Human scent near primary bedding

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mipubbucks24
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Human scent near primary bedding

Unread postby mipubbucks24 » Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:53 pm

Just wanted to get some input from seasoned bed hunters. How far from primary bedding will Mature bucks tolerate human scent?

Shot and did not recover a mature buck in a bedding area, I know he was bedded within 75 yards of me. Went back this last year and kicked a deer out of the same exact spot. I did not think anything was bedding there because there was no sign. So I ask this question because there is a ladder stand only 75-80 yards from the primary bed, that I know sees action during bow season. The stand is on the dry land, and out of the ball game.

So what have you beast hunters seen? I know they will bed watching Access and the road/trails, but how close will they actually tolerate human intrusion?


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Re: Human scent near primary bedding

Unread postby mauser06 » Sun Feb 16, 2020 4:21 pm

You'll learn that many of us consider the spot burnt after a hunt.... depending on a variety of factors. But that's generally the rule of thumb. Might throw another hunter or 2 at it throughout the season.


Every buck is different. But mature bucks on pressured lands typically won't put up with it. Do they abandon that bed? Maybe. Will they sit later? Will they shift to watch or scent check that area? Will they take a different exit route? All possible.

You'll read about the "bump and dump". Basically jumping a buck out of a bed and killing him later that day or the next morning when he tries coming back. But, you typically have to kill him before he gets back and sniffs around. He made it out alive and something spooked him. That means his bed is "working". But once he sniffs you out, it's likely to change his game.



How far will they tolerate it? I don't think anyone knows. Look at some camera guys. A lot of times they get 1 pic of a bruiser and never again on that camera. Maybe they smelled it. Maybe it makes noise (many of them do). Maybe the flash spooked him. The video mode red IRs are ridiculous at night. I come across various cameras coon hunting.




A big buck got big by avoiding hunters.
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Re: Human scent near primary bedding

Unread postby dan » Mon Feb 17, 2020 1:19 am

thats a question that pops up a lot, and people generally don't like my answer... The answer is, its different every time based on individual buck personality and environmental variances. I have had bedding areas where you could noit get the buck to leave. I remember one spot i jumped a buck out of the same bed 4 days in a row. and i have seen spots you get within 400 yards once and there gone for the season... i tend to treat them all like the buck will never come back so i get a great 1st hunt out of it.Also, and this may sound weird, or go against may peoples beliefs, but mature bucks seem to be the hardest to push out of a bedding area, and they seem the easiest to pattern. When they are king of the woods and have found a secure spot its hard to get them to leave. younger bucks seem to run frantic and relocate longer distances.
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Re: Human scent near primary bedding

Unread postby mheichelbech » Mon Feb 17, 2020 6:03 am

dan wrote:thats a question that pops up a lot, and people generally don't like my answer... The answer is, its different every time based on individual buck personality and environmental variances. I have had bedding areas where you could noit get the buck to leave. I remember one spot i jumped a buck out of the same bed 4 days in a row. and i have seen spots you get within 400 yards once and there gone for the season... i tend to treat them all like the buck will never come back so i get a great 1st hunt out of it.Also, and this may sound weird, or go against may peoples beliefs, but mature bucks seem to be the hardest to push out of a bedding area, and they seem the easiest to pattern. When they are king of the woods and have found a secure spot its hard to get them to leave. younger bucks seem to run frantic and relocate longer distances.

Although I have a fair amount of experience now, it still is hard to accept that I have bothered a buck or alerted a buck when I didn’t seem him during the hunt. Now I am experienced enough to know and to have seen how deer react to my scent even when I’m not present at a specific spot to know that the first hunt is the best and the odds go down from there.

