Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

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DaveT1963
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 1:17 am

I use scouting to determine where and when to set up; I use cameras to tell me ifa buck I want to hunt is present. Outside taking inventory, or learning new properties (that's a whole different approach for me), once I get a pick of a buck I want to pursue, I am pretty much done trying to photograph him. And that picture is usually taken in a funnel leading in or out of his bedding/core area in a high percentage spot (to photograph him not kill him).... and I don't care if it is a day or night picture - I am just confirming his presence. Scouting has led me to the best ambush spots and I have trees already prepped, pictures lets me know that they are now worth sitting that season.


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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Tim H » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:04 am

DaveT1963 wrote:I use scouting to determine where and when to set up; I use cameras to tell me ifa buck I want to hunt is present. Outside taking inventory, or learning new properties (that's a whole different approach for me), once I get a pick of a buck I want to pursue, I am pretty much done trying to photograph him. And that picture is usually taken in a funnel leading in or out of his bedding/core area in a high percentage spot (to photograph him not kill him).... and I don't care if it is a day or night picture - I am just confirming his presence. Scouting has led me to the best ambush spots and I have trees already prepped, pictures lets me know that they are now worth sitting that season.


A lot of my trail cameras are setup over certain trails and scrape lines. I've never done it over bedding. But with hunting over a bedding area and buck sign, sometimes it's nice to know the caliber of buck/bucks are in the area. I kind of want to know if I'm after a good one. Knowing there is a good one in the area helps with confidence and keeps that fire going for me.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby MikePerry » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:18 am

I’ve put cameras over a couple beds the last few years as an experiment, I put them 10-15 feet from the bed. I only had the cameras there from June till mid October, the one bed in particular had two different mature bucks bed in it over the months, one used it more than the other but neither were consistent, the buck that used the bed the most was caught on camera booting a doe and two other 1 1/2 year old bucks out of that bed on different days. This was a wind specific bed as it was in a thick narrow hedgerow and they could see danger from both sides almost all the way around.

The other bed had a few different small buck using it through the summer and even a lone doe bedded there a couple times. A 2 1/2 year old buck used the bed the most consistently, this bed was used on all sorts of winds but it was tucked back into the thick stuff plus I never got a picture of a mature buck it it so you could also surmise that young bucks don’t know how to use the wind to their advantage was the reason it was used on different winds.

I will definitely try more cameras on beds in the future and I plan on leaving them out through the whole season and using the information for the next season. probably a good idea to put them up higher and check them maybe once through the season to make sure they are running properly. I had the cameras at ground level and checked them twice during the time they were up, did not seem to bother the deer at all.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Wolfofmibu » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:31 am

I like to put cams out by primary scrapes or mock scrapes close to the bedding as well. I put them out in may and don’t touch them till mid August . I only check them during a heavy down pour . I still got mature buck pictures on cam days after and In day light. I used to check them without rain and the cams weren’t as productive . So I like to wait for a nice rain. I also put them 10 foot up to reassure that and deer won’t spot the cam and so they can’t just walk up to it and smell it.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:04 am

NorthwoodsWiscoHnter wrote:
DaveT1963 wrote:I use scouting to determine where and when to set up; I use cameras to tell me ifa buck I want to hunt is present. Outside taking inventory, or learning new properties (that's a whole different approach for me), once I get a pick of a buck I want to pursue, I am pretty much done trying to photograph him. And that picture is usually taken in a funnel leading in or out of his bedding/core area in a high percentage spot (to photograph him not kill him).... and I don't care if it is a day or night picture - I am just confirming his presence. Scouting has led me to the best ambush spots and I have trees already prepped, pictures lets me know that they are now worth sitting that season.


A lot of my trail cameras are setup over certain trails and scrape lines. I've never done it over bedding. But with hunting over a bedding area and buck sign, sometimes it's nice to know the caliber of buck/bucks are in the area. I kind of want to know if I'm after a good one. Knowing there is a good one in the area helps with confidence and keeps that fire going for me.


