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Bedding areas

Been hunting for 15 years or so on 100 acre pieces in zone 11. I always read and see videos on locating bedding areas and set stands on the edges for the rut. On the pieces I hunt over the years I’ve jumped deer that were bedded on almost any spot on the properties. Just wanted to know if anybody that hunts small pieces like me have tips. I seem to shoot a deer every year but it almost seems like luck and they don’t come from where I expect. Any ideas would be helpful

Small 100 acre pieces!? My spots must be micro. Lol. I think a deer will bed down just about anywhere at anytime. But do have consistent areas that they bed in. Tall grass, swamps, thick THICK areas, ridges ( they’ll bed on the side of a cliff because they’re able to hear anything coming up or down). On a 100 acre piece I would just find the best deer trails and set up on those. They’ll be coming from food in am and heading towards food at night. Play wind and shoot deer. Go get em

That’s where I have the trouble, piece behind my house is about 70 acres of woods surrounded by houses on all sides, I believe the deer just browse and hit backyards for food. I have had deer on all four corners of piece at different times of day. Some mornings I leave my yard and even jump deer and some morning I see the same deer on the opposite street in someone’s yard. Wasn’t really clear on that.

I agree they bed anywhere at anytime. Hell I still don’t know where they bed exactly in some of my spots I’ve been at for years. Best to find them in the snow.

Yes they do bed most anywhere it seems......but here is what I have learned and honestly all I really try to find now is bedding areas. They do bed in anywhere but also have favorite spots they bed in frequently. It's possible in a 70 acre piece they could not have a routine spot. Depends on the cover. Three things I do to find these more routine spots. In shotgun season get out and walk in mid day hours and make note of where you jump deer in mid day hours. In the winter in the snow scout you butt off and look for beds. Make note of where you see beds in relation to where u jumped them in gun season. If u find them in the same area that's great. In the offseason when I scout I try to go in between 11 am and 2 pm when deer are typically bedded. Make note of where you bump them or see them milling . In the mid day they don't wander far from a bed to feed. If you see deer in a field during mid day you can kinda bet they bedded not far off. Routine bedding areas are also typically loaded with droppings as they usually poop shortly after rising. My best stands are 70-100 yds away from bedding areas. I don't always see bucks but sure do se a lot of does.

Deer don’t really just bed anywhere. Sure they will rest frequently but not for prolonged periods of time. Deer have core bedding, does usually bed in groups and bucks are typically loners. I’ve noticed older bucks (3 years old and up) like to bed up high at a point or a finger overlooking a draw/hillside with thick cover at the top. They will typically bed with the wind coming from the cover and watch the draw/hillside. Younger bucks and does are more social with each other and rely on each other to survive better and bed together typically. Look for similar larger thickets up high on ridges or on the edges of clear cuts or swamps. If you find doe bedding, it’s great to hunt the edges near crossing deer trails during the rut to catch bucks scent checking with a similar perpendicular wind. If your property is mostly open hardwoods and fairly flat the chances deer are using it as a core bedding area are slim. Doesn’t mean they won’t feed or travel through it though. I own 100 acres in VT that was all open hardwoods with no deer bedding in it anywhere. Our success came from relying on the rut mainly catching deer chasing or cruising bucks looking for does. We started to hinge cut trees and opened up the canopies at the top of the ridges to promote undergrowth which creates deer bedding and it has been working for the last 10 years. Our stands are set up 50-100 yards of bedded deer and we can’t hunt some stands if the wind is wrong or we won’t see a deer that sit. Our success has tripled if not quadrupled from finding and hunting deer core bedding areas. If you find one you should be golden just don’t mess it up by hunting in a bad wind or frequently walking through it. Access is just as important as locating one remember that. I’ve had deer come from down wind but I’m almost always certain the wind was actually swirling or thermals were carrying my scent just off their noses.

I scouted a bedding area tonight. A little late in the summer to be stomping around bedding areas, but wanted to add another to the list. It's an elongated point extending from the NE to the SW. From aerial photos I assumed bucks would bed near the tip of the point with wind blowing from a north-easterly direction while they looked out across the open marsh. Right on the tip of the point were two worn beds facing the marsh and clumps of buck turds about as wide as a beer bottle that looked to be about a day old. Looked up wind directions the past couple mornings and there was wind out of the NE both mornings around the time deer would be coming back to bed. Not a common wind, but they seem to use it when blowing from that direction. I'm sure you'll get a ton of awesome responses here, check out the hunting beast also, it's essentially a whole forum about deer bedding.

