Buck Bedding in Kansas

[Graham_van]

Been hunting public in southeast Kansas for a few years now and I'm trying to close in on where deer bed down there. I've found deer bedding in ditches of a CRP field and patches of cedar trees in CRP, but these were all young bucks or does.

Anyone had any luck locating mature buck beds in Kansas?

Thanks.

[Ladykiller]

You might want to consider cruising the river bottoms and checking out spots like oxbows.

I lived in Kansas for almost 3 years in Wichita. I took advantage of the turkey hunting and loved it. I tried getting into deer hunting, but would always get poison ivy pretty bad that would put a halt to my season. Anyways, I saw the biggest bucks of my life in Kansas, one legit over 200 inches. I found in South Central Kansas that I saw a lot of bucks bedding in shelterbelts or things like plum thickets. In other words, small pieces of cover within a larger area of apparent nothingness of the CRP. I found this out by driving around a lot during late October and all of November by driving around in the mornings and watching the bucks from afar in the open fields going back to their beds for the day. During the pre-rut and rut, the bucks were moving later in the morning and made themselves more vulnerable.

[GoInLight]

You might want to consider cruising the river bottoms and checking out spots like oxbows.

I lived in Kansas for almost 3 years in Wichita. I took advantage of the turkey hunting and loved it. I tried getting into deer hunting, but would always get poison ivy pretty bad that would put a halt to my season. Anyways, I saw the biggest bucks of my life in Kansas, one legit over 200 inches. I found in South Central Kansas that I saw a lot of bucks bedding in shelterbelts or things like plum thickets. In other words, small pieces of cover within a larger area of apparent nothingness of the CRP. I found this out by driving around a lot during late October and all of November by driving around in the mornings and watching the bucks from afar in the open fields going back to their beds for the day. During the pre-rut and rut, the bucks were moving later in the morning and made themselves more vulnerable.

Turkey hunting in Kansas is phenomenal!! Heard the deer hunting is pretty good too.

[JoeRE]

Treat those big CRP fields like a swamp from Dan's DVDs. Same with any big block of thicker cover/weeds. Deer will travel edges and bed on points and islands of brush or trees. At first glance you would think there is no way of narrowing it down then a booner stands up out of the downwind edge of one small patch of taller weeds or from under a lone cedar tree. Not a coincidence!

The great thing about CRP is that an observation sit from a distance can tell you a ton.

Looking along the rivers on oxbows is a good idea too.

[<DK>]

Treat those big CRP fields like a swamp from Dan's DVDs. Same with any big block of thicker cover/weeds. Deer will travel edges and bed on points and islands of brush or trees. At first glance you would think there is no way of narrowing it down then a booner stands up out of the downwind edge of one small patch of taller weeds or from under a lone cedar tree. Not a coincidence!

The great thing about CRP is that an observation sit from a distance can tell you a ton.

Looking along the rivers on oxbows is a good idea too.

Excellent tip! I just started finding these and they are $$$

[ERICBROOKS]

I agree! Great advise Joe! It doesn't take near as much cover for a buck as we think

[faraones2112]

Treating crp like a marsh will make it much simpler. Only issue you will come across with the crp on public is bird hunters. Once upland season starts the fields will be worked often by hunters. Understanding how the bird guys work will help you lock onto the deer. Keep an open mind and play the hand you are given.

[tgreeno]

Treat those big CRP fields like a swamp from Dan's DVDs. Same with any big block of thicker cover/weeds. Deer will travel edges and bed on points and islands of brush or trees. At first glance you would think there is no way of narrowing it down then a booner stands up out of the downwind edge of one small patch of taller weeds or from under a lone cedar tree. Not a coincidence!

The great thing about CRP is that an observation sit from a distance can tell you a ton.

This reminds me exactly of the "buck nest" that Aaron & the Midwest Whitetails guys hunted last year! A big remote CRP looking field with a downed tree point that the big bucks were bedding off of. Great info Joe!

[Graham_van]

Thanks for all the input yall. I will for sure put these ideas in to works when we go up next weekend to do some scouting.

If I find some good beds I will come back to this thread and post some pics or share a link to video showing what I found.

Thanks and happy hunting.

[Lockdown]

x2 on Joe's advice

I've found a fair amount of beds in the wide open on top of hills and just below that where the grass is shortest. Ignore these. I came to the conclusion they prefer the open view at night to watch for coyotes.

All the good beds I find and all the deer I jump (this includes a mounter a few years ago) are bedded in the low spots. That's where the thickest tallest grass is because it gets the most water.

Any type of trees/thickets/fence lines/groves in CRP are great bedding structure. Also keep an eye out for tall dry weeds (might be tumbleweed patches ). Sometimes they can cover many acres. But they are about 5' tall, super dry and extremely loud to walk through. I don't care who you are you're not getting through them quietly. AND THATS WHY THE DEER LIKE THEM. We see lots of bucks and does alike bedding in them out in SD. My friends and I call them "crunchies" for lack of a better term sounds like you're walking on tortilla chips when u go through them. Perfect defense for a deer.

It doesn't take much of a patch of them either... 20 yard circle could easily hold a couple deer.

[Lockdown]

I'm not a thermal expert but a bed down in a low spot or big bowl would catch an awful lot of thermals when the sun goes down. Am I right?

[Graham_van]

Just got back from scouting some land in Southern Kansas.

Found some great bedding and one buck I have on film bedded down in a great spot for a "beast" style hunt early season. I have a couple videos on my youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ZXmX ... kvjTqsgGXg

Most of the bedding I found was on the edge of thick lowland areas or CRP/WRP. I aslo jumped a lot of deer bedded right on the crops but I'm sure they won't bed there when pressure picks up a bit and food sources shift.