Rubs and beds

[rfickes87]

I think we all agree that a dominant buck may not rub near his bed but a cocky aggressive younger buck will. I have proof of this...
I did some summer scouting last August and found this bed, there was no rubs nearby I just noticed the bare dirt and white belly hair. It was a larger bed than I was used to seeing..



The size of the bed gave me a hunch that it belonged to a nice buck. So I hung a camera on it to get some Intel. I came back about 5 weeks later and immediately noticed a nice rub beside the bed...



I stood there and checked my camera and saw the bed belonged to this guy. In that time frame he was the only buck to bed in it but a few other bucks had walked past it or stood in it.









I thought wow, he must have marked his bed with this rub. But no turns out he did not. This different younger buck did... You can just bairly see his antlers here around that tree making that rub.... He would continue to visit the bed several times.

[mathews418]

Very very interesting and great information thank you.
I do have a question if you don't mind??
In those 5 weeks how often did he bed there, was it only a night bed as the pics you showed were at night, and do you think it was wind specific? Well that was like 3 questions.

[hunter_mike]

Awesome info rfickes87!

[rfickes87]

Very very interesting and great information thank you.
I do have a question if you don't mind??
In those 5 weeks how often did he bed there, was it only a night bed as the pics you showed were at night, and do you think it was wind specific? Well that was like 3 questions.

This bed and the entire bedding area was 100% wind specific during the time I scouted it over the course of the summer into mid September. He only bedded in that bed once in 5 weeks time at night but showed up at least twice a week during daylight. The bed was worn to the ground. I assume he used it heavily in spring and summer. As I said I found this bed in August. He never used it again after 9/18/16.

Bedding area was 1/3 from the peak of the ridge, classic scenario. Further scouting this past fall I noticed I had only found that 1 bed of at least 4 other beds in that same spot. So looking back he could of bedded in those other beds that were 10 - 20 yards away and just not been on camera.

But yeah the top of the ridge was an overgrown thick nasty crp field filled with thick tall green briars. 1/3 down I found this bedding area walking the transition of the field and the edge of woodline looking for sign. I only scouted the E facing side bc we get a lot of W winds. The bed was located about 10 feet inside the woodline. I checked the past weather for each day I had the camera out there. I expected him to bed in it on SW, W winds because it was angled slightly NE. Sure enough maybe 3 or 4 days of E winds and no deer and then a SW and boom there he was like clockwork. I never knew about leeward bedding until I found this site and dans YouTube videos last July haha. It was amazing to me to see it happening in person, lol.

[Stanley]

Another thing to keep in mind just because we think a smaller buck is making the the rubs around a bed doesn't mean a bigger buck isn't using the bed. A good bed is used by more than one buck. I have trail camera pictures of multiple bucks using the same bed and have seen it first hand. Bigger bucks will take over a good bed from younger bucks.

[dan]

I've seen doe bedding areas with rubs at the base of the tree they bed against. Only way to tell is there was multiple beds...

If a rub is on a tree that is within reach of the bed, I believe a buck bedded there. Bucks usually have multiple beds too. Its how they sit location wise that dictates doe vs buck. And i am noticing a lot of bedding areas that have buck and doe bedding, just not always the exact same beds. When you find buck rubs at doe bedding areas they are generally on the exit / entrance trails, not in the beds.

[Twenty Up]

I've seen doe bedding areas with rubs at the base of the tree they bed against. Only way to tell is there was multiple beds...

If a rub is on a tree that is within reach of the bed, I believe a buck bedded there. Bucks usually have multiple beds too. Its how they sit location wise that dictates doe vs buck. And i am noticing a lot of bedding areas that have buck and doe bedding, just not always the exact same beds. When you find buck rubs at doe bedding areas they are generally on the exit / entrance trails, not in the beds.

I took some pictures so maybe I can dig one back up, this was found last year but it was a cluster of beds on a hill top. It was on the Southern 1/3 of a ridge, found multiple rubs from 2 1/2 up to 4 1/2 YO bucks. The rub was in the bed, so you have a bed overlooking the creek bottom and that tree had a decent rub in it. Below this bed were 4 more that were much smaller in size not 10ft away, just below this bed.

It really threw me off, I posted a thread about it but now looked back it was probably a mature buck's rut bed. I'll see if I can find the thread about it...

[Twenty Up]

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33815&p=468274#p468274

Pics of bed for reference...

I never took pictures of the beds below it, I really wish I did now.

[dan]

I went back and looked at your pictures and they do look like doe bedding... Maybe the buck bedded there or was with the doe during rut.

[Bowhunter4life]

Good topic here. The bedding areas I've been in and scouted that have held mature bucks vs the younger buck beds is the lack of obvious sign. The mature bucks do not seem to leave a lot of sign right in their core area for whatever reason. The sign is there tho, it is just harder to see. Have to focus on the finer details like tracks droppings and almost always the location if you know the property can tell you by just how secure the bed is meaning the most mature buck will be there.

I have seen plenty of times where there are rubs right in and around the doe beds. Certain areas I can go in and bump does almost each time I go in there. Only time a buck is there is to check on them does and they have obvious bedding right in the same bed as the does use most of the season. That can be tricky but again paying attention to the sign around that area you can often tell by the tracks and droppings. There will most likely be a lot of random beds in and around those areas of different sizes telling me it is a doe bedding area. The mture deer often don't like to be right near the does so often there is not a lot of "deer sign" in and around their core areas making them much harder to find. Really gets down to how well you can interpret the sign your reading.

[Twenty Up]

Dan- I agree it looked like a buck had bedded with a group of does during the rut and maybe another doe took over that bed.. The bed pictured was noticeably larger than the others as well. Unfortunately another hunter set up in this area and when I scouted it out the beds were no longer there.

I've actually seen something like this before in a different area scouting. Location wise it will look more like a doe bedding area, being there is no definite reason why a mature buck should bed there but the sign is saying otherwise. I'm beginning to think mature bucks bed with does for a short period of time during the rut. Maybe it's to claim "his" does? Maybe I'm completely off.

[<DK>]

What a great post rfickes87! Great pics too!
Theres a lot of good info on here guys