Buck beds in the morning, how early to setup

[tgreeno]

I had this happen to me this year. It wasn't the buck I wanted, but could of been! I was setup 1 hour before legal shooting. I had this happen twice this season. The 2nd buck I never got eyes on.

https://www.thehuntingbeast.com/viewtop ... =4&t=52531

[Elite]

Awesome stuff!!! Are you finding these beds during the season?

Elite yes. The buck I killed this year was a bed find during season. its not something I do a lot but have had success with a couple times. What has worked for me is if I know I’m close to the bedroom or if I have a solid hunch that I’m close but just ain’t getting it done, I will find a day when there’s a wind that doesn’t work for a mature buck to be in the vicinity. For me and this setup, it was an E wind. So I took the first E wind I had, grabbed a stand and sticks and went in, in search of the bed and a spot to hang within the bedroom. It had to work for a WSW and a SW wind as those were the winds in which I had laid eyes on at least 1 or both of the bucks that I would shoot in there.

I had already had a couple spots picked out on the map where I wanted to look and it just so happened the first spot I looked, I found 3 large beds 6-10 yards apart and setup perfect for a buck in WSW and SW winds. My initial setup was 35 yards from those beds but due to terrain we never knew either existed. So the bedroom turned out to be a little smaller than I originally. thought. Once finding the beds, I walked a short distance along the 2 trails that lead in then, both went in opposite directions. So I plopped down on a log near by, surveyed the bedroom and mapped everything on OnX and picked a spot along the trail that made the most sense for the buck to access on WSW and SW winds. There’s no guarantees in hunting so the spot is still a gamble on what makes the most sense to us. Anyways I found the vicinity I needed to be, found a tree and hung the stand. It was 43 yards from his bed and on his same elevation at the edge of a transition just like his bed. After that I just had to back out and wait for the WSW and SW winds to return.

My first sit was uneventful for the most part but did have a small 8 and 3 does come into bed. I was a little worried as that was 5 sits now, 4 very close to the bedroom and 1 right in it. I had seen both bucks I was after twice and one of them once on previous sits and I felt neither seemed convinced of my presence so I felt I had a couple more chances but I was running outta chances at the same time. Second sit it all came together and he came walking over the ridgetop feeding on acorns and whatnot and the rest is history as they say. The 2 real oddball factors in the success of the hunt was he did come in with the wind at his back and he entered from the top down. I have seen bucks do these very things before but not very often.

This is very good information!! I've been after a buck behind my house all season. He beds somewhere on a westerly wind. I have him entering the property in the mornings with the wind in his face. I have until January 5th to get it done. I'm hesitant to scout for his bed but time is running out. I'm afraid he'll leave if I kick him out...

[rfickes87]

I hunt hill country and would say if a buck came in b4 thermal reversal it is physically impossible to get in there ahead of them. They follow the lowest ground there is. Even if u get down in the lowest spot your in for a head on blow fest.

Lucked into to watching a 3 year old bed in front of me last week 45 min after daylight while hunting a leeward ridge. He scent checked the bedding from 40 yards above using the thermal. Wind was actually blowing into the bedding. He passed it by 75 yards, set there watched his back trail for 30 min, then fed his way in at a angle. Was well out of bow range, but close enough to enjoy the show. Just can’t grasp in my head how sitting over a bed in the morning is nothing but a disaster waiting to happen. JMO but if someone can pull that off legitimately more power to em.

Back when I first discovered the hunting beast I tried sitting over beds and had this happen so many times with mature does. I even had a doe with two fawn come in once just before daylight. She kept scent checking the air and finally walked to the lowest point she could and winded me and took off snorting. 20 minutes later she was back with her fawn and she walked right to that same low point and checked me AGAIN! and took off again snorting. I couldn't believe it. I think she wanted to bed there so bad that she tried it again in case I had left .

[rfickes87]

Have you honestly had success doing this? If so, you're my new best friend? Care to share any stories when this approach has worked? Its something I would love to get good at.

