Bedding Areas

[thephatchef]

Just wanting some advice on how close you should hang a stand near a bedding area. I found and confirmed a great bedding area while she'd hunting, and it looks like a previous owner had hung a stand almost right in it. The chains are well imbedded into the tree now. Just wondering how close is too close to a bedding area given good wind.

 

[cjgarrett]

It all depends on access, wind and time of year. It also depends on travel patterns of the deer using the bedding area. I hung one last year 25 yard off of an overgrown hay field with lots of cedars and hedge trees. Normally i do not like to get that close but on this set i can walk the bottom of a ridge, out of sight, in the afternoons and sneak up in the tree unseen. I have climbed into the tree and watched deer stand up and stretch within 75 yards. I only hunted this stand during the rut when i knew bucks would be traveling into bedding areas to scent check.

 

[Spysar]

Is it a buck bedding area, or doe area? What time of year will you be hunting it?

 

[6x6]

Your ability to get in and out clean will be the deciding factor. You may be able to get away with getting caught a couple times early november, but I would setup with the intention of being able to hunt those deer undetected for the whole season with a progression of stand/blinds to stay ahead of the changing patterns. I am probably overly conservative and kill most of my bow bucks the end of november and after shotgun, during late season, though.

 

[thephatchef]

Last year I saw 4-5 bucks come in and bed together at the end of October when they "should have been" fighting. They came in the morning a couple hours after sunrise, and from a direction opposite the way I'd walk in. It's the top of a ridge point that has heavy trails from the valley up to it, and from the timber pasture flat above it. So depending on wind I can get in either from the east or west, above or below.

 

[6x6]

That sounds like a killer setup then. Keep your in and out trail raked clean of leaves as they fall and it should be great. The trick is to figure out where is close enough but not too close. Usually I like to follow a drainage up to the top and no farther.

 

[AIRASSAULT]

Nothing ventured.. nothing gained.. At least, you'll learn what not to do.. or, you may have a hot doe come in and bed right under you. I would hold off until the last few days of October to try it though.. Personally, I have no choice but to set up in bedding area every time with a horrible entrance skylining me and prevaling winds always blowing directly into the woods because I only own a 10 acre strip that is 70 yards wide.. sure, youll scare deer.. i do almost every day i hunt and ive still managed to take a 168, 156, and 140's class on it inthe last two yrs..

 

[Spysar]

Last year I saw 4-5 bucks come in and bed together at the end of October when they "should have been" fighting. They came in the morning a couple hours after sunrise, and from a direction opposite the way I'd walk in. It's the top of a ridge point that has heavy trails from the valley up to it, and from the timber pasture flat above it. So depending on wind I can get in either from the east or west, above or below.

Were any of them mature bucks? October is a little early for breeding, and woudn't think all bucks would be full out fighting then. Sure some will, but not all.

Go in there right now. Go to the exact spot they are bedded. Look around and see what you can see. You want to be just outside of what you see from the beds. Don't go back and hunt until the wind is perfect.

 

[KnuckleDragr]

I will punch right in to bedding areas, but wont even think about it til the rut is winding down. And only as a last ditch effort to tag a nice buck that I know is using that particular area. Like mentioned before though; you wont get in there maybe once or twice before the deer move on because in most intances they wont tolerate the intrusion. Then I wait a couple weeks before hunting close to that area again.

 

[hoosierhunter]

Hunting in a bedding area is the quickest way to ruin a special spot. Mature deer, not just mature bucks do not tolerate this.

Most of the guys who do this cannot come to terms with the damage a single invasive move creates.

Intrusion on his core bedding area will relocate him immediately if detected.

Make no mistake there is a difference between hunting big deer vs fully mature deer.

 

[6x6]

Hunting in a bedding area is the quickest way to ruin a special spot. Mature deer, not just mature bucks do not tolerate this.

Most of the guys who do this cannot come to terms with the damage a single invasive move creates.

Intrusion on his core bedding area will relocate him immediately if detected.

Make no mistake there is a difference between hunting big deer vs fully mature deer.

:way: A one shot deal. You better sit all day and hope you get him the first sit. Like Spysar said you need to be at least at the outside of what they see from the bedding area.

 

[SEIowaDeerslayer]

What was just said above. I have those killer spots too but I only hunt them once and only on perfect conditions and sit all day. Hunt them more than once and you'll likely just see small bucks, in my experience.

