Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

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ghoasthunter
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Wed Feb 14, 2018 1:55 pm

NorthwoodsWiscoHnter wrote:So you find an area that you are guessing is a buck bedding area and has a potential slob/giant/toad/monster hanging out. Are you tempted to put a trail cam on the edge of it? Would it be fine to go in once, find the area, leave a camera for a few months? What are your thoughts?

I put it on the best exit trail about 15 feet high


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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Babshaft » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:23 pm

ghoasthunter wrote:
NorthwoodsWiscoHnter wrote:So you find an area that you are guessing is a buck bedding area and has a potential slob/giant/toad/monster hanging out. Are you tempted to put a trail cam on the edge of it? Would it be fine to go in once, find the area, leave a camera for a few months? What are your thoughts?

I put it on the best exit trail about 15 feet high


How close to the bedding area do you place it? What factors do you use to determine that’s the best exit trail?

Thanks ghoast!
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby FRH » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:29 pm

I've done this the last couple of years, either on a specific bed or on a trail leading to bedding. I find it most useful on hard to reach areas that I don't plan on hunting that year. That way I can gain intel for following years and am not tempted to check it before the season is up.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:27 pm

Babshaft wrote:
ghoasthunter wrote:
NorthwoodsWiscoHnter wrote:So you find an area that you are guessing is a buck bedding area and has a potential slob/giant/toad/monster hanging out. Are you tempted to put a trail cam on the edge of it? Would it be fine to go in once, find the area, leave a camera for a few months? What are your thoughts?

I put it on the best exit trail about 15 feet high


How close to the bedding area do you place it? What factors do you use to determine that’s the best exit trail?

Thanks ghoast!
I put my camera right in close and leave it for months at a time during the hunting season then pic them up shed hunting. during the season I only check cameras on travel corridors if I pic up a direction of travel on a buck I will hunt beds in the direction he was going. for picking an exit trail I choose the trail that's most used and has the biggest rubs or a scrape on it bigger bucks will exit a little differently once they exit a bed they are going to travel in a direction where they can use there senses to fullest once they leave there safety zone typically as far as they can see hear or smell from bed . this is a staging area where you will find the scrapes and rubs. think smell and sight for finding the staging. a small point or finger below bedding. or a wind tunnel they will use thermals from water to stage a drainage or vantage point. every bed is going to be different when I find a bed ill spend several hours scouting and trying to envision how the deer are moving.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Babshaft » Thu Feb 15, 2018 5:23 am

Awesome ghoast, thanks.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Rob loper » Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:30 am

Since im a newbie Let me learn finding the beds and do the setups figuring out the terrain features and deal with the thermals and wind direction first also figuring out correct Entry and exit routes then ill try cameras. Besides i still need a gps. Lmao.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Missionshooter » Sun Feb 18, 2018 12:31 pm

I am planning on putting 4 trail cams up over beds from Sept 20-Dec 1 next yr on Public.

I have actually bumped bucks out of 3 of the 4.


I am hunting hill country, so these beds are well established and there aren't many other possible places to bed on the leeward side of these particular points coming off the ridges.

I have always heard that in hill country the bucks do not use the beds as consistently. There is only one way to find out and a trail cam, if positioned right will be able to tell you how often the bed is used.


I am excited!
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby <DK> » Fri Feb 23, 2018 4:15 am

rfickes87 wrote:
southernyankee wrote:hey rfickes87, those are some awesome captures. What's the most consistency youve found with bucks in specific beds? Is it just a few times a season or are there bucks youve had in the same bed consistently?


I've only really done this for the last 2 years so don't completely take what I'm saying to heart. BUT,

In the instance above, that first buck I posted, the bigger buck, he used that bed 4 times, that I know of stepping in view of the camera. It was set up for a SW wind. I took some time one day and looked at all those pictures and I logged the wind for everyday that camera was there, even the days I didn't get a picture. I think there were 6 SW winds. he showed up 4 times on camera and every time it was a SW wind. I was soooooo amazed at how specific he was to the wind. It was just amazing to me. I couldn't believe it. And who knows for sure, those other 2 SW winds he could of been standing beside the camera and it just didn't get him in frame.

That 2nd Buck, the young 10 pointer. That bed was on out the ridge another 100 yards. Set up for a W wind. He showed up about 4 or 5 times on camera, always in daylight, I guess at times when he should have been bedded but he never laid down. He was just walking around... There were about 5 other bucks his size or a little smaller that showed up on camera too. Again I checked the wind and basically I found it was something like %80-90 percent of all West wind days I got a picture of a buck. and I NEVER got a single picture on an East wind day.