Rfickes87, my bucks in 2014, 2015, 2018 and this years buck were all shot in their bedroom with 1 of them being shot in its bed and 1 right after it stood up. I don’t really know that it’s something one could get good at, more of a thing of getting up and getting your but moving when the alarm goes off that early. Lol!

I’ll try to explain how I believe I have success with this but I suck with words. Once I figure out a bed or beds that a mature buck is using in a specific wind I try to guesstimate what his bedroom is. More often than not in the terrain I hunt I typically just account for his bedroom being 50 yards by 50 yards. Then I establish at least 2 ways he could access the bedroom with the specific wind. Then I go back to my map and map the bed, access and habitat onto the terrain and figure out what I call a bedroom bubble. By that I mean, if their bedroom is 50 yards by 50 yards, add another 100-150 yards to that and that’s the bedroom bubble. Once they enter this bedroom bubble I believe this is where they can hear and notice things as they head in the direction of their bedroom and bed. I couldn’t tell you when they enter or how much time they spend in that bedroom bubble but I want to be in my tree and setup before they ever enter that bedroom bubble. That way once he enters the bubble, he hears no foreign sounds like my footsteps in crunchy leaves, cracking of sticks if you happen to step wrong, creaky climbing sticks, creaky stand etc etc and does not see a weird light bouncing thru the woods in the general direction of his bed.

To give you an example, I’ll use the buck I shot in 2018 in his bed. I had a stand setup within 25 yards of 3 different beds he was using for NW and WNW winds. It was late rut and I figured he would be feeding and chasing does til just before daybreak in the 14 acres of cut corn that was 200-250 yards away. Woods were very loud that morning, very dry and we had a pretty good frost. I figured his bubble for 150 yards so I made sure I was in my stand that morn by 4:45 at the latest as I was just guesstimating that would give me a minimum of 30 mins before he even entered the bubble. About 5:45 that morn in the pitch black I heard what I believe was him in a fight with another buck about 100 yards or so away and could hear other buck activity as well. Once I had enough grey light to see 60 yards or so I heard a grunt and he appeared at the bottom of the drainage. Took him about 30-40 mins to make his way up to his bed. Walked straight in so I didn’t have any ethical shot but once he reached his bed he plopped down and gave me a 17 yard broadside shot in his bed. He had no idea I was anywhere near until that arrow hit him. My buck from this year was fairly similar but did require me to do a spot and stalk on him from 65 yards out after I watched him in his bed for a little over 5 hours.

Dang! Your success is really remarkable! I've struggled a lot at this. I tried it years ago when I first found this website. I'd hunt over beds and get busted many times by that big old doe. Often the deer that busted me would come in from a lower elevation than me and catch my scent. I believe your scent is easier to be detected by deer the hotter the temp is. In early season and mid october I've have them bust me and take off snorting from 60-80 yards downhill, downwind.

I'm trying to visualize your setup a little more... I'm guessing some of these beds are on 1/3 crests or points or some type of edge. What time of year are you doing this, early season, lull, rut? What is your access in the morning to these spots? How are you keeping your scent away from them? If it were me I would enter from the opposite direction I expect the deer to come from but being that its early am before daylight he could come from anywhere. Also if I were trying to keep from being winded, I'd sit downwind and in the lowest possible elevation yet still giving myself a shooting lane or two...is that your thought process too?? Can you talk more on those topics?

[SplitG2]

I'm trying to visualize your setup a little more... I'm guessing some of these beds are on 1/3 crests or points or some type of edge. What time of year are you doing this, early season, lull, rut? What is your access in the morning to these spots? How are you keeping your scent away from them? If it were me I would enter from the opposite direction I expect the deer to come from but being that its early am before daylight he could come from anywhere. Also if I were trying to keep from being winded, I'd sit downwind and in the lowest possible elevation yet still giving myself a shooting lane or two...is that your thought process too?? Can you talk more on those topics?

It doesn’t work for every setup and every bedroom. I believe it is more specific as there are places I just can’t pull off bedroom hunting With consistent success going in a minimum of 2 hours early. I just can’t beat their sniffers no matter what. I’ll go against the grain here a little and say this....I do not believe whatsoever that we can do anything to ourselves to beat their noses but I whole heartedly believe we can beat their nose with our setups. Not everywhere, of course but there are spots in which deer just simply cannot get your scent or get enough of it to affect them. I’ve seen it a million times.

