Frequency of bedding

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backstrap19
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Frequency of bedding

Unread postby backstrap19 » Sat Aug 18, 2018 2:08 pm

During a recent scouting trip, I found myself asking myself some questions about how often a bedding spot is used. Of course, myself didn't know the answer, so I thought I'd turn to you folks. So, How many beds that you find would you say are "one and done" bedding spots? I know some specific beds may not be used all the time, but the bedding is repeated in that general area. This is not what I'm referring to. As an example, I recall one winter about 5 years ago I was driving down a rural road and about 75 yds off the road, in some timber, I saw a group of 10 to 12 deer bedded up together. I drive this road often, and every single day since then, I have never seen a deer bedded there again. I scout a lot in the post season, in the snow. It is real easy to find beds in the snow. I generally mark any doe bedding I find, and go back and revisit it a few times each winter. Many of these spots dont get used again. It got me to wondering, if the pressure is low, Will a buck bed a lot more nomadically, finding a new secure spot each day? I also recognize some bedding areas get used often on certain winds or seasons. However, the one and done bedding spots throw me curveballs. Anyone have any input or thoughts? Oh, i'm hunting mostly public land, big woods, thousands of uninterrupted acres with no ag to be found. some rolling hills and small creeks. Thanks.


backstrap19
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Re: Frequency of bedding

Unread postby backstrap19 » Sat Aug 18, 2018 2:24 pm

I forgot to add, If I find bedding consistently within a spot that is 2-4 acres in size, I call that one "bedding area" that gets used regularly. But when tracking deer in the snow, it seems they roam and eat, and just bed wherever they get tired near the closest secure cover. I have had success finding sign, setting up near bedding (when I find the correct bedding), and placing myself in likely travel ways between bedding areas. However, deciding how to rank bedding, or which bedding is the right bedding has been a struggle at times.
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JRM KY
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Re: Frequency of bedding

Unread postby JRM KY » Sat Aug 18, 2018 2:42 pm

I often find the beds you are describing here in big woods as well. I know in late winter and spring a lot of DOES bed extremely close to the feed source. A lot of these beds In open timber i believe are used at night especially the bucks. I strongly believe that mature bucks do not bed at random and will always return to a spot they feel secure in and have used multiple times. I've also found that depending on snow depth that bedding will change as well which might explain the one time occurrence you saw which was probably does or immature bucks anyway. The bedding you want to look for in big timber will have very good security cover and almost impossible to get close to with the prevailing winds. My thoughts anyways.
backstrap19
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Re: Frequency of bedding

Unread postby backstrap19 » Sat Aug 18, 2018 3:03 pm

Great point about the time of year and proximity to food! This site is great for getting something pointed out that you had overlooked. Thanks.
BorealBushMN
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Re: Frequency of bedding

Unread postby BorealBushMN » Sat Aug 18, 2018 3:13 pm

From what I understand, a mature bucks home range gets smaller as he ages, so in turn, he tends to bed within that home range, which means he’d be more likely to bed in same areas within that home range. I hear what you are saying about the big woods, though. Everything seems so random everywhere.
mauser06
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Re: Frequency of bedding

Unread postby mauser06 » Sat Aug 18, 2018 7:26 pm

There is nothing random about mature buck bedding.

I think of mature bucks as a totally different species. They got old by surviving. They survived because they learned how to live.


Big woods or not, bedding and movement is done with a purpose.

The reason things can seem random in big woods is less deer and more land.. typically lots of bedding and food is scattered.. usually browse and mast.

Big woods definitely presents it's challenges...but it's not random...I once thought the same till I really stepped back and started actually seeing and understanding what I was looking at.

I'm no big woods master...but I love the big woods and have been learning to hunt them. It can be intimidating and confusing at first. Lots of it appears similar on it's face. I find a lot of activity where things are different. Transitions, terrain etc.