So in summary, your question about consistency on specific beds... Its not very often at all. 1 specific buck to 1 specific bed. BUT, its extremely often that any buck is somewhere in that West wind bedding area.

I've learned since then to not to put as much stock into 1 certain bed, but rather the whole bedding area. A good bedding area is like a hotel. You go on a trip somewhere and stay in a hotel and it might be the same one you go to every time you make that same trip but you probably stay in a different room/bed.


:clap: Great write up and info
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby cmbrown337 » Sat Feb 24, 2018 1:56 am

rfickes87 wrote:just for some reference... this old boy never spooked. At least not till a tractor came thru and mowed down all his back cover!!!! :angry-banghead:

I had the camera about 10 feet from the bed...

Image

Image

Image

Image


Great pics!
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby cmbrown337 » Sat Feb 24, 2018 2:03 am

brancher147 wrote:Cameras don't spook deer if setup correctly, people spook deer. I have been putting them on beds and near where I hunt for years and have never seen any indication of any deer spooking.

The main things with a bed camera is having a good entry and exit, knowing when to check the camera depending on weather and wind and when the bed is likely empty, and not checking it too much. If I put one up on buck or doe bedding I want to leave it for at least a month or more or may not check it for an entire season, it just depends on access and weather conditions.


Great points brancher. I plan on using multiple cameras on this year to try and find the entrance/exit routes the buck is using. I won’t be putting my
Camera near the beds though probably a couple hundred yards away. I may put one up closer and let it be for the entire season though.

I think it’s important to use the same entry/exit strategies you would when hunting when checking you camera, use the wind to your advantage and check the camera either during a rain or right before a rain to wash away any ground scent.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby bh bowhunter » Tue Mar 06, 2018 2:37 pm

I found this bedding area back in January while scouting for the sheds of a buck I've been hunting a couple years. I found a few fresh beds and a lot of tracks but no rubs. One track was good size, possibly a mature buck. This is a text book spot as there is thick cover on a hilltop that opens up to semi open more mature timber below.
I just checked this camera to see if bucks are bedding here.

The video's showed a couple bucks, without there antlers, using the beds. Does are also bedding here. Question is, is Mr. Big using it? I hope the camera will let me know before the season opens. My plan is to come back in April and prep a tree, then leave the spot alone till I hunt it sometime in October. This is gonna be an experiment for me on whether having a camera in a bedding area is a good idea or not....
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby bh bowhunter » Tue Mar 06, 2018 2:42 pm

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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Net Guy » Tue Mar 06, 2018 3:29 pm

I’ve had decent luck setting up cameras downwind from known doe bedding areas to get inventory of the area. Usually, the camera is setup on a real or mock scrape and about 10-12’ up. If I have an area that has two different bedding areas a couple hundred yards apart, I’ll set the camera up in between them. The key is to let them soak and don’t check them often.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Babshaft » Thu Mar 08, 2018 12:12 am

Net Guy wrote:I’ve had decent luck setting up cameras downwind from known doe bedding areas to get inventory of the area. Usually, the camera is setup on a real or mock scrape and about 10-12’ up. If I have an area that has two different bedding areas a couple hundred yards apart, I’ll set the camera up in between them. The key is to let them soak and don’t check them often.


Cool strategy man. What time frame do you use that tactic? During the pre rut/rut? All season?
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Net Guy » Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:34 am

Babshaft wrote:
Net Guy wrote:I’ve had decent luck setting up cameras downwind from known doe bedding areas to get inventory of the area. Usually, the camera is setup on a real or mock scrape and about 10-12’ up. If I have an area that has two different bedding areas a couple hundred yards apart, I’ll set the camera up in between them. The key is to let them soak and don’t check them often.


Cool strategy man. What time frame do you use that tactic? During the pre rut/rut? All season?


I will leave it all season, but I like to check them just once sometime during the rut. This helps me determine if I should continue to hunt the area or not. I'll set the camera out in late spring on spots I either scouted during the offseason that look like good rut places or spots that I experienced good rut activity the season before. Many times it's based on my experience from the season before. Because I don't have many cameras (4-5 between the group) I pick my spots carefully. I make sure the spots I set the camera are areas that I know I can throw multiple different sits in during the year. Areas that I know I can only sit once I don't bother.


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