I think we have same goal just different approaches? Personally, I believe that you can confirm a bucks presence and use of a bedding area without setting a camera up in the actual bedding area. I just think it is too risky and you may alert the deer and turn him nocturnal putting the camera in his core area. A camera 200 yards away on an entry/exit trial to bedding can also confirm his presence without disturbing his bedding. it doesn't matter if it is a night or day pic you know where he was heading or going to bed - that is what is important. Once you know he is using the bedding area, scouting should have told you best locations to set up to kill him. I do believe first time in is best chance to arrow a buck most of the time - if he smells you checking a camera you are now settling for 2nd time in, or 3rd time in - unless you check the camera and hunt that same day. Kind of like sitting a ridge with spotting scope and seeing him enter a crop field in late august - you get a visual confirmation that he is using the bedding area without putting your scent in the area. Not sure I am explaining it well. Bottom line is that a buck may tolerate occasional scent outside his core area, but the older bucks usually become a totally different animal once they start smelling human scent in their bedding area - and once these older deer know they are begin pursued they get proportionately harder to kill IMO.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Tim H » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:30 am

DaveT1963 wrote:
NorthwoodsWiscoHnter wrote:
DaveT1963 wrote:I use scouting to determine where and when to set up; I use cameras to tell me ifa buck I want to hunt is present. Outside taking inventory, or learning new properties (that's a whole different approach for me), once I get a pick of a buck I want to pursue, I am pretty much done trying to photograph him. And that picture is usually taken in a funnel leading in or out of his bedding/core area in a high percentage spot (to photograph him not kill him).... and I don't care if it is a day or night picture - I am just confirming his presence. Scouting has led me to the best ambush spots and I have trees already prepped, pictures lets me know that they are now worth sitting that season.


A lot of my trail cameras are setup over certain trails and scrape lines. I've never done it over bedding. But with hunting over a bedding area and buck sign, sometimes it's nice to know the caliber of buck/bucks are in the area. I kind of want to know if I'm after a good one. Knowing there is a good one in the area helps with confidence and keeps that fire going for me.


I think we have same goal just different approaches? Personally, I believe that you can confirm a bucks presence and use of a bedding area without setting a camera up in the actual bedding area. I just think it is too risky and you may alert the deer and turn him nocturnal putting the camera in his core area. A camera 200 yards away on an entry/exit trial to bedding can also confirm his presence without disturbing his bedding. it doesn't matter if it is a night or day pic you know where he was heading or going to bed - that is what is important. Once you know he is using the bedding area, scouting should have told you best locations to set up to kill him. I do believe first time in is best chance to arrow a buck most of the time - if he smells you checking a camera you are now settling for 2nd time in, or 3rd time in - unless you check the camera and hunt that same day. Kind of like sitting a ridge with spotting scope and seeing him enter a crop field in late august - you get a visual confirmation that he is using the bedding area without putting your scent in the area. Not sure I am explaining it well. Bottom line is that a buck may tolerate occasional scent outside his core area, but the older bucks usually become a totally different animal once they start smelling human scent in their bedding area - and once these older deer know they are begin pursued they get proportionately harder to kill IMO.


I think we are agreeing on the same goal, however I've never targeted bucks in bedding areas. That part is definitely new to me and a goal of mine to figure out. That is why I created this thread because I'm not sure if it would be a good idea or not, to place cams in or near bedding areas. If I were to guess on how I'd do this process, I'd seek out a bedding area. In the event I'd find a spot where the sign is good, I think a good buck is in the area, I'd attempt to learn the entrance/exit routes. If I thought I could get away with a cam in the area, I'd put it outside of the bedding area where I think they would be traveling. Perhaps a rubline or scrape line. But I wouldn't put the camera in the bedding area and wouldn't but it over a bed. That's just me being cautious. I just wouldn't want to take the chance that buck would get skiddish. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I just wouldn't feel confident because I think bucks have different personalities and some put up with more than others. After setting up the cam, I wouldn't check it until I'd go in to hunt the spot, perhaps on the way to my kill tree. This is all a guess and an idea since I've never hunted this way.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby rfickes87 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:03 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.


I like what you said there.

Those pictures I shared above... Those 2 beds were on an east facing ridge top. set up for West winds. I just so happened to find them on a day the wind was East and I never bumped anything out of there (that I knew of). I think that really helped in getting the intel that I did. I think that east wind stayed that way for a few days too. So my scent had time to fade until by the time the wind turned back to west and the bucks started using that bed again. Is this, in part, what you have experienced too?
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby rfickes87 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:24 am

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.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Bigburner » Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:42 am

I put cameras in bedding areas all the time. but I don't check them until seasons over. I'll hunt in the vicinity but I use cameras mostly to get intel on a certain area and use it for next year and supplement it with observations on stand. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and sometimes I'll do it in consecutive years to account for environmental changes. Like food sources that differ from year to year. otherwise I use water sources early season to inventory and then transition my cameras to scrapes by early October. But its fun setting up cameras over beds just to see who what and how its being used as long as you aren't screwing up your hunting spot. Anything you can do to pick on tendencies is another ace up the sleeve.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby oneflag » Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:38 am