 

[60plus]

I don't want this to sound like a brag deal, and sorry if it does, but I have had some good success by hunting either on the edge or right in the middle of doe bedding areas. A 155,160, two 167's a 166nt, 171nt, 173, plus some others, all were tending a doe. Its a short lived proposition, by that I mean I don't go to these stands until the 10th of November up to around thanksgiving. I have several of these stands on three different farms. The key is to try and keep the does as undisturbed as possible until this time. When a good buck is going to spend a day or two with a doe, your chance for a shot dramatically increases when you can be in close proximity to where she wants to spend her daylight hrs. Its an all day set, go in early and come out late, and realize that your stands will deteriorate with each visit. Its worked for me anyway.

 

[Liv4Rut]

If I was worried about hunting in a bedding area I would never hunt. Most the places I hunt are so thick with hedge, locust, multiflora rose that they bed anywhere and everywhere. There is never one set spot all the deer bed. Just have to hunt good winds and move around quite a bit.

 

[hoosierhunter]

I don't want this to sound like a brag deal, and sorry if it does, but I have had some good success by hunting either on the edge or right in the middle of doe bedding areas. A 155,160, two 167's a 166nt, 171nt, 173, plus some others, all were tending a doe. Its a short lived proposition, by that I mean I don't go to these stands until the 10th of November up to around thanksgiving. I have several of these stands on three different farms. The key is to try and keep the does as undisturbed as possible until this time. When a good buck is going to spend a day or two with a doe, your chance for a shot dramatically increases when you can be in close proximity to where she wants to spend her daylight hrs. Its an all day set, go in early and come out late, and realize that your stands will deteriorate with each visit. Its worked for me anyway.

I agree its doable but 95% of people won't have this success. It takes a 1%er hunter to accomplish that.

 

[60plus]

I agree its doable but 95% of people won't have this success. It takes a 1%er hunter to accomplish that.

I think we may be talkin apples and oranges a bit. IMO trying to take a mature buck in HIS bedding area early in the season or prerut is a lot different, than trying to take him in a doe bedding area during the rut. Hes about as vulnerable as he is ever going to be, when he is tending a doe. Trying to take him in his bedding area is risky business. I will only try to catch him coming to and from, and of course everything has to be in your favor, and hope you don't get caught. If he does catch you then its unlikely you will see him do that again, until he regains his security there.

 

[cjgarrett]

Its all about doing your homework! I have killed two of my biggest bucks right on the edge of their bedding area. Most guys will never edge a bedding area, but a lot of guys do not actually know where "major" bedding areas are. I shot those two bucks out of the same tree. In this particular spot there is a 2-3 acre cedar, rose bush, underbrush thicket right off of an oak flat. The oak flat is to the east, it is a hay field to the west and a ridge to the south. My set up is 20 yards to the south of the thicket in a pinch point on the ridge. The first buck was cruising down wind of the bedding area scent checking. The second was actually tending a doe and came out of the bedding area i believe they were going to the pond farther to the south.

 

[hoosierhunter]

I think we may be talkin apples and oranges a bit. IMO trying to take a mature buck in HIS bedding area early in the season or prerut is a lot different, than trying to take him in a doe bedding area during the rut. Hes about as vulnerable as he is ever going to be, when he is tending a doe. Trying to take him in his bedding area is risky business. I will only try to catch him coming to and from, and of course everything has to be in your favor, and hope you don't get caught. If he does catch you then its unlikely you will see him do that again, until he regains his security there.

Yep I'm talking about trying to kill him in HIS spot which usually equals a bad idea.

Hunting a doe bedding area is still tough but as mentioned your not targeting a specific buck as opposed to a cruiser.

 

[60plus]

Yep I'm talking about trying to kill him in HIS spot which usually equals a bad idea.

Hunting a doe bedding area is still tough but as mentioned your not targeting a specific buck as opposed to a cruiser.

Yes for sure. Nothing is more exciting to me than setting in a bedding area with a hot doe around. You can be second guessing yourself one minute about coming to the stand your in, and the next minute you can have a couple of real Bruisers standing in front of you. Two seasons ago I had a 160 class 10pt chase a doe into a creek bottom I was in. 2 minutes later I had nine different Bucks standing within 50yds of me. Three of them bedded down 30 yards from my stand. For the next 20 minutes or so nobody moved. Then finally a 140 class 8pt made a bold move on the doe, which forced the 10 to make a move on him, 20 seconds later they were all gone over the ridge out of sight. I never could get a shot at the big 10, but the intensity of that is something I live for.