Dude HSFC, Infalt got me totally re-thinking how to efficiently hunt deer. Since my family and I have been finding, scouting, and hunting core bedding areas (buck or doe) our success/sightings have gone way up. The only thing I don't really do like him is remove my boots and walk in chest high water and muck and to stalk and get close bedded deer or climb 15-20 ft in a 4 inch diameter dead tree hahah. I'm not that serious about it. Anyway, I started hunting closer to bedding in 2016 on public land and its paid off big time. After seeing the total turn around on numbers of deer harvested and sightings from our stands over the last 10 years on our property in VT by creating core bedding I now know deer don't actually venture too far from their selected "safe zones" too often, especially during daylight. They love and need 3 things (security cover, close by food, and close by water) find secure bedding near food sources and water and your going to see deer no doubt. Another thing to note is if finding and being able to recognize deer beds seems tough for you, well it is but once you find one and observe how its set up you will get way better at recognizing the tell tale signs of a deer bed or a core bedding area. When I first started trying to find them I almost gave up until I actually found one, then another, and another and it got easier and easier as I kept scouting and looking and observing. Late winter is always the best time to try and locate beds but it can be done now.

Joe, it has really changed the way I've been scouting the last year and a half also. My deer sightings went through the roof last season. And I haven't done the 20 feet up a dead tree yet either, not on purpose anyway, but I have been bushwhacking through a swamp or two. If you'll notice this post is signed in with my account with a lower case h (no idea why laptop and phone sign in to different accounts) I sank through a mat of cattails yesterday and soaked my phone, woke up and it was stone cold dead this morning haha. Gotta start carrying a ziplock baggy with me.

HFSC/Buckshot, I need of listen/read more of Infalt's stuff. Sounds great, and the little I've checked out is cool. You guys raised a few questions for me, and I dont want to hijack this thread, so I'm going to start another...

Joe, good thing its warm out sinking during the late fall would suck @$$. Hope your phone recovers fully I lost an iPhone or two due to water damage on my hunting/scouting trips. I transferred to your other thread Will because you brought up a good point with rotational deer movement and the theories on why it happens. I don't mind hijacking though, any conversation is good conversation. The MA forum is the absolute most active forum in the northeast if not the entire east coast on this site.

Buckshot - good to have you posting up. CT and MA have a lot of traffic, though oddly CT seems a little quieter this year. MA has an awesome bunch of folks. Enhanced by Peter's "Tree Saddle get together and feast" last spring, this is a really fun, positive forum! I know I learn a lot here!

HFSC, I missed that you dropped your phone in the drink. That blows - hope it "recovers" so to speak!

Tmac, deer seem to bed where ever they want so don't over thik it. Go out and hunt and enjoy ur time in the woods. Right place Right time! The more time you spend in the woods eventually it all comes together. Just hunt!

No need to feel bad about the phone dudes. I do this probably once a year, phone in a swamp, over the edge of a canoe, even in a deep fryer once. Told my wife about it last night, she didn't say these exact words, but her eyes sure said, "Again!? You're an idiot...."

Joe, I learned never to pee over a toilet with a phone inside the pocket of a hoodie.

Ditch the iPhone and get a Galaxy S9. I can drop my phone in the river fishing, snap a pic (UNDER WATER) and then call my wife to tell her I'm so glad that my phone is water tight to 7 feet.

BUT, investing in a floating lanyard is a good idea if you use it on a kayak or in deep water :)

Good plan Will. Switching to T-mobile next week. They offer 50% off military for life and will pay off my verizon phone and any cancellation fees and will actually initiate the cancellation process for you. I might sell the iPhone and get a water proof phone next year.

Be careful Buckshot T-Mobile has poor coverage compared to Verizon

Fortunately this one was still under warranty. New one arrives tomorrow.

Spike, that's what I heard too. However, this part of the country seems to have no real coverage problems across the top 3 cell carriers (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile). I know about a dozen people who have T-Mobile and say their service is fine up and down the east coast. They run into issues in upstate Maine, VT, and NH and in the Midwest but then again my Verizon service is the same way up in VT and northern ME and NH. Haven't been to the Midwest yet with Verizon so I wouldn't know. I am usually on WiFi while at home so I'm not worried anyway. I was hoping I could convince Verizon to cut me a deal since I've been with them since 2005. I brought the T-Mobile military promotional service plan and cost breakdown to show them and to see if they could match it or at least come close and they basically showed me the door.

Yup it’s a shame cell carriers are not good to their current long time customers.

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