I've never been a "bed hunter", per se, it's one small piece, of a multitude that make up a whole. Sometimes I know exactly where a buck is bedding. Often times I only know the general area he's bedding in (via trail cam data), which is just as good in most cases. A good idea of where he might be is the key to how I enter and what wind I hunt...nothing sucks more than the hunt being over before it ever starts Finding and hunting buck beds is just plain silly...unless you know exactly what buck is bedding in that location. My trail camera's have shown me that I'm only interested in hunting and shooting about 1 out of every 30 bucks. So simply finding and hunting " buck beds" would be a huge waste of my time.
Hunting in the midwest on farm ground, where most woodlots are less than 100 acres, I've always found it difficult to pinpoint where bucks may be bedding. Heck on that size property, they may be bedding in a place I don't have permission anyway. BUT I do usually know where the does are bedding. And my philosophy is: Where da girls are, da boys will be. Blessings..........Pastorjim
Every summer that I owned that place, the shed had deer in it. It just had a dirt floor that was always cool and dry and I think the deer liked getting out of the heat and away from all the swarms of flies and mosquitos in the summer. Seven deer was the most I ever saw run out of it as I pulled in the front gate. I surprised a sleeping doe one day and was nearly run over when I walked in the door. Some guys would not believe that I had deer using the shed, so I put a trail camera on the tongue of my disc and got this picture among many more. Including a coyote that came in for a snooze. I guess you just never know.
Having been a hunter for 40 yrs, I'd be the first to admit it's not that easy. This said some of these shows give good advise and I haven't noticed them say giant buck beds but buck bedding. Many show obvious rub signs around them. So in a time when many hunters do not have good or any woodsmanship mentors,whats the harm? If it gets these guys, gals out there being a bit more observant more power to them. Some sound a tad angry over this for no apparent reason.
I'm not angry, maybe more in line with disappointed. Misinformation will do more damage than no information at all....For instance, claiming a buck beds at the upper 1/3 of a hillside in a thermal wind tunnel is 100% false, yet the amount of individuals that have sold into it and claim it so, is mind boggling.
That mindset worked for me this past season. Picked a piece of public ground I had never hunted, scouted online for what looked like good bedding in a river bottom. In three sits in there I saw 14 does and five bucks, three of which I would have shot. Unfortunately, I missed when I finally got the shot opportunity. I found the girls and the boys showed up during the rut. I plan to be back there next season.
My dad has a friend who owns a farm in Alberta where every summer and during the early archery season a group of Mule Deer bucks bed in a vacated shed. Unfortunately, they don't allow nonresidents a OTC Mule Deer tag anymore due to CWD concerns and my dad does not bow hunt.
So I take it you live and hunt hill country? Because I do, in fact two totally different parts of the state and both heart attack steep wnw slopes. They sure as hell do bed in those areas. They also bed on the upper 1/3 of gully slopes . Now I just got back from walking one said property. Beds on the side hill at the bottom and on the top sw side. along my trails, in the garden . Tacks everywhere except the big open plots. You know there is one thing Ive learned in the last 40 years and that is all deer do NOT always act the same in ALL areas. Now your right about one thing there is misinformation out there about many aspects of deer behavior. ESPECIALLY when guys try to say its all set in stone, as it were. If I had a penny for every time I've heard they won't do this, that, or the other thing. They don't eat this, or that, you can't get away with this or that. I'd be a rich person.
First buck I killed this year actually bedded on the bottom 1/3rd of the hillside as the hardwoods butted up against the blow downs. Many of us on here hunt in the public big woods with steep terrain.
I actually do hunt hill country a little bit. I also hunt farm country, bluff country, river bottoms, sloughs, old mine properties...I even hunt suburbia from time to time. The one thing all these environments have in common as far as buck bedding is concerned? In all of these settings, bucks tend to bed on edges. Now, in hill country there is often a high terrain edge, right where the terrain breaks off...bucks tend to bed on edges (see above)...therefore, they will sometimes bed on this edge. It has nothing to do with upper 1/3 or thermal wind tunnels, lol.
I'm sure you did and I have too. One of my best stands is 21ft high stand right at the bottom of a steep hill with the wind blowing right up the hill past me. I have killed at least a dozen doe and buck out of that stand. 3/4 of them including last year walking down toward me from above and above me across the hill side. Last year I shot a doe there. She dropped 60 yrds away one the side of the hill above me. I waited and as I did I had 4 different buck come in and tend her one at a time. This as the wind blew up the hill. I have another stand at the bottom of a different part of this hill. Many buck and doe killed coming down the hill to me. Here is the thing about thermals they are effected by the land scape and prevailing winds. As far as "tunnels" buck will routinely scent check in such cases. But if there is a well positioned down fall they will bed there. When a group of deer live on the side of a hill,that is nearly 2 1/2 miles from top to valley floor, with constant medium to high winds, they tend to bed where they have learned is safe. Period BTW. All my property is a side hill just parts of it are steeper than others.
The blue line above the yellow represents the HIGH terrain edge, which bucks will sometimes bed on...the green line below the yellow represents the LOW terrain edge, which bucks will sometimes bed on...equally as often.
I know what a thermal wind tunnel is.. Now here it would be ,seeing our land faces both prevailing winds N/W, the sun rising on our gully in the morning heating up the ground with the wind rising over the hill along the gully meeting those morning thermals the buck and sometimes doe bed that area routinely I have 3 Stands set up along that gully just for that reason. That is the only section of our property that faces south/ east.
One of the properties I hunt is very hilly. I’ve observed many bucks bed on the higher ground, lower ground and everything in between. They seem to just prefer the areas with the best security cover regardless of the elevation.