Yes the setups are right at the top 1/3 Crest or at least a shelf close to the top 1/3. I usually try to get as close to a point as I can but I also have a couple setups that work great that are in the center of a bowl. Now the MAJOR INGREDIENT For my success here IMO is wind speed. For it to work just right, I have had my best luck when the wind speeds are anywhere from about 7-12mph. Higher wind speeds and I’ll hunt a little lower on the leeward side and light wind speeds I’ll setup closer towards the top on the leeward side. Personally, I have seen many times where wind speed will dictate where and the elevation a buck beds in his bedroom. It may be just 10 yards from where he normally beds or 50 yards but I have seen it several times. He’s just gotta find that sweet spot where the wind tunnel is that Dan talks about. And when bedding closer to a point I believe he also has to find that sweet spot where the wind swirls around the point in conjunction with the usual wind tunnel. Almost as if he’s bedding in a spot where he has a vertical and horizontal wind tunnel. If that makes any sense!?!

Typically on the downhill side on my setup it’s Fairly steep. So steep they can’t climb comfortably, no but steep enough that it eliminates side-hilling Comfortably anywhere from 10 yards out to 45-50 yards below me. Or maybe if it’s not steep on my downhill side I try to setup where it’s crazy thick. I try to make the setup so that it forces them to navigate my elevation or navigate up and down when approaching their bed.....if that makes sense. By having a setup that forces those 2 things and having the right wind speed, I believe the wind overpowers the suction of the falling early morning thermals to get my scent out over top of them when they come in downwind. Again, I can’t beat their nose personally but I believe certain setup can. Now keep in mind I don’t normally setup right over their beds, on average I’d say I am anywhere from 30-50 yards from the bed. I think this is important because I sometimes when they do their J-hook they might not go far enough past their beds to pick up my scent. And again not all of my setups are like this but my more successful bedroom setups are.

[rfickes87]

I'm trying to visualize your setup a little more... I'm guessing some of these beds are on 1/3 crests or points or some type of edge. What time of year are you doing this, early season, lull, rut? What is your access in the morning to these spots? How are you keeping your scent away from them? If it were me I would enter from the opposite direction I expect the deer to come from but being that its early am before daylight he could come from anywhere. Also if I were trying to keep from being winded, I'd sit downwind and in the lowest possible elevation yet still giving myself a shooting lane or two...is that your thought process too?? Can you talk more on those topics?

It doesn’t work for every setup and every bedroom. I believe it is more specific as there are places I just can’t pull off bedroom hunting With consistent success going in a minimum of 2 hours early. I just can’t beat their sniffers no matter what. I’ll go against the grain here a little and say this....I do not believe whatsoever that we can do anything to ourselves to beat their noses but I whole heartedly believe we can beat their nose with our setups. Not everywhere, of course but there are spots in which deer just simply cannot get your scent or get enough of it to affect them. I’ve seen it a million times.

Yes the setups are right at the top 1/3 Crest or at least a shelf close to the top 1/3. I usually try to get as close to a point as I can but I also have a couple setups that work great that are in the center of a bowl. Now the MAJOR INGREDIENT For my success here IMO is wind speed. For it to work just right, I have had my best luck when the wind speeds are anywhere from about 7-12mph. Higher wind speeds and I’ll hunt a little lower on the leeward side and light wind speeds I’ll setup closer towards the top on the leeward side. Personally, I have seen many times where wind speed will dictate where and the elevation a buck beds in his bedroom. It may be just 10 yards from where he normally beds or 50 yards but I have seen it several times. He’s just gotta find that sweet spot where the wind tunnel is that Dan talks about. And when bedding closer to a point I believe he also has to find that sweet spot where the wind swirls around the point in conjunction with the usual wind tunnel. Almost as if he’s bedding in a spot where he has a vertical and horizontal wind tunnel. If that makes any sense!?!

