Buck bedding behavior

[BSK]

Interesting research on older buck bedding behavior. This research matches a lot of what I've seen from GPS-collar research I was involved with. And what I've seen in research, as well is what is presented in this study, makes me laugh every time I hear a couple of the very prominent "habitat managers" on the internet and TV hunting shows who talk about influencing a buck to bed in an exact spot and designing exact travel patterns for a buck to use through habitat management. The reality is, buck bedding is spread widely and repeat bedding spots are not common.

https://deerassociation.com/you-kno...tter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=04-11-2024

 

[deerhunter10]

Very interesting. I by no means ever thought I buck would stay in a certain bed day in and day out. I've seen to many deer the last several years just randomly lay down usually for not very long either 15 minutes to an hour at a time. Also I've seen the wind being at there back debunked a ton.

We have always worked on bedding areas where deer want to bed and live and we also try to get as many of those areas as possible on our places. When we go into those places and find beds you can see with your own eyes how random it can be and multiple beds.

I would love the see the full study and weather patterns over layed with it. And see how much it may have swayed anything, if at all.

 

[knightrider]

Where i hunt they bed where they get tired than move to the next mtn, never in the same spot

 

[BSK]

Very interesting. I by no means ever thought I buck would stay in a certain bed day in and day out. I've seen to many deer the last several years just randomly lay down usually for not very long either 15 minutes to an hour at a time. Also I've seen the wind being at there back debunked a ton.

We have always worked on bedding areas where deer want to bed and live and we also try to get as many of those areas as possible on our places. When we go into those places and find beds you can see with your own eyes how random it can be and multiple beds.

I would love the see the full study and weather patterns over layed with it. And see how much it may have swayed anything, if at all.

That is why I never try to tell a client, "We're going to make bedding here, and feeding here, which will make the deer walk here..." even though I see/hear this from other managers. Maybe the deer will, but probably the deer won't. I just want to see X amount of the property in high-value cover and spread around as much as possible. Let the deer decide. Besides, as a natural defense mechanism, deer spread out their activities so they are not as predictable to predators, as well as other things, such as reducing concentrations of parasitic insects.

That's not to say you can't influence deer to move through a spot more frequently - you can - but believing deer are going to use a predictable route day after day is a fool's errand.

 

[Antler Daddy]

I do know this...I don't find deer bedding in food plots. I do find them bedding in cover. If I can get between those two based on the wind, I think my chances are better.

 

[DeerCamp]

That is why I never try to tell a client, "We're going to make bedding here, and feeding here, which will make the deer walk here..." even though I see/hear this from other managers. Maybe the deer will, but probably the deer won't. I just want to see X amount of the property in high-value cover and spread around as much as possible. Let the deer decide. Besides, as a natural defense mechanism, deer spread out their activities so they are not as predictable to predators, as well as other things, such as reducing concentrations of parasitic insects.

That's not to say you can't influence deer to move through a spot more frequently - you can - but believing deer are going to use a predictable route day after day is a fool's errand.

I've been able to guide doe bedding areas. I've never, not once, ever been able to get a buck to hang around.

 

[Shed Hunter]

I never bought into the bed hunting methods-mostly because I remember reading some of your posts years ago about bedding habits, but I do still find those distinguished beds (particularly when by big rubs) to be pretty neat.

 

[deerhunter10]

I never bought into the bed hunting methods-mostly because I remember reading some of your posts years ago about bedding habits, but I do still find those distinguished beds (particularly when by big rubs) to be pretty neat.

The methods of hunting cover "bedding areas" is a solid method mainly travel cordoors leading to or from those areas, that gets a lot of deer killed every year. The study just shows its way more random then a lot of people think, and a lot of "pros" portray.

 

[BSK]

The methods of hunting cover "bedding areas" is a solid method mainly travel cordoors leading to or from those areas, that gets a lot of deer killed every year. The study just shows its way more random then a lot of people think, and a lot of "pros" portray.

Exactly. You can create "bedding areas" that cover acres. But thinking you can make a specific bed, and a buck will use it consistently, is crazy talk.

 

[102]

REALITY check:
It took me YEARS to figure this out. I used to hunt specific bucks. I had some success with that but then noticed something that is rather rare in the realm of trying to kill smart, hunter savvy, pressured, larger antlered, "MATURE" bucks, ...they were EXTREMELY better at patterning me than I them.
Definitely NOT a level playing field. Mostly because they literally smelled me long after I was no longer there. And that just meant they avoided that area, and me.

