I know it's not true but where I'm at (Central MN flat AG land) it seems like you can throw a dart on a map to determine where they are/will be bedded.
I hunt predominate Ag fields and woods throughout...I've grown to realize tree rows that thicken up with brush are HUGE favorites of mature bucks. Bed watch behavior...they can keep eye on food source and have the run to escape two directions or back behind into the other field especially if Corn. Extremely tough to sneak up on a buck with limited cover in a tree line/brush line. Now obviously one of the largest factors is wind direction at times... Also noticed mature bucks love high over head cover typically...can just be a branch cropping out or a few autumn olive shoots over hanging (hinging works great too).
Finding mature bucks on the place I hunt is a challenge in itself. Finding where those hard to find bucks bed is a real challenge. And to top it off, even if I found those spots, it doesnt mean they will be open to hunt as the military base routinely closes down 30 to 40 percent of the land for training each and every day, on a rotational basis. Meaning you can be hot on a buck or his routine and not be able to hunt him for a week or more at a time. Makes it very difficult.
The bigger bucks seem to bed down in swamps in our area, a lot of the beds are impossible to get to by foot until the winter months when the mud and water is frozen. The main swamp on our property is less than a 1/4 mile from a dirt road but it doesn't get traveled on very often so I'm sure they feel comfortable in there.
I hunt mountain/hill country and have yet to find an established buck bed during my scouting trips. They could very well be bedding there, but hard to pinpoint like the beds that the guys on HB are posting up.
This thread has me thinking and has me thinking I have something figured out where I hunt.....then again I could be completely wrong. I have a spot where I have a good buck coming from that is between an Alfalfa field and a grass field in circulation this year that is pretty thick and about 200 yards wide with a creek in it. A house on one side bordering the alfalfa and the woods leads to the road and crosses and is a finger on the other side between 2 cornfields. I think I need to check that area. It's a funnel between the fields and connects both sides of the road with cover. I think that may be where he is hanging out or at least crossing through.
I wish I could say I find a consistent pattern on a terrain type, thickness of vegetation that make finding a big buck bed easier to locate. Like Caleb said though It's crazy sometimes how little cover they need to hide in and how close to human activity they will choose a bed. Big bucks bed where they can hear, see, smell and flee perceived danger... Lots of times those spots are in your own back yard, or fence row!
Each mature buck I've pin pointed down seems to prefer something different and at times of the year that can change it seems as well. Each buck is like a human and prefers something different it seems. All of them though that appear to get used with regularity have one thing in common though: from a survival standpoint the spots are extremely hard to sneak up on without detection.
When my brother killed that 199" 6 years ago he was bedding where he could watch 3 houses. Within 150 yards of all of them. My brothers entry route up our farm lane was the perfect ambush point, sometimes luck is better than skill. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