Typically on the downhill side on my setup it’s Fairly steep. So steep they can’t climb comfortably, no but steep enough that it eliminates side-hilling Comfortably anywhere from 10 yards out to 45-50 yards below me. Or maybe if it’s not steep on my downhill side I try to setup where it’s crazy thick. I try to make the setup so that it forces them to navigate my elevation or navigate up and down when approaching their bed.....if that makes sense. By having a setup that forces those 2 things and having the right wind speed, I believe the wind overpowers the suction of the falling early morning thermals to get my scent out over top of them when they come in downwind. Again, I can’t beat their nose personally but I believe certain setup can. Now keep in mind I don’t normally setup right over their beds, on average I’d say I am anywhere from 30-50 yards from the bed. I think this is important because I sometimes when they do their J-hook they might not go far enough past their beds to pick up my scent. And again not all of my setups are like this but my more successful bedroom setups are.

Thank you G2 for taking the time to explain that. When i read about how much detail you put into it I see why you're successful. Thanks for the help!

[Boogieman1]

I hunt hill country and would say if a buck came in b4 thermal reversal it is physically impossible to get in there ahead of them. They follow the lowest ground there is. Even if u get down in the lowest spot your in for a head on blow fest.

Lucked into to watching a 3 year old bed in front of me last week 45 min after daylight while hunting a leeward ridge. He scent checked the bedding from 40 yards above using the thermal. Wind was actually blowing into the bedding. He passed it by 75 yards, set there watched his back trail for 30 min, then fed his way in at a angle. Was well out of bow range, but close enough to enjoy the show. Just can’t grasp in my head how sitting over a bed in the morning is nothing but a disaster waiting to happen. JMO but if someone can pull that off legitimately more power to em.

Back when I first discovered the hunting beast I tried sitting over beds and had this happen so many times with mature does. I even had a doe with two fawn come in once just before daylight. She kept scent checking the air and finally walked to the lowest point she could and winded me and took off snorting. 20 minutes later she was back with her fawn and she walked right to that same low point and checked me AGAIN! and took off again snorting. I couldn't believe it. I think she wanted to bed there so bad that she tried it again in case I had left .

Yes sir! I still get picked off by those old doe’s in some smaller wood areas I hunt. Once those doe start getting harassed they scent check the timber to make sure no bucks are setting up ambush. Problem is they don’t stick to edge and will swing out wide in the open. I am often caught up in the crossfire.

A few years ago I changed my approach. For whatever reason I can count on one hand the amount of good bucks I have seen at the crack of daylight in over a dozen years. Typically 8:30 to 9 is the first wave. I now get down low in the valley of the next ridge I plan to hunt. Then once air starts rising I just pop over the top and climb up. For me it’s produced better results. I still get busted down low in the ridge I’m not hunting but in my head it seems to better the odds of bumping them to the next one that I am hunting.

[VaBowKill5]

I killed an 11 pointer last year standing in his bed in the morning. It was a very strong north wind ( gusts up to 30 mph) and I knew the buck was bedding on one particular ridge because I had jumped him earlier in the season. It was Oct 29 and I got in a tree 33 yards north of the bed which put it downwind but I was higher on the ridge and I got up about 20 feet so with the heavy wind my scent was blowing over him. I got in 2 hours before daylight and in the heavy winds I never heard or saw him come in and bed down but once it got light I could see him laying there. I didn’t have a shot while he was bedded so I had to wait for him to stand. I watched him until 9:15 when he stood up to stretch giving me a broadside shot and it all came together. Not saying it works every time but in the right circumstances it certainly can pay off.

[DhD]

Mtns_Only’s approach is what I would recommend but....if you already know where the bed is and you have limited time I’d just dive right into the bed. As far as how early to go in, I’m a really early guy, I prefer to be in my tree setup ready to go, regardless of the time of year or setup, a minimum of 2 hours before shooting light, earlier if I can, every single morning hunt. Just my personal preference, I wouldn’t even attempt to hunt a buck bed unless I could be in there a minimum of 2 hours before light. Many have luck entering later than I do so you obviously going in that early is not mandatory, i just love the woods in the dark and its what I’ve had best luck with.

