wind, with the thermals rising up to him from the valley to his north, so when he gets up and leaves, does he head east/west, or does he head back to the south, into the wind?

[cornfedkiller]

One more thing I should mention... Primary bedding often occurs in spots where bucks can bed on all or most winds with just a short repositioning move.

So somewhere that there are different points in close proximity to each other, or doesnt it have much to do with points for a primary bed like that?

Is there anywhere on that map where you see something that might work like you mentioned?

[cornfedkiller]

Sorry..disregard my last post..I didnt pay enough attention to where those dots were when I looked at the map the first time and just started asking questions..Im assuming places where you have the 3 different dots in very close proximity, those are places where primary beds are more likely..

[dan]

I understand that, so with a property like this with so much up and downs, do you walk along that (1/3)/(2/3) line all along the whole property, out onto each point and back in, then out to the next point, and back in, etc..Or do certain points stick out more than others?

Depends on the size of the property and the amount of time of the hunter... The best spots are those with the steepest terrain but not quite to the point of being a cliff...
Also look for spots that cover just about any wind so a buck could make a very short reposition and be safe again if the wind changes.

[dan]

which way does a buck usually travel when he leaves his bed?

They head towards food or water. I have seen them stage by traveling at the same elevation more often than going straight up, or straight down though...

[Bucky]

I would further break this chunk down into public access. I would mark everywhere on the map where public access is available. Anywhere close to parking is typically (not always) a pass for me (I don't like seeing other hunters, especially when bow hunting)... Then I focus on surrounding private property/crops. By this I mean, I look food sources that deer might be possibly bedding on public and traveling to private to feed. Or vice versa... having water/creek bottom, river to cross, huge marsh/CRP, or STEEP hills ups the anty 4 me. Most people don't want to go through that much hassle for a deer.

By doing this you can break down a multi thousand acre piece of property into a much more manageable area for scouting.

[wappkid]

Guys thanks for looking. Headed out tomorrow.To check out these areas.

[wappkid]

Thanks Dan, I found 3 buck beds and 2 sets of doe beds today.

[wappkid]

Its kind of hard to see the bed in the picture.This is 2 beds in the same general area just on different sides of the point.They are hard to find without snow on the ground.This bed overlooks one of the food plots they plant every year.I think I could slip in to this area from the back. There are a lot of straight trees that I could use a climber.Wrong date on the pictures forgot to set the date and time.