Deer movement

[74MOPAR]

Pretty cool study , not sure if this was posted before.

 

[Snake]

Pretty cool study , not sure if this was posted before.View attachment 286349View attachment 286350

Looks like @Specializedjon net !

 

[BSK]

I always hear hunters talking about a buck's bedding location as a singularity. However, in the GPS collar studies I was involved in, that was not my observations at all. However, the studies I worked on were not in "Big Ag" type locations. They were conducted in "Big Woods" environments with just scattered food plots as the primary food source. These studies were conducted a number of years ago, when GPS collar technology was not like it is today. Battery life and data storage capacity were limited, so we had the collars collecting a position every 20 minutes for 3 months during the fall. What we found over those 3 months from numerous deer is that none of them ever bedded in the same place twice. They did not have a "preferred" bedding area, just preferred bedding habitat. They would seek out the best bedding habitat in the general location of where they were at the time.

 

[MFDfire15]

I always hear hunters talking about a buck's bedding location as a singularity. However, in the GPS collar studies I was involved in, that was not my observations at all. However, the studies I worked on were not in "Big Ag" type locations. They were conducted in "Big Woods" environments with just scattered food plots as the primary food source. These studies were conducted a number of years ago, when GPS collar technology was not like it is today. Battery life and data storage capacity were limited, so we had the collars collecting a position every 20 minutes for 3 months during the fall. What we found over those 3 months from numerous deer is that none of them ever bedded in the same place twice. They did not have a "preferred" bedding area, just preferred bedding habitat. They would seek out the best bedding habitat in the general location of where they were at the time.

Interesting

 

[WTNBowHunter]

I always hear hunters talking about a buck's bedding location as a singularity. However, in the GPS collar studies I was involved in, that was not my observations at all. However, the studies I worked on were not in "Big Ag" type locations. They were conducted in "Big Woods" environments with just scattered food plots as the primary food source. These studies were conducted a number of years ago, when GPS collar technology was not like it is today. Battery life and data storage capacity were limited, so we had the collars collecting a position every 20 minutes for 3 months during the fall. What we found over those 3 months from numerous deer is that none of them ever bedded in the same place twice. They did not have a "preferred" bedding area, just preferred bedding habitat. They would seek out the best bedding habitat in the general location of where they were at the time.

"Buck bedding" is simply quality bedding in my mind. The more quality bedding I can locate on the landscape, and access to hunt in/around with the best wind, the higher my chances are at seeing a mature buck. The tv personalities that tout "buck bedding" is funny to me…"lures don't catch fish they catch fisherman"

 

[Ski]

I always hear hunters talking about a buck's bedding location as a singularity. However, in the GPS collar studies I was involved in, that was not my observations at all. However, the studies I worked on were not in "Big Ag" type locations. They were conducted in "Big Woods" environments with just scattered food plots as the primary food source. These studies were conducted a number of years ago, when GPS collar technology was not like it is today. Battery life and data storage capacity were limited, so we had the collars collecting a position every 20 minutes for 3 months during the fall. What we found over those 3 months from numerous deer is that none of them ever bedded in the same place twice. They did not have a "preferred" bedding area, just preferred bedding habitat. They would seek out the best bedding habitat in the general location of where they were at the time.

I'm not one to be a science denier but this is one of those instances where science is incomplete at best, if not outright misleading.

In order to kill a mature, specifically targeted buck with a bow, the hunter must know three things. First is when the buck will be in the hunt area. Second is where the buck prefers to bed while in the area. Third is where he goes at night to eat. Not only does the hunter have to know these things, he/she has to know it well enough to put themselves inside of a 20yd archery shot of the animal's movement to & from. Close enough in the evening to catch him before dark and far enough away in the morning to have enough daylight to get him before he beds. That's a whole lot of variables that have to perfectly align yet many hunters get it done with far more than enough regularity to be random chance. That means bedding isn't random. There's a disconnect between what hunters experience and what the science suggests.

And I know I'm not the only person to have ever seen a large singular bed that is so worn in from years of use that it's left a depression in the soil. That doesn't happen from a buck randomly laying down for an hour or two & never laying there again. The depression & wear comes from generational use. Again, I'm not a science denier but in this instance the science is lacking. Perhaps it'll get there but it's not there yet.

 

[BSK]

There's a disconnect between what hunters experience and what the science suggests.

Correct, and in this particular situation - big woods, no agriculture, scattered patches of bedding cover, and scattered food plots - if a hunter thinks older bucks have one preferred bedding area, they are wrong. For the three fall months we monitored deer wearing collars, and some were older bucks, no deer bedded in the same place twice (and these collars were accurate to 3 meters). In fact, not even close. The bedded in the best cover close to where they were at the time (on their daily routes, which for older bucks were quite large as the rut approached).