Average distance deer bed from feeding area?

[raisins]

The question is tricky because when you ask for an average you are looking for a trend - which for immature bucks and does might not be bad. However, if mature bucks have taught me anything it is that they are far from average and not so trendy - I think the very fact that they are alive testifies to the fact that they do things against the grain to some degree. Of all the "beast rules" thoughts or theories the one that I think is the single biggest trump card is that mature bucks will be found anywhere they are not being pressured. Now that can mean a lot of different things/places - some of them can get pretty amusing and others are blatantly obvious - they are where you find them..... and that can be 5 foot from a food source or a mile or so away.

A local taxidermist got a hot tip about a buck bedding in a road culvert near an auto garage. He set up on it and killed the widest 10 point I've seen in this area of the country.

[raisins]

Deer are browsers more than anything, especially down here in the South. They’ll browse on privet, jewelweed, American beauty berry, pokeweed, briars etc.. Don’t get fixated on just the fields for daylight action.

I’ve successfully backtracked three different mature bucks from fields to bedding in 2019, which is what I think you’re trying to do. Shortest distance was just under 350 yards, the other two were .62 to .7 miles as the crow flies. Habitat and human pressure are gonna dictate bedding.

Now if you’re trying to intercept a mature buck between fields/bedding, I’d start off with a strategically located trail camera off of a point, large draw, funnel etc that coincides with where you anticipate him to bed. Getting a morning picture of him outside of the pre-rut/rut around 1-2 hours before sunrise he’s not too far off. Easier done in hill country, but possible in farm country too.

I’ll add, to my knowledge none of the mature bucks hit the fields until dusk or after dark except for the months of July and August.

Folks keep using the term "fields", but that means very different things in different parts of the country. In my areas of WV, there is zero larger scale agriculture (old ladies do grow tomatoes in their backyard though). So for me, a field is just a grass field. I have the feeling some of you guys mean "agricultural field" though. Is this accurate?

I don't find plain ol' grass to be preferred feed. They like the weeds and various flowering plants (wild clover, etc) along the edge a lot more. And once the grass gets tall and tough, then it is pretty much ignored.

[DaveT1963]

I took the question as feeding area - which can be ag, mast, fruit, forbs, or browse which is why I said it can be 5 feet to over a mile.

[Twenty Up]

Deer are browsers more than anything, especially down here in the South. They’ll browse on privet, jewelweed, American beauty berry, pokeweed, briars etc.. Don’t get fixated on just the fields for daylight action.

I’ve successfully backtracked three different mature bucks from fields to bedding in 2019, which is what I think you’re trying to do. Shortest distance was just under 350 yards, the other two were .62 to .7 miles as the crow flies. Habitat and human pressure are gonna dictate bedding.

Now if you’re trying to intercept a mature buck between fields/bedding, I’d start off with a strategically located trail camera off of a point, large draw, funnel etc that coincides with where you anticipate him to bed. Getting a morning picture of him outside of the pre-rut/rut around 1-2 hours before sunrise he’s not too far off. Easier done in hill country, but possible in farm country too.

I’ll add, to my knowledge none of the mature bucks hit the fields until dusk or after dark except for the months of July and August.

Folks keep using the term "fields", but that means very different things in different parts of the country. In my areas of WV, there is zero larger scale agriculture (old ladies do grow tomatoes in their backyard though). So for me, a field is just a grass field. I have the feeling some of you guys mean "agricultural field" though. Is this accurate?

I don't find plain ol' grass to be preferred feed. They like the weeds and various flowering plants (wild clover, etc) along the edge a lot more. And once the grass gets tall and tough, then it is pretty much ignored.

Correct I used the blanket term fields because it could be food plots, AG, alfalfa/Bermuda hay etc.. Often times they’re on private land so you’ve got to speculate what could be planted there.
You also need to use you’re due-diligence to determine if that’s going to be a desireable destination for that given time of year (September vs November vs January)..
Ultimately where I mainly hunt and probably 90% of the guys reading this, are large expanses of mature timber with private AG/Food plots adjacent. That secure browse I previously mentioned will be key for daytime or close to daytime action for mature deer. But I wouldn’t write off the adjacent fields completely to help locate, pattern and intercept a mature buck.

[raisins]

Deer are browsers more than anything, especially down here in the South. They’ll browse on privet, jewelweed, American beauty berry, pokeweed, briars etc.. Don’t get fixated on just the fields for daylight action.

I’ve successfully backtracked three different mature bucks from fields to bedding in 2019, which is what I think you’re trying to do. Shortest distance was just under 350 yards, the other two were .62 to .7 miles as the crow flies. Habitat and human pressure are gonna dictate bedding.

Now if you’re trying to intercept a mature buck between fields/bedding, I’d start off with a strategically located trail camera off of a point, large draw, funnel etc that coincides with where you anticipate him to bed. Getting a morning picture of him outside of the pre-rut/rut around 1-2 hours before sunrise he’s not too far off. Easier done in hill country, but possible in farm country too.

I’ll add, to my knowledge none of the mature bucks hit the fields until dusk or after dark except for the months of July and August.

Folks keep using the term "fields", but that means very different things in different parts of the country. In my areas of WV, there is zero larger scale agriculture (old ladies do grow tomatoes in their backyard though). So for me, a field is just a grass field. I have the feeling some of you guys mean "agricultural field" though. Is this accurate?

I don't find plain ol' grass to be preferred feed. They like the weeds and various flowering plants (wild clover, etc) along the edge a lot more. And once the grass gets tall and tough, then it is pretty much ignored.

Correct I used the blanket term fields because it could be food plots, AG, alfalfa/Bermuda hay etc.. Often times they’re on private land so you’ve got to speculate what could be planted there.
You also need to use you’re due-diligence to determine if that’s going to be a desireable destination for that given time of year (September vs November vs January)..
Ultimately where I mainly hunt and probably 90% of the guys reading this, are large expanses of mature timber with private AG/Food plots adjacent. That secure browse I previously mentioned will be key for daytime or close to daytime action for mature deer. But I wouldn’t write off the adjacent fields completely to help locate, pattern and intercept a mature buck.

Thanks for clarification. I'll add that I bet you'd be surprised how many folks here hunt places where they can't rely upon agriculture as a food source.