This is a couple pictures of the buck bed not far from where I park and walk in to hunt. I jumped this little buck several times during season. He is stubborn and bedded here on a south wind. There are 3 little rubs right around the bed. I even tried to sneak up on him a couple times. I wasn’t going to shot him. He would hold tight until I got about 30 yards then bust out like a rabbit. I put a camera there as an experiment and thought I would actually get a picture of him bedded down. Cheap trail camera probably missed the picture.

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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Babshaft » Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:53 am

DaveT1963 wrote:
NorthwoodsWiscoHnter wrote:
DaveT1963 wrote:I use scouting to determine where and when to set up; I use cameras to tell me ifa buck I want to hunt is present. Outside taking inventory, or learning new properties (that's a whole different approach for me), once I get a pick of a buck I want to pursue, I am pretty much done trying to photograph him. And that picture is usually taken in a funnel leading in or out of his bedding/core area in a high percentage spot (to photograph him not kill him).... and I don't care if it is a day or night picture - I am just confirming his presence. Scouting has led me to the best ambush spots and I have trees already prepped, pictures lets me know that they are now worth sitting that season.


A lot of my trail cameras are setup over certain trails and scrape lines. I've never done it over bedding. But with hunting over a bedding area and buck sign, sometimes it's nice to know the caliber of buck/bucks are in the area. I kind of want to know if I'm after a good one. Knowing there is a good one in the area helps with confidence and keeps that fire going for me.


I think we have same goal just different approaches? Personally, I believe that you can confirm a bucks presence and use of a bedding area without setting a camera up in the actual bedding area. I just think it is too risky and you may alert the deer and turn him nocturnal putting the camera in his core area. A camera 200 yards away on an entry/exit trial to bedding can also confirm his presence without disturbing his bedding. it doesn't matter if it is a night or day pic you know where he was heading or going to bed - that is what is important. Once you know he is using the bedding area, scouting should have told you best locations to set up to kill him. I do believe first time in is best chance to arrow a buck most of the time - if he smells you checking a camera you are now settling for 2nd time in, or 3rd time in - unless you check the camera and hunt that same day. Kind of like sitting a ridge with spotting scope and seeing him enter a crop field in late august - you get a visual confirmation that he is using the bedding area without putting your scent in the area. Not sure I am explaining it well. Bottom line is that a buck may tolerate occasional scent outside his core area, but the older bucks usually become a totally different animal once they start smelling human scent in their bedding area - and once these older deer know they are begin pursued they get proportionately harder to kill IMO.


Awesome info here guys.

Dave: What's the time frame you put your cameras up, and how often do you check them? Are you using them preseason and during the season? Do you find a negative impact on bedding area use after you check them?

Thanks
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:56 am

Babshaft wrote:
DaveT1963 wrote:
NorthwoodsWiscoHnter wrote:
DaveT1963 wrote:I use scouting to determine where and when to set up; I use cameras to tell me ifa buck I want to hunt is present. Outside taking inventory, or learning new properties (that's a whole different approach for me), once I get a pick of a buck I want to pursue, I am pretty much done trying to photograph him. And that picture is usually taken in a funnel leading in or out of his bedding/core area in a high percentage spot (to photograph him not kill him).... and I don't care if it is a day or night picture - I am just confirming his presence. Scouting has led me to the best ambush spots and I have trees already prepped, pictures lets me know that they are now worth sitting that season.


A lot of my trail cameras are setup over certain trails and scrape lines. I've never done it over bedding. But with hunting over a bedding area and buck sign, sometimes it's nice to know the caliber of buck/bucks are in the area. I kind of want to know if I'm after a good one. Knowing there is a good one in the area helps with confidence and keeps that fire going for me.


