Bedding Along Open Water

[cattailcrusher]

When it come to deer bedding along open water, lake, slough, pond, et cetera, will they normally bed so that the wind is blowing from the dryland to the water? And when it comes to thermals will that water pull my thermals down towards the water or will the water push my thermals up?

[Rob loper]

Water will definitely Pull thermsls downto it especially at sundown. Imo deer like to look out into open areas. But i hunt a similar scenerio where they bed looking out over the pond but i found a few looking down the opposite way too. If it open in a certain direction.

[dan]

Most of the time they prefer the wind blowing at the water. But you have to look at every situation different. For example one of my best primary bedding areas has bedding on any wind and is up against a lake. The primary wind dies blow at the water, but they even bed there on a East wind. They are in heavy cattails and surrounded by water. There main defense is sound of hearing you coming, not wind.

Another big factor is escape. Mature bucks prefer areas with a good escape plan. They don't want to jump into a lake and swim across, and they don't want to escape thru wide open terrain. Once you really start looking at a lot of bedding areas, looking at the exact bed layouts, it becomes real easy to predict this stuff.

[cattailcrusher]

Thanks for the replies. The reason I ask is because last night I was glassing a slough area that I believe is a bedding area and I watched a bachelor groups of bucks stand up. Last night the wind was blowing from the water, but the area along the shore is so thick with cattails and 6ft high grass that they are probably using it on any wind and their main defense is sound when they bed there as you mentioned Dan.

[Southern Buck]

Most of the time they prefer the wind blowing at the water. But you have to look at every situation different. For example one of my best primary bedding areas has bedding on any wind and is up against a lake. The primary wind dies blow at the water, but they even bed there on a East wind. They are in heavy cattails and surrounded by water. There main defense is sound of hearing you coming, not wind.

Another big factor is escape. Mature bucks prefer areas with a good escape plan. They don't want to jump into a lake and swim across, and they don't want to escape thru wide open terrain. Once you really start looking at a lot of bedding areas, looking at the exact bed layouts, it becomes real easy to predict this stuff.

Do they tend to bed this way along man made ponds as well, or are they more likely to bed back to levee looking out from the pond with the wind blowing away from the water in that scenario?

[dan]

Most of the time they prefer the wind blowing at the water. But you have to look at every situation different. For example one of my best primary bedding areas has bedding on any wind and is up against a lake. The primary wind dies blow at the water, but they even bed there on a East wind. They are in heavy cattails and surrounded by water. There main defense is sound of hearing you coming, not wind.

Another big factor is escape. Mature bucks prefer areas with a good escape plan. They don't want to jump into a lake and swim across, and they don't want to escape thru wide open terrain. Once you really start looking at a lot of bedding areas, looking at the exact bed layouts, it becomes real easy to predict this stuff.

Do they tend to bed this way along man made ponds as well, or are they more likely to bed back to levee looking out from the pond with the wind blowing away from the water in that scenario?

Im not fully understanding your question, but I will try and explain this bedding. When the bed has an opening to one side that a bedded deer can see out of for a distance in one direction... He is looking that way when bedded there with wind to back from the other direction. When he is surrounded by cover in thick wet stuff, wind is likely not a factor, even though, most of the time the main bedding areas for non wind specific bedding are set up well for the dominant wind.
With that said, when it comes to lakes, I have never seen them bed looking out over the water. I have seen them bed near the water, but not looking over it wind to back... I have seen such bedding though in oxbows along rivers, and against small ponds deer can cross in a jump or two...

[oldrank]

When I hunt areas like this I see the deer protecting their exit with the thermal switch. I don't see much wind protection. The cover protects them during the day as they bed so they don't seem to bed wind specific. When they exit it always seems to be in an area with a large thermal draw. I also noticed that they wait until that switch to exit the bed. It's almost like clock work. I'll see that milkweed start dropping n pulling to the water and shortly thereafter a twig will snap in the bedding area.

[Southern Buck]

Most of the time they prefer the wind blowing at the water. But you have to look at every situation different. For example one of my best primary bedding areas has bedding on any wind and is up against a lake. The primary wind dies blow at the water, but they even bed there on a East wind. They are in heavy cattails and surrounded by water. There main defense is sound of hearing you coming, not wind.

Another big factor is escape. Mature bucks prefer areas with a good escape plan. They don't want to jump into a lake and swim across, and they don't want to escape thru wide open terrain. Once you really start looking at a lot of bedding areas, looking at the exact bed layouts, it becomes real easy to predict this stuff.

Do they tend to bed this way along man made ponds as well, or are they more likely to bed back to levee looking out from the pond with the wind blowing away from the water in that scenario?

Im not fully understanding your question, but I will try and explain this bedding. When the bed has an opening to one side that a bedded deer can see out of for a distance in one direction... He is looking that way when bedded there with wind to back from the other direction. When he is surrounded by cover in thick wet stuff, wind is likely not a factor, even though, most of the time the main bedding areas for non wind specific bedding are set up well for the dominant wind.
With that said, when it comes to lakes, I have never seen them bed looking out over the water. I have seen them bed near the water, but not looking over it wind to back... I have seen such bedding though in oxbows along rivers, and against small ponds deer can cross in a jump or two...

What I meant by man made ponds is that they tend to have a higher/steeper levee than shallow watersheds or beaver ponds. I was wondering if they might prefer that taller levee as backcover over the other thick cover growing along the edges of the pond.

In this scenario, I think thermals would behave as they do in hill country with them rising up to the leeward bedded buck on the levee during the day while falling down the levee beneath the pond in the evening. I’ve seen deer bed this way facing away from the water along levees of lakes and reservoirs, but was wondering if you’ve observed the same along smaller farm ponds, etc.

Hopefully that makes a little more sense. I’ve got a couple spots where I know deer bed around these ponds, but haven’t quite figured out the best way to ambush them. I know Singing Bridge says bucks will circle downwind of a beaver pond to scent check before bedding facing the across the pond on the other side, but if they bed against the levee will they j-hook into it like a hill country bed?