How close does a buck have to get to where you walked in and out and your stand to detect your scent? And how many days does it take for it to dissipate away? For example, if a buck didn’t come through the area for 2-3 days and wasn’t around to get your scent even at a distance during the hunt, does that make it safe to hunt again?
Of course the problem with any answer is that you can’t know unless you had cameras surveilling the area (a danger in and of itself) whether the buck came through or not.
"One of the chief attractions of the life of the wilderness is its rugged and stalwart democracy; there every man stands for what he actually is and can show himself to be." — Theodore Roosevelt, 1893
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Re: Human scent near primary bedding

Unread postby dan » Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:27 am

mheichelbech wrote:
dan wrote:thats a question that pops up a lot, and people generally don't like my answer... The answer is, its different every time based on individual buck personality and environmental variances. I have had bedding areas where you could noit get the buck to leave. I remember one spot i jumped a buck out of the same bed 4 days in a row. and i have seen spots you get within 400 yards once and there gone for the season... i tend to treat them all like the buck will never come back so i get a great 1st hunt out of it.Also, and this may sound weird, or go against may peoples beliefs, but mature bucks seem to be the hardest to push out of a bedding area, and they seem the easiest to pattern. When they are king of the woods and have found a secure spot its hard to get them to leave. younger bucks seem to run frantic and relocate longer distances.

Although I have a fair amount of experience now, it still is hard to accept that I have bothered a buck or alerted a buck when I didn’t seem him during the hunt. Now I am experienced enough to know and to have seen how deer react to my scent even when I’m not present at a specific spot to know that the first hunt is the best and the odds go down from there.

How close does a buck have to get to where you walked in and out and your stand to detect your scent? And how many days does it take for it to dissipate away? For example, if a buck didn’t come through the area for 2-3 days and wasn’t around to get your scent even at a distance during the hunt, does that make it safe to hunt again?
Of course the problem with any answer is that you can’t know unless you had cameras surveilling the area (a danger in and of itself) whether the buck came through or not.

I can only go off observations, camera pics, and experience... My observations tell me that deer can smell your ground scent from at least 15 yards down wind of the trail you walked in on. I have watched them react before getting to the trail. On trail cameras I have seen deer look to react to human scent well over a week after I was there... I have seen dogs scent trail humans 3 or 4 days after they went thru an area. If a dog, that cannot smell as good as a deer can follow scent 4 days after a human walked thru, how long can he detect the scent but maybe not enough to follow? There are a lot of factors involved in that too... Like, in one instance I saw dogs track a wanted human across concrete 3 days after he was there and where able to distinguish his scent from the hundreds of other humans that walked there. The concrete is open to wind, dew, rain, etc. But in the woods areas can be sheltered from wind, rain, sun, etc, and pockets can hold scent a lot longer. Like down wind of your stand where your scent drifts while your in the tree... Again, hard to put an exact answer to your question, but I would not be surprised if deer could detect your scent for several weeks...
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Re: Human scent near primary bedding

Unread postby mheichelbech » Mon Feb 17, 2020 11:14 am

dan wrote:
mheichelbech wrote:
dan wrote:thats a question that pops up a lot, and people generally don't like my answer... The answer is, its different every time based on individual buck personality and environmental variances. I have had bedding areas where you could noit get the buck to leave. I remember one spot i jumped a buck out of the same bed 4 days in a row. and i have seen spots you get within 400 yards once and there gone for the season... i tend to treat them all like the buck will never come back so i get a great 1st hunt out of it.Also, and this may sound weird, or go against may peoples beliefs, but mature bucks seem to be the hardest to push out of a bedding area, and they seem the easiest to pattern. When they are king of the woods and have found a secure spot its hard to get them to leave. younger bucks seem to run frantic and relocate longer distances.

Although I have a fair amount of experience now, it still is hard to accept that I have bothered a buck or alerted a buck when I didn’t seem him during the hunt. Now I am experienced enough to know and to have seen how deer react to my scent even when I’m not present at a specific spot to know that the first hunt is the best and the odds go down from there.

How close does a buck have to get to where you walked in and out and your stand to detect your scent? And how many days does it take for it to dissipate away? For example, if a buck didn’t come through the area for 2-3 days and wasn’t around to get your scent even at a distance during the hunt, does that make it safe to hunt again?
Of course the problem with any answer is that you can’t know unless you had cameras surveilling the area (a danger in and of itself) whether the buck came through or not.

