2019 Season Farmland Buck Bed Examples

[SD_Bowhunter]

My main goal for the 2019 season was to get more early season hunts in based on beds that I found last spring and scouting this past summer. I have started to be able to consistently find farmland buck beds that I know are being used during September and October. I want to walk through a couple of hunts I had this fall and what they looked like.

Area 1:
This spot has all the right factors of good farmland bedding. Large ag fields to the west provide great seclusion plus the large CRP field provides excellent visibility from the beds (red markers). I have pictures of buck at the blue x consistently showing up (every 1-2 days) from Aug 25th - November. Beds 2-4 provide great visibility down into the CRP field, overhead shade and water at their back. I think they are using these bids more early in the season to get out of the heat.

The Hunt: I hunted this spot early in October. The larger ag field was soybean and the the smaller one to the south was corn. The corn where I was set up was a lot lower and very thin due to the deer eating it giving me a 30 yard shot to a scrape. I was set up SW wind since I was anticipating that a buck could potentially be bedded at point #5. I had a 125 4x4 come from the east along the red line and past my ground set up in the corn 1.5 hours before sunset. I had 3 smaller bucks come from the same location and use the same trail that same night. The bucks seem to be back in here on west winds which makes the spot tricky because the thermals like fall right down to point #5 when the winds calms down in the evenings. This is obviously why the bucks like to stage and bed here. They are low and out of site and get to smell everything to the west before they enter the ag fields. I am continually finding that in farm country open areas with small clumps of brush or small trees are prime targets for buck beds. Even better if these border ag fields that can prevent them from being seen from roads, etc.

These pictures are from a September 2nd scouting trip.
Area Aerial:


Bed 1: Set up for southernly winds


Beds: 2-4 Has anyone seen beds like this before? At first I thought this was from racoons but lots of deer droppings in the matted down area.




I have some more examples I hope to share in the next couple of days.

[greenhorndave]

That’s good stuff SD.

What is to the east of the marked beds and to the south of point 5? Lakes? Sometimes it’s tough to tell from aerials where they might be dark green crops or water from flooding that isn’t normally there.

Oh, and I've found beds like your #2. Or similar in longer grass.

20200321_162421.jpg

[Lockdown]

Good stuff!! Thanks for sharing.

Seeing how worn those beds are, I’m not surprised you were getting cam pics that consistently. They’re VERY worn.

Did you observe here at all or was it just the one hunt? I’m curious if you saw them in the beans at all or if they skipped it and hit the corn. We’ve talked about this on the forum before... people feel like they have to hunt beans early season. Ignoring corn can be a big mistake.

I’m also curious what there was for rubs in the area. Or buck sign in general (I know you mentioned the scrape).

[SD_Bowhunter]

That’s good stuff SD.

What is to the east of the marked beds and to the south of point 5? Lakes? Sometimes it’s tough to tell from aerials where they might be dark green crops or water from flooding that isn’t normally there.

Oh, and I've found beds like your #2. Or similar in longer grass.

20200321_162421.jpg

Lakes on both sides of those.

[SD_Bowhunter]

Good stuff!! Thanks for sharing.

Seeing how worn those beds are, I’m not surprised you were getting cam pics that consistently. They’re VERY worn.

Did you observe here at all or was it just the one hunt? I’m curious if you saw them in the beans at all or if they skipped it and hit the corn. We’ve talked about this on the forum before... people feel like they have to hunt beans early season. Ignoring corn can be a big mistake.

I’m also curious what there was for rubs in the area. Or buck sign in general (I know you mentioned the scrape).

I did not do any observation sits. The beans had turned already when I hunted it. There was actually a 75 yard strip of winter wheat that was planted in the middle of the bean field. The does that came out that night made there way out into that. The bucks all worked their way past me along the the cornfield and lake edge. They do seem to like working along the edge of the corn eating the outside row.

In one of the pockets of bedding there were fresh and old rubs. Not a crazy amount of sign but enough to tell it was being used frequently.

[SD_Bowhunter]

Some pics from my camera to get a sense of the travel corridor in between the corn and the lake.


The buck I passed.

[SD_Bowhunter]

I scouted this area for the first time this past September. Not your traditional farm land, but there are ag fields to the west and south of this picture. The icon with the arrow is the picture of the bed. I found several beds (1-3) 2/3rds up and at the base setting up for any sort of West or SW wind. Many of thee trees within this area are pine trees. The only way to access this piece is from the yellow highlighted trail. Anyone walking down this trail from east to west will be seen by a buck long before they get too close. Beds 4 & 5 set up well for Northerly or Easterly winds. In the next post I will show another bed where I kicked out a nice 140" 5x5 just to the west of this set of beds during this same scouting trip.