I think we have same goal just different approaches? Personally, I believe that you can confirm a bucks presence and use of a bedding area without setting a camera up in the actual bedding area. I just think it is too risky and you may alert the deer and turn him nocturnal putting the camera in his core area. A camera 200 yards away on an entry/exit trial to bedding can also confirm his presence without disturbing his bedding. it doesn't matter if it is a night or day pic you know where he was heading or going to bed - that is what is important. Once you know he is using the bedding area, scouting should have told you best locations to set up to kill him. I do believe first time in is best chance to arrow a buck most of the time - if he smells you checking a camera you are now settling for 2nd time in, or 3rd time in - unless you check the camera and hunt that same day. Kind of like sitting a ridge with spotting scope and seeing him enter a crop field in late august - you get a visual confirmation that he is using the bedding area without putting your scent in the area. Not sure I am explaining it well. Bottom line is that a buck may tolerate occasional scent outside his core area, but the older bucks usually become a totally different animal once they start smelling human scent in their bedding area - and once these older deer know they are begin pursued they get proportionately harder to kill IMO.


Awesome info here guys.

Dave: What's the time frame you put your cameras up, and how often do you check them? Are you using them preseason and during the season? Do you find a negative impact on bedding area use after you check them?

Thanks


If it is a property I know a good buck may be on - then I take inventory. I set up mineral licks in feb/March and put the cameras over them when I refresh in Apr/May . I have these sites 100-200 yards away from bedding but in known travel corridors to summer food sources (think blackberry patches or other natural browse). Once I get a pic and I know he lived and is still using the area (most bucks never change their core area(s)) then I am done as I have already prepped trees in the best location spots back in Jan/Feb.

If I am on a new property and just taking a firs inventory and something good shows up I want to hun this year or next, I tried go check them weekly and get an idea of how he approaches the mineral site (I seldom ever point my camera right at the licking branch or minerals but rather prefer to anticipate how a buck will approach. Then once I see him on film and get a couple pics coming in from same direction I note time. If they are evening picks I assume he was traveling from his bedding and that helps more. Morning he could be coming from a food source, water or even bedding so it is not as helpful. If he shows up during daylight I pay especially close attention because that usually indicates I am close to his bedding and just need to figure out where he is coming from. looking at maps, terrain, thickness and the photos I then start walking back a camera or 2-3 towards where I think bedding is. If I start getting pics of him in the evening heading towards the minerals once again I figure I am on target. I then may make one or two additional moves until I feel reasonably sure I am on the fringe of a good bedding area. If I plan on hunting him that year, I then try to isolate a good ambush spot at that point. If I don't care to hunt him until the following season, I will go in and try to bust him right out of his bed. That gives me the final straw. Then I pick a tree/prep it and leave him alone until the day I plan on trying to kill him. Most summer bucks have relatively small core areas IMO - and they usually just broaden their core area during the rut but will retreat back to it often. I usually set up on a funnel entering into their bedding area as I believe the best (I did not say easiest) but best time to kill a big buck in Oct/early Nov is in the AM hours. I think it is easier to do in the evening but more opportunities happen in the AM..... if your approach is solid. However, not all morning best spots are easily approached without alerting deer.

I use a couple other tactics like a good water destination spot at times to take inventory. I also have cameras soaking from Jun to Feb for areas I now a couple up and comers are in to get as much intel as possible. Once again, for me the key is to stay OUT of the bedding but set up far enough away on approach/exit to where an occasional human scent does not totally freak him out.

I run close to 30 cameras right now on a dozen properties. I have already prepped some trees and will finish that up in March. I have several new mineral sites developed and I have my old faithful ones refreshed. I will move cameras in April/May to these and begin to see if the 3 bucks I really have my eye on are still there.

keep in mind I hunt specific bucks not random bucks (they are just too far and few between down here) so my technique with cameras is towards that effort. If I was hunting Ohio, Wisconsin, Kansas, Illinois, N. Missouri - then I probably would alter as there may be several bucks in any given area I would be interested in. I would probably just stick with scouting and take a quick inventory with cameras in those places.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Babshaft » Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:08 am

DaveT1963 wrote:
Babshaft wrote:
DaveT1963 wrote:
NorthwoodsWiscoHnter wrote:
DaveT1963 wrote:I use scouting to determine where and when to set up; I use cameras to tell me ifa buck I want to hunt is present. Outside taking inventory, or learning new properties (that's a whole different approach for me), once I get a pick of a buck I want to pursue, I am pretty much done trying to photograph him. And that picture is usually taken in a funnel leading in or out of his bedding/core area in a high percentage spot (to photograph him not kill him).... and I don't care if it is a day or night picture - I am just confirming his presence. Scouting has led me to the best ambush spots and I have trees already prepped, pictures lets me know that they are now worth sitting that season.


