I'm a novice at this myself but I'll share what I know. On my lease They generally bed in areas that offer shelter from wind. Also there is very thick underbrush. Last season during a cold,(relatively cold anyway 35 degrees, I am in Texas)front I watched a couple of does and their fawns bed on the sunny southern side of a ridge. They were out of the wind and had warm sunlight beaming down on them. They stayed for about 3 hours before getting up and moving on. So I would say look for an area that offers shelter from the elements, as well as shelter and an escape route from predators. Close to a food source would probably help. Keep in mind like I said I am a novice at looking for this kind of stuff. Thats what I knw so far.
To echo what Tx said, from what I've found on my property, the deer (does mind you) will seek out the thick pine/hemlock thickets at the bottoms of hollows. I've also located some on the top bench of a ridge at a terrain transition (open maple/oak harwoods to thick briars). Honestly, I've found MORE deer bedding in these low lying thickets than up top. That goes against most of what I read about bedding areas and deer using thermals, wind, and visibility for defense (the low lying areas are pretty stagnant in terms of wind, but I wouldn't think their visibility is all that great in these areas as to opposed to the higher areas. My property doesn't have a lot of THICK high sitting spots, however, so this may factor in to what I'm seeing as well. As for the bucks...I'm still working on it:D
They don't always bed in thick nasty areas. I have seen bucks bed next to a little clump of weeds out in the middle of a bare field. In really cold weather they will bed on a somewhat open sunny hillside in the woods. In hilly country they like to bed just over the top of the hill and let the wind carry any scent over the hill to them. Plus they can see the whole valley in front of them. Also check out any small woodlot or weedy patch seperated from the big woods. They have good cover in there and can see danger coming from a long ways. Just a few nontypical bedding areas to throw out there.
All depends on your surroundings. Every terran wields different beds to look for. A pillow and some sheets is the first sign I look for in a new area. If there is a down comfortor I sold.
For me it's always taken a year or two of good observation and putting some miles on the leather to determine exact bedding locations, but there are a few ways to get relatively close. First, remember that in the vast majority of cases your mature bucks are going to bed apart from your doe groups. So you're looking for two totally different things. When you find doe beds generally you'll find 2-3 beds very close to one another, usually within 10-15 yard diameter. The beds are usually smaller in size, and in my experience tend to be used only a few times. In this case you'll find a lot of bed "groups" within a particular area. This is most likely the area where you have a doe group bedding. In most cases you'll find these beds in or near some sort of thick or at least semi-thick cover. I commonly find them in blowdowns, pine thickets, briar patches, etc. Naturally you're going to find an increased amount of general sign here too - bushes/trees that have been browsed on, tracks, and droppings. Buck bedrooms are a bit different. Again, you are normally going to find them in thicker areas (away from your doe groups) but as JM pointed out they often choose more unlikely spots as well. However most of the time thickets, and higher areas where they can use sight and scent to their advantage are good spots to look. When you find a big buck bed, you'll know it. Most likely it will be 2-3 times the size of the doe beds you'll find, and look "worn". I believe bigger bucks tend to use the same beds pretty consistantly. You may find several beds within a 50 yard radius or so, but there will be a clear difference between this and the doe beds you'll more commonly find. Again, an increased amount of big tracks, large droppings, and in many cases rubs as well will be a pretty good indictator a buck is spending a good deal of his time in the area. Don't fall into the trap of thinking if there are no rubs there's no bucks. Some bucks don't rub a lot, so concentrate on the other signs. Rubs and scrapes are just a bonus. A lot of this sign is most readily visible during the spring (shed season) so getting out and walking your property in Feb/March/April is critical for really honing in on bedding areas. Additionally, deer movement observed during the season can tell you a lot about where they're bedding and feeding. Just remember to pay attention to where your primary food sources are at as they change from year to year and season to season.
