The Hunting Beast

After a few seasons of scouting and miles of boots on the ground I have come across this multiple times here in PA. I have found these dynamite hiding spot beds, hair in them, only room for 1 deer, matted down, no way it's satellite bedding etc, but there is one catch--the buck's view from the bed is obstructed.

We have had a few legendary fugitives over the years in PA who have evaded the law and when I saw these beds, the first thing I thought was, " This is where a criminal could hide out and honestly it would be very hard for anyone to every find them here." It's in thick brush and the back side of it is almost impenetrable--, so that's where the buck's back goes. However, as I sat in the beds just as the buck would, (and again I did this in multiple beds) his vision would be limited. What he could see would be blocked by all kinds of stuff in front of him. Not totally blocked, but he definitely did not have a clear view of 40-60 yds in front.

So what gives? Am I missing something? Or is he there because he gets a thermal kicking back at him right in front of his face?

I just have seen too many times where a good bed has some of the view in front of it somewhat obstructed and am wondering how that all fits in.

Thoughts?

I've hunted many spots where the beds are surrounded by 8 foot cattails, those deer can't see anything.

You’re not missing anything. They sound like awesome beds. I’ve given a few Hill guys advice on marshes the last few years, and one of the first things I tell them is hill bucks bed defensively as in “I’ll either smell them or see them.”

Marsh bucks (at least around here) think “They’ll NEVER find me here. And if they do, I can easily escape.”

Heck of a topic title

Remember hearing is still one of a bucks better defense senses. They hear something they don't like. And quietly slip into the cover if they feel the need. They may even just stand, listen and smell for awhile. Then slip around nose to wind and bed back down. If they feel the danger never came near or has passed.

A deers nose is its most dominant sense. We use our eyes and try and to translate that to deer. I’ve been picked off in a tree as odd but not had the deer burst out until they hit my scent stream. It probably didn’t know exactly what I was. Some bedding is set with vision as the primary defense, think a hillside over looking an access. However there are a lot of bedding areas with poor vision possibilities but super beneficial wind currents or thermals. Points, peninsulas, islands in swamps, etc. Some bedding seems two sided defense scent from behind vision to the front or vice versa. In big woods areas deer often cluster beds in tangles of blow downs in otherwise somewhat open hardwoods. The genius of bedding in these blowdown areas is that it is nearly impossible to get close without making a racket not to mention your scent. The vision is very limited in these areas so I’m pretty sure deer bed in these areas planning to use their nose and ears as their primary defense.

Most of the Beds here in the river bottoms a deer cant see 5ft from the bed, it's an impenetrable wall of saw briars and small saplings. You'll see a bed or two off of field edges or in river bends/oxbows some, but once season starts and pressure gets up they head for the thickets. In some of the mountain ground i hunt in the western part of the state it's your typical hill bedding where they will bed around the military Crest and like a good view, but its mostly hardwoods there with scattered pines.

I know of very few beds where a buck has a sight advantage or even much of any view at all to be honest. They are all set up for maximum scenting ability using wind/thermals. In marshes and swamps I think many bucks survive with their ears as much as their nose. Most beds in the real thick stuff they can’t see danger early enough to escape. It’s all about sound in many cases and anything alerts them and they slip out unnoticed most of the time. I’m always amazed how a buck can quietly sneak out of an area I can barely crawl thru.

Fellow pennsy hill Hunter, and I have seen it quite often where they can't see very far in front of them. I wouldn't rule anything out based on sight. I have noticed beds near access usually have good line of sight though.

Watch the latest episode of THP. Nice big buck in thick cattails. Couldnt See at thing. They put a stalk on. Didnt get him but a good show.

I have had the same observation several times. I typically jump them when I do find them while scouting. It seems like they will hold out as long as possible before bolting too just to see if you were going to walk by.

Most beds I find don’t have much of a view.
This is typical of what a bedding area looks like in the marshes I hunt.

They dont rely on just eyesight... they depend on their hearing and smell so much... some beds are non wind specific bedding and some are thermal beddings.. some are in such thick stuff the buck will hear ya log ways off... I just know that they bed there for one of their senses