Lots of my big woods hunting is also hill country. I can walk to the top 1/3rd elevation from bed to bed to bed. But I've hunted various other places I'd call big woods that weren't hill country and had to figure out the deer.


If you haven't, I'd recommend all of Dan's DVDs. Even if you live in the desert, you can probably learn from marsh and swamp bedding. I know I have been able to apply it to other places...CRP is a good example. I find deer often bed in them as if they were in a marsh setting. Transitions and lone trees or clusters of trees or different brush etc.
dan
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Re: Frequency of bedding

Unread postby dan » Sat Aug 18, 2018 11:48 pm

backstrap19 wrote:During a recent scouting trip, I found myself asking myself some questions about how often a bedding spot is used. Of course, myself didn't know the answer, so I thought I'd turn to you folks. So, How many beds that you find would you say are "one and done" bedding spots? I know some specific beds may not be used all the time, but the bedding is repeated in that general area. This is not what I'm referring to. As an example, I recall one winter about 5 years ago I was driving down a rural road and about 75 yds off the road, in some timber, I saw a group of 10 to 12 deer bedded up together. I drive this road often, and every single day since then, I have never seen a deer bedded there again. I scout a lot in the post season, in the snow. It is real easy to find beds in the snow. I generally mark any doe bedding I find, and go back and revisit it a few times each winter. Many of these spots dont get used again. It got me to wondering, if the pressure is low, Will a buck bed a lot more nomadically, finding a new secure spot each day? I also recognize some bedding areas get used often on certain winds or seasons. However, the one and done bedding spots throw me curveballs. Anyone have any input or thoughts? Oh, i'm hunting mostly public land, big woods, thousands of uninterrupted acres with no ag to be found. some rolling hills and small creeks. Thanks.

In a lot of areas over 90% of deer bedding is kinda random... Good thing Im not hunting "deer"... Im hunting mature bucks, and nothing they do is ever "random". The older they get, the more they follow the rules and learn. I say it often, but its worth repeating. Ignore random looking sign and beds. Go to the points, fingers, leeward sides, over looked spots, etc. and concentrate on where mature bucks bed and where bedding is done on a regular basis..

I could take you out in the marsh behind my home and show you beds in just about any acre of land within the 2300 acres. But, there are only about 2 dozen primary bedding areas and maybe 100 spots I would hunt. Usually when I discover a mature buck in the area, he is bedding in one of the primary bedding areas near where he has showed up. The exception is sometimes there in a good seasonal bed. But its pretty seldom I ever find him bedding in one of those random spots you speak of.

The older they get, they lock down even more into those primary locations. You kick a 2 or 3 year old out of a bedding area and often they end up relocation somewhere else. But the old bucks just keep coming back.

You should be able to look at a bedding area, look at the sign and know it should be good and that its well used. You should be able to say its got the ingredients a big buck wants: advantage (a point, leeward, edge, etc.) and that there is little human or predator pressure in that spot (over looked) that there is a good escape, good advantage of detection of oncoming threats, etc.

When there is lots of deer, the dominant ones take the best spots and the lesser animals fill the void. You have to walk past the void bedding.

In my opinion you have to hunt for the biggest smartest buck on the property. Its ok to settle for less, but if your hunting for less, and in lesser spots thats all you will ever get. Go for the gold. Most properties have thousands of beds... you need to find the great bedding areas and ignore the void.
backstrap19
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Re: Frequency of bedding

Unread postby backstrap19 » Sat Aug 18, 2018 11:54 pm

Thanks for the reply Dan. Your explanation helps me to refocus. I can see that I fall into the trap of just looking for "deer" sometimes, and not my ultimate goal. I have done well the past few years at ignoring sign that appears to be made at night, and following it back to the more secure cover to hunt. However, sometimes out in the rolling big woods, deer sign is so thin that finding any of it is exciting. I need to do as you said and ignore that void sign, and only look at the best stuff. Thank you.


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