So I switched gears and decided to "level the playing" field a bit. Not much but just enough.

I concentrated on DOE BEDDING AREAS. Or feeding areas. These areas are MUCH easier to find, much more prevalent, and WAY less boring.

Then I fined tuned things even more and figured the best winds, and terrain features like blow downs or rick that create bottlenecks.

And then I figured out and gathered MANY places like this through boots on ground scouting, hunting, observation, and just plain determination over years of note taking in dozens of places spread out over many areas in different doe groups, Counties, and States.

I don't really care about buck bedding areas because in my opinion, when you find one, it. is probably not going to be a buck bedding place very long!

 

[102]

And oh yeah, one more thing...I generally don't hunt these doe areas until the rut. Which can vary dramatically from spot to spot. Even within a county.

 

[BSK]

Good stuff 102.

 

[Ski]

Bucks are so individually unique it's impossible to put them all in the same box. What I've seen overall is that there are spots a buck likes to lay down but no one buck ever claims it. He might use it when he's around but so do a dozen other bucks at varying random times. I've never seen one buck use the same bed over & over, but I have seen multiple bucks use the same bed.

 

[BSK]

Years ago, when GPS-collar research was fairly new, the group I worked with GPS-collared 7 deer, including one 3 1/2 year-old buck, a yearling buck, several does and two fawns. Back then, battery technology wasn't what it is today, so battery power for the collars were fairly limited. Basically, you could only get a certain number of positions stored before the batteries on the collar ran down. We wanted to see a fairly detailed pattern of what these deer were up to, so we set the collars to take a position every 20 minutes. This meant we would only get 3 1/2 months out of each collar.

Of the 7 deer, over a 3 1/2 month period, none of them ever bedded in the same place twice. Not the does, not the fawns, not the bucks.

 

[Ski]

Of the 7 deer, over a 3 1/2 month period, none of them ever bedded in the same place twice. Not the does, not the fawns, not the bucks.

Well obviously you didn't mortgage your home to hire the guy on youtube to show you how. Geez get with the program

 

[BSK]

Well obviously you didn't mortgage your home to hire the guy on youtube to show you how. Geez get with the program

And there ya' go. ;)

 

[DoubleRidge]

Since opening the canopy through a FSI project I'd guess that, other than 7 or 8 acres of food plots, our entire farm has potential as a "deer bedding area" where neighboring properties vary from open cattle pasture to big open rotational Ag land. So I've never focused on "buck" bedding areas as much as known travel corridors that deer use to navigate our property....are there premium areas that doe groups frequent?..you bet there are...multiple areas...and during the rut we spend hours hunting travel corridors going to those areas....also worth noting, I've seen deer bed is some crazy locations which include 25 yards from my truck that had been parked there all day...their behavior can be very humbling at times...just when you think you understand them they do something that makes little sense humanly speaking.

 

[AlabamaSwamper]

BSK

When you say never the same place twice, can you narrow that down?

As in the same bed or within so far a distance?

 

[BSK]

BSK

When you say never the same place twice, can you narrow that down?

As in the same bed or within so far a distance?

Not bedding in the same circumference of accuracy of the GPS unit (7-meters). In fact, none really came close. Maybe 50 yards max, but usually not even close. The deer would bed 4-6 times per day, wherever they happened to be on their daily routine at the time, and their daily routine shifted with each passing day.

 

[102]

There are several popular hunting channels on YouTube that talk about different topics concerning deer hunting. It never ceases to amaze me how these influencers will make statements about deer doing this or that and say it as if it applies to everyones deer hunting.

In Iowa for example, a relatively small part of most deer public hunting land in several of the more popular Zones are forested at all. A STARK contrast to the South.

It would be a completely different story to hunt a "parking lot" with a patch of cover in the middle than a thicket the size of a Tennessee County!!!

 

[BSK]

There are several popular hunting channels on YouTube that talk about different topics concerning deer hunting. It never ceases to amaze me how these influencers will make statements about deer doing this or that and say it as if it applies to everyones deer hunting.

In Iowa for example, a relatively small part of most deer public hunting land in several of the more popular Zones are forested at all. A STARK contrast to the South.

