Have you ever witnessed a decent buck......

1) Have you ever witnessed a decent buck bed down in one of his core beds? I am not talking about bedding down somewhere random because he is exhausted from the rut, I am talking him bedding down in one of his core beds.

2) Have you ever witnessed a decent buck rise from one of his core beds?


NO to both questions for me. That will change this year. ( I am always an optimist in the deer woods).

If you answer YES to either question could you give me a short summary of what took place in terms of the topography/time of year/wind/etc....thanks gentlemen.

 

Not yet!

C

 

not yet, but close!

 

0 for 3 so far. I have several personal goals this year. Getting close to a buck while he beds or gets up from his bed is one of those goals.

 

1. yes

2. yes

I snuck into what I believed would be an ideal place for an afternoon hunt. To my north was a bean field. To my south was where I was anticipating the deer to come from. This was at the end of September at about 11 am. The wind was blowing from the NW. I climbed into my climber and got to my desired height. Took some ranges. I looked to the west and 50 yards away I saw a nice 8 just bedded down. I was very surprised I didn't bump him walking in. After about an hour or so of watching him, he gets up and walks towards SE direction. I hope this helps.

 

1. No
2. Yes

Just one buck (mature 5x5) - but saw him rise many times.... It was early season and he was bedding in a small (approx 2-3 acre) patch of very tall grass... Saw his tines sticking out through the grass one of the 1st days of the season... I played cat & mouse with him for nearly a month... If the wind was right, I would take my shoes off and sneak into my stand - which depending on which one I was going to, wasn't more than 100 yards from where he was bedding...

He was on an apparent schedule as he would normally be in the grass/bed every other day. I was under the impretion that he would rise from the grass (last couple minutes of shooting time), then he always headed toward water and would not normally see him the next day, so I think he was alternating beds... Problem was there were several different routes out of the grass, so it was a guess on which route he would come out..

He seemed to prefer that bed early season...

 

Thanks DoubleLung and SouthDakota...that type of information is helpful. So DL, he walked away with the wind to his back? SouthDakota, in relation to the wind, how did he exit his bed?

 

The wind was to his back for about 50 yards and then he turned to where it blew at him diagonally.

 

1.) Yes last week I saw at least 4.

2.) One didn't get up because I pinned him into his bed with an arrow while he was asleep. Two of them were bedded together, got up to feed and spooked when one of their does nearly stepped on me. The last one got up and immediately had a shaft ran through him.

 

1.Yes
2.No
My biggest Michigan buck I was hunting him specificly and I found his bed and kept moving in tighter and tighter on him. I watched him bed twice but never seen him ever leave from it. He laying in the middle of three blow down trees that made a triangle on the ground and had the bed right down to dirt. There was a river to his back about 100 yards and the wind in his face down in a bowl so it came from all directions and he was up on a knowl so he could see in all directions .

 

yes and yes

 

Yeppers I sure have but not here in Wisconsin only in Illinois when I use to hunt down there.

 

Thanks guys, I really do appreciate your honesty and information. Stikbow, that is really cool. I have a lot of water around where I hunt, and there is one particular spot that had blowdowns all around it this year when I was scouting. I felt I was close to a big buck bed...great vantage point, big rubs, hard to get to by the average hunter......but I just could not find the bed. I might have walked right past it...hahaha!

 

1. Yes I have. Topo was swampland... marsh. Time of year was 1st week in October.. wind was probably light and southeast.

2. No... but I've been less than 50-60 yards from about a dozen of them.. My view is just often limited purposely when hunting.

I'm wondering what tendencies your looking for VS. How will this help you?

 

"I'm wondering what tendencies your looking for VS. How will this help you?"

1) Does being able to see a buck bed or rise from his bed correspond to a greater chance of killing a mature buck?

2) Based on the topography and the wind, how did that buck enter and exit his bed?

3) If you saw a decent bedded buck, where was he bedded based on topography and the time of the year? Do bucks change up their bedding based on the time of year? Meaning, do they tend to bed in different spots during the early season, rut, or late season?

Lots of other questions but I am in nerd hunting mode right now. I had some good coffee this AM.

 

1. No.. but it helps. Getting as close to your intended target WILL give you greater odds of taking him 100% of the time if you're smart about it. I believe you should get close enough to him for you NOT to be seeing him. If you cannot see him.. likely he can't see you. (Just like when you played hide and seek as a kid).. Your stands location in a tree is often the key here.

2. IMO.. bucks often choose a crosswind not because they're brilliant.. but rather for survival. As in.. he wants to use his sense of smell just as much as his eyes. So.. he likely chooses to be downwind of heavier and less visible cover.. to catch scent.. while being able to view over more open terrain.Thus a crosswind can accomplish both.. Savy?

3. Yes.. bucks often change beds throughout the year.. reasons are many rather than one.. loss of foliage.. relation to does.. food.. hunting pressure etc. etc

 

Thanks Josh, this type of stuff interests the heck out of me and I like to hear from people who have actually seen it occur. Real life examles help me.

Oh yeah, tell me about the Map Card thing, it seems like a really neat mapping program and I am considering purchasing it.

 

My question is.....How did you determine it was one of his core beds?

 

"I cant speak for anyone else...but if I find a well used buck bed in a bucks core area, I tag it as a core bed."

That is what I am talking about when I say one of his core beds.

Josh....tell me about this Map Card thing!

 

How would I define a buck's core bed? Probably different than most.

I think "Bedding Area" is more vast than most.