deer bedding areas?

[brudaman340]

I have always been curious how you locate deer bedding areas. How do you know that an area is a bedding area or a place they lay for a half hour? When im hunting i have seen deer lay down and get up walk around and lay down again but its not really any thick stuff. So i would assume that these areas are not bedding areas its just a place for them to rest.

[MACHINIST]

Deer get up from time to time during the day and move around,to get food,water and to defficate.If you are funding beds its more than likely not just a spot they chill for a short while

[thphm]

Good example for the last week or so 2 of the mother deer have chased there new born ( this year ) away and they do not bed together, The mothers are in a little heavier brush and sticker bushes but yet the can see all around them.The young are a level below them ( and seen it a number of times this week ) in food plots I have been cutting every 2 weeks.They have been in 2 different ones so far.But they all eat together in the morning and evening.

[HuntOrBeHunted]

The way I hunt the bedding areas down is start by finding a main run were you can see fresh deer poo and see lots of tracks. I stay off their beaten path but follow it. I have found 90% of deer bedding areas in thick brush were they get away from the sun, rain, snow...

 

When you find that area you will see spots of the brush that are beat down were the deer curl up. Look for loose hairs is a good way to know thats a bedding area.

 

Thats how I do it, it seems to work pretty well.

 

Good luck.

[brudaman340]

Some beds i find are in the middle of a grassy hay field that is all weeds but only a foot high or so and that just seems like an unlikely place for deer to bed. But the good clover and alphalph fields are close by. So maybe i am overlooking where im hunting.

[SchrnLker]

The grassy beds you are finding are probably night-time beds. Weather and wind play a huge role on where deer bed each day.  Sometimes in thickets, sometimes in open hardwoods.  Deer prefer bedding on some sort of elevation, with the wind to their back, so that they can smell danger behind them, and see danger in front of them.  Knowing that, in hilly country, you can figure which side of a hill they most likely will be. You will often find rub lines to these areas as well.  Following rub lines during POST season scouting will really help you unravel bedding areas and travel patterns.

[phade]

The grassy beds you are finding are probably night-time beds. Weather and wind play a huge role on where deer bed each day.  Sometimes in thickets, sometimes in open hardwoods.  Deer prefer bedding on some sort of elevation, with the wind to their back, so that they can smell danger behind them, and see danger in front of them.  Knowing that, in hilly country, you can figure which side of a hill they most likely will be. You will often find rub lines to these areas as well.  Following rub lines during POST season scouting will really help you unravel bedding areas and travel pattern.

 

Word.

 

Keep in mind, you can tell doe beds as they'll be lumped together in a small area and face different directions and have differing bed sizes. They use their numbers to help aid in detecting danger.

 

Bucks are going to be more isolated, may have rubs leading to/from bed, and the tracks will tell a lot. Bucks may use other deer as "sentinels" but still be bedded slightly away from them. So, any danger would be alerted by the other deer detecting it first. See this in marshes more often in my experience.

Edited October 18, 2013 by phade

[Five Seasons]

The way I hunt the bedding areas down is start by finding a main run were you can see fresh deer poo and see lots of tracks. I stay off their beaten path but follow it. I have found 90% of deer bedding areas in thick brush were they get away from the sun, rain, snow...

 

When you find that area you will see spots of the brush that are beat down were the deer curl up. Look for loose hairs is a good way to know thats a bedding area.

 

Thats how I do it, it seems to work pretty well.

 

Good luck.

 

what this guy said. even easier in the winter when you can see bear earth where their body heat has melted the snow.

[brudaman340]

Thats all really great information. Will does typically bed in the same areas all deer season long? This has always been a difficult thing for me to learn but once i figure out bedding areas i believe it will make my hunting a lot better. Thank you all for the information. I feel magazines should focus on topics like this more than describing how to set up between bedding and feeding areas. rather teach people where bedding and feeding areas may be.

[SchrnLker]

Thats all really great information. Will does typically bed in the same areas all deer season long? This has always been a difficult thing for me to learn but once i figure out bedding areas i believe it will make my hunting a lot better. Thank you all for the information. I feel magazines should focus on topics like this more than describing how to set up between bedding and feeding areas. rather teach people where bedding and feeding areas may be.

 

Does have preferred bedding areas that change as the fall progresses.  In early bow season most of the leaves are still on the trees and brush, providing them cover and security.  As the fall goes on their bedding areas change to more secure locations.  Remember, cover is key. By the time gun season rolls around, they can be found in swamps, honeysuckle, laurel, or evergreen thickets, and on the down-wind side of those areas.  I'll never forget a time I was hunting northern Maine in the pouring rain, and was stillhunting a logging road, and jumped 8 or more deer that were bedded right in open hardwoods.  They must have felt insecure in heavy cover in the pouring rain, so they bedded where they could see danger.

 

[Five Seasons]

i have watched the same mature doe for 2 years in my backyard. Her doe offspring have stayed as well. The bucks tend to leave, except for last years bb who is now a spike and hanging out eating my apples. It's kind of cool. Mature bucks will find "their spot" though, although in late winter you can see them all hanging out together.