I can only go off observations, camera pics, and experience... My observations tell me that deer can smell your ground scent from at least 15 yards down wind of the trail you walked in on. I have watched them react before getting to the trail. On trail cameras I have seen deer look to react to human scent well over a week after I was there... I have seen dogs scent trail humans 3 or 4 days after they went thru an area. If a dog, that cannot smell as good as a deer can follow scent 4 days after a human walked thru, how long can he detect the scent but maybe not enough to follow? There are a lot of factors involved in that too... Like, in one instance I saw dogs track a wanted human across concrete 3 days after he was there and where able to distinguish his scent from the hundreds of other humans that walked there. The concrete is open to wind, dew, rain, etc. But in the woods areas can be sheltered from wind, rain, sun, etc, and pockets can hold scent a lot longer. Like down wind of your stand where your scent drifts while your in the tree... Again, hard to put an exact answer to your question, but I would not be surprised if deer could detect your scent for several weeks...

I had a buck, a couple years ago, he was searching for does, I had trimmed a branch they say before about 6 foot off the ground the day before with gloves, rubber boots, etc on, he got within about 10- 15 yards of where I had trimmed, literally slammed on the brake and instantly went on alert. Big lesson for me. I’ve also watched does become alerted when the walked within about 20-25 feet of a fence I had crossed...they walked up to it sniffing around, stomping, etc before walking off on full alert. It’d be interesting to see what other experiences have been with getting scented when you thought you wouldn’t.
"One of the chief attractions of the life of the wilderness is its rugged and stalwart democracy; there every man stands for what he actually is and can show himself to be." — Theodore Roosevelt, 1893
mipubbucks24
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Re: Human scent near primary bedding

Unread postby mipubbucks24 » Mon Feb 17, 2020 2:17 pm

I don’t have near the experience as most on the beast and I don’t doubt for a minute what Dan says.

What I have seen so far is deer wind me from the tree and walk right by my ground scent with out even reacting. Even the buck I shot and did not recover was standing in the exact spot i had been standing 1 hour before and he never even reacted. Mind you this is in a marsh in a bedding area. Maybe he was so calm in his bedroom, who knows. Seems like every time a mature buck gets down wind of me though, game over. Again this is limited amount of data, as I really was not in the game for mature bucks pre beast. Just like Dan said each deer has a different personality.
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Re: Human scent near primary bedding

Unread postby Lockdown » Mon Feb 17, 2020 5:03 pm

mipubbucks24 wrote:Just wanted to get some input from seasoned bed hunters. How far from primary bedding will Mature bucks tolerate human scent?

Shot and did not recover a mature buck in a bedding area, I know he was bedded within 75 yards of me. Went back this last year and kicked a deer out of the same exact spot. I did not think anything was bedding there because there was no sign. So I ask this question because there is a ladder stand only 75-80 yards from the primary bed, that I know sees action during bow season. The stand is on the dry land, and out of the ball game.

So what have you beast hunters seen? I know they will bed watching Access and the road/trails, but how close will they actually tolerate human intrusion?


So there’s water between the two? 75-80 yards certainly isn’t far, but if there’s water in between them, that will absolutely help keep him there. I think the biggest factor that will determine how tight he’ll hold is pressure.

If it’s a low pressure area, why would he lay right next to enemy lines? He has many places he can go...

If it’s high pressure then bedding options are limited and it’s much more likely he stays put.
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Re: Human scent near primary bedding

Unread postby Mtns_Only01 » Tue Feb 18, 2020 4:04 pm

Although compared to some of you guys, I don't have nearly the experience, I have noticed one type of scenario that has been especially rewarding. I think when a mature buck finds himself in a place with limited resources he will tolerate a little more than if he has many options. To be more clear, if he has one good reason to frequent an area, say a food source, and he only has one secure bedding area near there, I have seen them be quite reluctant to leave after small disturbances. I had this exact situation happen multiple time just this season. There are a bunch of does that bed on a small ridge year around and the bucks in the area know this. However, there is only one really secure bedding knob, at least that I have found, within .5 mile of where the does hang out. While slowly working my way into position, what I think was the buck I was after, took of like a bat out of heck nearly 150 yards closer than I expected, probably because of the cross wind that day. But even after that I was able to kill him hooking around into the main bed 10 days later. I think the deer was at least 6 or 7 years old. Point being, the only way he could stay near those does was to bed on that knob and therefore he tolerated a little more than he may have if he had other options.


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