How early do you get up to be in two hours early? I would have to leave my place at 230 am to be set up that early on most of my spots.

[Elite]

I'm biting the bullet, gonna find his bed(s) tomorrow! Wind is supposed to be easterly and from every picture I've reviewed from this fall, he beds behind the house on a westerly wind. We're not expected to have one of those for the next couple of days so hopefully my scent will dissipate until then. From the most recent picture, he came back on the property at 3am so I'll have to get in there by 2am....

[Mtns_Only01]

I'm biting the bullet, gonna find his bed(s) tomorrow! Wind is supposed to be easterly and from every picture I've reviewed from this fall, he beds behind the house on a westerly wind. We're not expected to have one of those for the next couple of days so hopefully my scent will dissipate until then. From the most recent picture, he came back on the property at 3am so I'll have to get in there by 2am....

Since the buck is entering you property on a west wind, therefore hopefully bedding on your property with a west wind, he has to be leaving your property at some point. If your assumption is correct that he won't be around for several days before the next west wind and you still have a little time to work with, you might try circling the bedding area to look for any indication of where he leaves in the evening, my favorite being several sets of big, fresh tracks. This will hopefully give you a better understanding of where he's bedding and allow you to go for an afternoon setup.

[rfickes87]

I killed an 11 pointer last year standing in his bed in the morning. It was a very strong north wind ( gusts up to 30 mph) and I knew the buck was bedding on one particular ridge because I had jumped him earlier in the season. It was Oct 29 and I got in a tree 33 yards north of the bed which put it downwind but I was higher on the ridge and I got up about 20 feet so with the heavy wind my scent was blowing over him. I got in 2 hours before daylight and in the heavy winds I never heard or saw him come in and bed down but once it got light I could see him laying there. I didn’t have a shot while he was bedded so I had to wait for him to stand. I watched him until 9:15 when he stood up to stretch giving me a broadside shot and it all came together. Not saying it works every time but in the right circumstances it certainly can pay off.

Wow! That's so awesome. Congrats!

[Elite]

I'm biting the bullet, gonna find his bed(s) tomorrow! Wind is supposed to be easterly and from every picture I've reviewed from this fall, he beds behind the house on a westerly wind. We're not expected to have one of those for the next couple of days so hopefully my scent will dissipate until then. From the most recent picture, he came back on the property at 3am so I'll have to get in there by 2am....

Since the buck is entering you property on a west wind, therefore hopefully bedding on your property with a west wind, he has to be leaving your property at some point. If your assumption is correct that he won't be around for several days before the next west wind and you still have a little time to work with, you might try circling the bedding area to look for any indication of where he leaves in the evening, my favorite being several sets of big, fresh tracks. This will hopefully give you a better understanding of where he's bedding and allow you to go for an afternoon setup.

A lot of the times in the evenings he's walking through the backyard to get to the primary food source. But it's not until 6pm or later.

[SplitG2]

How early do you get up to be in two hours early? I would have to leave my place at 230 am to be set up that early on most of my spots.

I’m fortunate that all of the properties I hunt are within 5 mins driving time of the house. I typically get up at 3:45-4:00am and I am in my tree and setup ready to go by 4:45-5:00am at the latest. I don’t get much time to hunt October until the last week and then typically I’m off work the last few days of October thru the month of November.

[SplitG2]

I'm biting the bullet, gonna find his bed(s) tomorrow! Wind is supposed to be easterly and from every picture I've reviewed from this fall, he beds behind the house on a westerly wind. We're not expected to have one of those for the next couple of days so hopefully my scent will dissipate until then. From the most recent picture, he came back on the property at 3am so I'll have to get in there by 2am....

Elite, if the buck heads back to your property at 3 and then walks thru your backyard at 6pm, Mtns_Only’s approach of finding an evening spot seems more feasible. Nothing wrong with getting into a tree at 2am and waiting, the woods in the dark is an awesome place but it makes for a very long time sitting there and not being able to do anything about anything and leaving a little too much to chance. Not saying it won’t work, it very easily could work but it sounds like the buck might be more killable in the evening.

Either way I wish you the best of luck and I hope you make him eat an arrow.