It would be a completely different story to hunt a "parking lot" with a patch of cover in the middle than a thicket the size of a Tennessee County!!!

Well said 102. Deer adapt to their environment. Deer follow very different patterns in the wide-open big-ag regions of the Midwest than they do in the hills and hollers of TN, or the swamps of the Deep South. It doesn't take them long to figure out what patterns increase their safety the most in each terrain and habitat situation.

Whenever someone is complaining that trail-cameras (especially cell cameras) give hunters too much of advantage, I say that deer don't move predictably enough to determine clock-work timing hunters could easily take advantage of. But is that always true? No, I've seen situations where cover is extremely limited (just fence rows surround 1,000+ acre fields) where deer can be very predictable in their timing/movements. But in most situation, they do not follow predictable, clock-work movements. Each situation is unique because deer adapt sometimes completely different travel patterns based on the local situation.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

Great post. I used to think that I was missing a huge picture of understanding deer, when I would hear someone say " I know where a big buck is bedding". Once I realized this was total BS it made me feel better, but knowing this didn't help me kill a deer! To me, bucks are most predictable in the summer time, especially around bean fields. This is one of the reasons why I am not a fan of the velvet hunt.

 

[BSK]

Great post. I used to think that I was missing a huge picture of understanding deer, when I would hear someone say " I know where a big buck is bedding". Once I realized this was total BS it made me feel better...

Sadly, much about what is taught on YouTube and in hunting magazines about deer behavior is BS. Deer are somewhat creatures of habitat, but constantly changing their routes/behaviors is also a defense mechanism. The more predictable they are, the easier they fall to predators, so it is built into them to have a lot of variation in their travels.

To me, bucks are most predictable in the summer time, especially around bean fields. This is one of the reasons why I am not a fan of the velvet hunt.

I agree. I am NOT a fan of the velvet hunts. Mature bucks are too easily killed in late summer as they access ag fields.

 

[348Winchester]

I hunt two different areas. One is in southern Scott County on the western edge of the Cumberland Mountains. This area is old reclaimed strip mines. The other area is 10 miles west as the crow flies in northern Morgan County a couple of miles east of the southern end of The BIg South Fork of the Cumberland River. It is a softly rolling mixture of medium to large sized woods interspersed with fields and meadows.

The deer in the mountains tend to bed at higher elevations and seem to prefer benches and points of ridges or points of spur ridges. They also seem to prefer the leeward sides of the ridges for their beds. It seems like they want to be able to spring from their beds and in a bound or two be heading down a hollow.

The deer in the rolling terrain around my home appear to bed moer randomly but still like to be on the higher areas as a general rule.

 

[BSK]

The deer in the mountains tend to bed at higher elevations and seem to prefer benches and points of ridges or points of spur ridges.

This is VERY true of the ridge-and-hollow hardwood areas of the Highland Rim where I do most of my research. In fact, these "points of spur ridges" - which I call 'secondary points' - are THE places to look for big signpost rubs, usually on cedar trees.

 

[348Winchester]

This is VERY true of the ridge-and-hollow hardwood areas of the Highland Rim where I do most of my research. In fact, these "points of spur ridges" - which I call 'secondary points' - are THE places to look for big signpost rubs, usually on cedar trees.

I have noticed that if a spur ridge has a laurel thicket on one side, most often the southern side, bucks will favor bedding there much of the time unless it's unseasonably warm then they'll favor the northern face.

 

[TheLBLman]

I'd guess that, other than 7 or 8 acres of food plots, our entire farm has potential as a "deer bedding area" . . . .

Actually, mature bucks will sometimes bed right in the middle of a food plot or field, but usually at night. Same goes for open mature hardwoods with little "cover".

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

Actually, mature bucks will sometimes bed right in the middle of a food plot or field, but usually at night. Same goes for open mature hardwoods with little "cover".

Absolutely, I have many pictures of mature bucks bedding at night in food plots.

 

[BSK]

Absolutely, I have many pictures of mature bucks bedding at night in food plots.

Same.

The craziest ones are the pictures/videos I have of bucks lying down and falling asleep right in the middle of big traditional scrapes!

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Same.

The craziest ones are the pictures/videos I have of bucks lying down and falling asleep right in the middle of big traditional scrapes!

Same