Im not by my computer now and I don't know how to do it from my phone. Go to YouTube and search ... Making buck beds.
Hmmm, maybe I should’ve kept that bale my wife bought for decoration in the fall instead of letting it get rained and snowed on all winter
We should make some this year as a group and put trail cams on them for experimentation. Use straw, maybe some mulch, just bare dirt or whatever. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
I may have just the spot. May try an old bed, and also make a new bed and put cameras on both and see if they’ll use a man made bed. Be fun to mess with.
I'm going to put a couple out this year. See if I can shift the bed to a more favorable location...if it works down here in God's country it will certainly be a game changer.
Maybe as a last resort. Corn stalks, bean straw, alfalfa and grass hay; absolutely, but have never seen cattle eat straw only.
Animals would have to be pretty hard up or bored to eat straw. In the farming industry straw is not considered to be a feed or food source. Why would the dnr think any differently?
True. But i am only saying. If you get the right, or wrong DNR and you could be in trouble. That being said i think what your doing is a great idea.
I have watched both deer and elk, multiple times, eating both planted and cut alfalfa hay. In fact, my brother killed an elk this past September in the middle of an alfalfa field. In certain areas, especially early in the fall, in can be a dietary staple. I would check local and state baiting laws before trying it.
Hay and straw are not the same thing. None the less, I can see there being a baiting case with the wrong ECO. "I was making a bed for a mature buck" might not cut it, even if you tell them you saw it on an online forum. I think the idea is cool as hell though and if it works like bucksnbears has shown it does, then I feel like a lot of guys will be giving it a go this season.
This is a buck I killed this past year. Bed is the star. Assumed travel route is the yellow line with a northwest wind. The big red dot is where I killed him at some white oaks that were absolutely pummeled with buck rubs. I knew something big was bedded close, I just didn't know where. After I arrived him he ran back and died in his bed. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
I'm glad you fellas kept an open mind. Wheat straw is what I use. No food value that I know of?. I've tried came over the beds. I don't do that anymore. An older buck WILL abandon them. I've got one in a blowdown behind my cabin. Fun to watch deer bedding in it. I don't want you fellas to be disappointed if you feel the need to try it. I can't stress enough the need to do it in a place that a mature buck will feel TOTALLY safe with no human intrusion. A major doe travel route during the rut work really well!. I mentioned before a bigger log laying on the ground as a backdrop is important. I'll stand somewhat firm on that. That seems to be quite important A thick area right next to a somewhat open area during the rut works well. All being said, I'm glad you guys feel like it's a topic worth exploring. Virginia, that looks like a great spot! If one mature buck felt it was safe, I'm confident another will also barring a change. Thanks for the positive feedback fellas
Im still liking this stuff. Get up into some remote spot. Clear out a buck bed and fill it with straw or whatever. Buck catches that unique smell and investigates in a place they feel safe. Bam. Trail cam set far enough away and at such an angle that one can check it every now and then without disrupting the bed. Interesting as heck.
I have a couple of bedding locations in mind that belong to buck's of seasons past. They offered a very advantageous approach and setup. I'm going to try to recreate that in the same locations.
Josh, have you observed any general trends as to why a buck beds where he does based on terrain, availability to food, doe bedding, isolation, etc? I know it is an in depth question, but it interests me. You don't have to break it down real deep.
There's enough chaos during the rut that I'm done with it personally, lol. That, and the fact that I've started hunting specific bucks instead of random bucks. But during the rut, when a buck is not locked down, he tends to bed near a social group and/or the food source they're currently locked in on...or a social hub that connects multiple social groups. Outside the rut, food is the catalyst which defines bedding (and movement)...without food, there is no reason for a buck to be there. Isolation or security seems to be a very important part of the mature bucks bed also. I've actually started locating and hunting core areas, traditional cores, finding new cores by identifying translatable patterns...keying on security, which comes in multiple forms....with diversity in terrain, cover, structure...with variety in food...with water. And as we all know, a buck beds in his core, so it's an important piece to consider when entering and hunting the core. His bed tends to be on an edge of some sort. That edge can be created by terrain, cover or structure...I've been searching hard for a bed (100s of them) that is wind and/or thermal specific and I haven't found one yet.
I don’t even try to figure out big open hardwoods that usually classifies “hill country”. I’m sure there’s big bucks but how do you nail one down in 300 acres of oak ridges? This pic is a piece of public I’ve scouted and found a decent bed (red), jumped a buck (yellow), creek(blue) kinda runs through there somewhere. The darker green is mature pines. Never hunted this area. I imagine people set up on the ag, and if there’s a decent buck in there he’s not making it there until dark. I was going to use the creek as access. There’s a decent rub line leaving the red circled area.