Aerial:

Zoomed In Aerial:


View from Bed 1:

[SD_Bowhunter]

Bed 3 set up well for any Northerly wind. This position allows them to watch the yellow access trail that I assume the hunter going to the treestand (blue marker) would be using. The light blue area was my path that I took. The area between bed 3 and bed 1 is a low area with tall grass and some cattails. The day I was scouting there was a 15 mph south wind. Where bed 1 is there was a small patch of taller brush that I almost decided to walk past but then decided to take a closer look. I got within 5 yards of it when all of the sudden a nice 140" buck came crashing out and ran back to the tree grove to the north where the treestand was located. This bed did not provide any visibility to the buck when laying down but he could easily stand up and see for several hundred yards to his North, East and South without being seen.

Given the treestands I found I anticipate this does get some hunting pressure. However, I think most hunters are not coming back here until later in the season and a early September or October hunt may produce something. Also, without having knowledge of the beds most of the bucks will likely see any hunters coming in through the access trail and be gone before they even know they are there.

Aerial:


Bed:

[greenhorndave]

This is a really cool thread. I’m going to go back and see if I have pictures of a bed that I should have had a bump and dump opportunity if I hadn’t discounted the possibility after bumping a buck. I might not have taken any because I was in the middle of the encounter.

I’ll look and the describe it when I find something.

[SD_Bowhunter]

Bed 1: Was definitely a primary wed. Several beds within a 15 yard radius and lots of rubs. I think this could be an early season and run bed give the number of does in the surrounding area. The bed sets up well for Northerly or Westerly winds. Also, there is a pretty significant drop to the west along the lake of about 20 feet. The blue X is where I snuck up on a decent 3 year old while scouting the last weekend in August. He was eating beans in the low spot of the field. The bed pictures are from a later scouting trip I took in October. Unfortunately I cant find my pictures for this bed.

Yellow= Deer Trail

Aerial


Bed 2: Small area slightly higher in elevation than the low lying area to the east. A buck can sit here and smell anything coming behind him from the west and see anything coming from the east along the open pasture.

Zoomed in Aerial:


Pictures from Bed facing east:

[SD_Bowhunter]

I think these this next bed is a very good representation of farmland bedding. The bed sets up well with thick grass and a small section of trees (2-5" in diameter) right next to the food source. Lots of rubs and several well worn beds. I discovered this bed in later October so not sure what the sign looks like early in the season. This bed sets up well for Westerly, South, or Northerly winds. There is a minimum maintenance road that run into the small tree grove north of the bed but it gets very little use. As you can see in the topo, the road/open field across the slough are elevated above the bed allowing a buck to see anything coming or going. I cant wait to observe this spot in late August since the ag field next to the bedding will be beans this year. I have a feeling I can catch one early in the season when the beans are still green. I might do an observation sit before I dive in on this one to see how the deer are exiting in the evening. Based on that I can choose to set up along the trail going south or possibly hang a stand in the small group of trees to the north with a west wind.

Red X: Rubs
Yellow: Trail
Aerial:

[Lockdown]

Good stuff! Reminds me of the glory days

[minnesotahunter]

Thank you for posting! Stuff like this used to be posted all the time and I rarely see it anymore.

[SD_Bowhunter]

Finding small fingers of trees, cattails, or waterways that come out into ag fields are gold in farm country. When I am aerial map scouting, I key in on these features and will typically find good buck sign once I scout it in person. The spot below is a perfect example of this:
1. Thermals will fall in the evening right to the low spot with the bed
2. Depending on the crop a buck would be able to see a long way when standing from his bed, but be unable to to seen.
3. He can move around to accommodate any wind direction.

I found tons of old and some new rubs in the small block of tree at the tip of the finger. There was some standing water in most of the tree area which is why I didn't find any fresh beds. But, when this dries up I would suspect a buck will be using it. I did find one fresh bed where the red icon is. It was in a small willow thicket.

Aerial:


Rubs:

[SD_Bowhunter]

Thank you for posting! Stuff like this used to be posted all the time and I rarely see it anymore.

I am glad it is helpful! When I first joined this forum the picture examples were the best way to quickly grasp the beast hunting style.