i placed a camera in the beginning of August in a area that I was looking for a big buck from last year. It was placed where 2 good looking trails crossed. To my surprise I ended up getting the buck 4 times on camera, but what I'm interested in is I had deer bed in the exact same spot about 6ft in front of the camera 9 differnt nights, 5 of which were differnt deer. 4 bucks including the one I was looking for and 1 doe that bedded twice, I believe it was the same doe both nights. When I placed this camera I noticed nothing that looked like a bed. They stayed from 1/2hr to several hours, all appeared to be chewing cud most of the time. Has anybody else seen deer bedding like this before, all were at night, so how far is it likely they are bedding during the day from this area. This is bluff land with lots of woods and a large corn field maybe 100yds from where camera is set in the woods.
I have places that deer bed frequently and when you stand in these spots you can tell why. They are in a location that they can see anything coming in front of them, provide cover from behind, and an escape route. They will only bed in these spots when the wind is right though. I've seen deer lay for hours in a spot and the moment the wind shifted they got up and lay in a different spot where the wind hit their sniffer better. The reason for you only getting pictures of bedding deer at night might have more to do with their daily movement pattern than anything else.
It sounds like you are describing a loafing spot where the deer lay for a while during the night while feeding. That doesn't mean that its a daytime bedding area. Deer will feed and then loaf all night long. Often laying right out in the field, but sometimes moving into close cover.
Fletch, this loafing that your talking about is kinda what I was first thinking. But I would think that they wouldn't have a dedicated bed, that they would just kinda lay in the area and not the same exact spot. Also most of August was pretty dull for pics, just a couple does, but as soon as September hit, that's when several bucks started showing up regularly and deer bedding there. All pics of bucks have been at night, except for 1 daylight pic, and it was the big buck, It will be interesting to see what happens latter in the year, and I'm going to take a better look at that bed the next time I check the camera. I don't plan on getting in there very often, every couple weeks probably, so I'm hopeing if it is a true buck bed I won't disturb the area.