A lot of my trail cameras are setup over certain trails and scrape lines. I've never done it over bedding. But with hunting over a bedding area and buck sign, sometimes it's nice to know the caliber of buck/bucks are in the area. I kind of want to know if I'm after a good one. Knowing there is a good one in the area helps with confidence and keeps that fire going for me.


I think we have same goal just different approaches? Personally, I believe that you can confirm a bucks presence and use of a bedding area without setting a camera up in the actual bedding area. I just think it is too risky and you may alert the deer and turn him nocturnal putting the camera in his core area. A camera 200 yards away on an entry/exit trial to bedding can also confirm his presence without disturbing his bedding. it doesn't matter if it is a night or day pic you know where he was heading or going to bed - that is what is important. Once you know he is using the bedding area, scouting should have told you best locations to set up to kill him. I do believe first time in is best chance to arrow a buck most of the time - if he smells you checking a camera you are now settling for 2nd time in, or 3rd time in - unless you check the camera and hunt that same day. Kind of like sitting a ridge with spotting scope and seeing him enter a crop field in late august - you get a visual confirmation that he is using the bedding area without putting your scent in the area. Not sure I am explaining it well. Bottom line is that a buck may tolerate occasional scent outside his core area, but the older bucks usually become a totally different animal once they start smelling human scent in their bedding area - and once these older deer know they are begin pursued they get proportionately harder to kill IMO.


Awesome info here guys.

Dave: What's the time frame you put your cameras up, and how often do you check them? Are you using them preseason and during the season? Do you find a negative impact on bedding area use after you check them?

Thanks


If it is a property I know a good buck may be on - then I take inventory. I set up mineral licks in feb/March and put the cameras over them when I refresh in Apr/May . I have these sites 100-200 yards away from bedding but in known travel corridors to summer food sources (think blackberry patches or other natural browse). Once I get a pic and I know he lived and is still using the area (most bucks never change their core area(s)) then I am done as I have already prepped trees in the best location spots back in Jan/Feb.

If I am on a new property and just taking a firs inventory and something good shows up I want to hun this year or next, I tried go check them weekly and get an idea of how he approaches the mineral site (I seldom ever point my camera right at the licking branch or minerals but rather prefer to anticipate how a buck will approach. Then once I see him on film and get a couple pics coming in from same direction I note time. If they are evening picks I assume he was traveling from his bedding and that helps more. Morning he could be coming from a food source, water or even bedding so it is not as helpful. If he shows up during daylight I pay especially close attention because that usually indicates I am close to his bedding and just need to figure out where he is coming from. looking at maps, terrain, thickness and the photos I then start walking back a camera or 2-3 towards where I think bedding is. If I start getting pics of him in the evening heading towards the minerals once again I figure I am on target. I then may make one or two additional moves until I feel reasonably sure I am on the fringe of a good bedding area. If I plan on hunting him that year, I then try to isolate a good ambush spot at that point. If I don't care to hunt him until the following season, I will go in and try to bust him right out of his bed. That gives me the final straw. Then I pick a tree/prep it and leave him alone until the day I plan on trying to kill him. Most summer bucks have relatively small core areas IMO - and they usually just broaden their core area during the rut but will retreat back to it often. I usually set up on a funnel entering into their bedding area as I believe the best (I did not say easiest) but best time to kill a big buck in Oct/early Nov is in the AM hours. I think it is easier to do in the evening but more opportunities happen in the AM..... if your approach is solid. However, not all morning best spots are easily approached without alerting deer.

I use a couple other tactics like a good water destination spot at times to take inventory. I also have cameras soaking from Jun to Feb for areas I now a couple up and comers are in to get as much intel as possible. Once again, for me the key is to stay OUT of the bedding but set up far enough away on approach/exit to where an occasional human scent does not totally freak him out.

I run close to 30 cameras right now on a dozen properties. I have already prepped some trees and will finish that up in March. I have several new mineral sites developed and I have my old faithful ones refreshed. I will move cameras in April/May to these and begin to see if the 3 bucks I really have my eye on are still there.

keep in mind I hunt specific bucks not random bucks (they are just too far and few between down here) so my technique with cameras is towards that effort. If I was hunting Ohio, Wisconsin, Kansas, Illinois, N. Missouri - then I probably would alter as there may be several bucks in any given area I would be interested in. I would probably just stick with scouting and take a quick inventory with cameras in those places.


Thank you very much for the detailed post. That is exactly what I will try this season. Thanks again for the help.
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby southernyankee » Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:44 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.


That's pretty awesome to be able to compare winds with pictures and see a strong correlation. I definitely agree with what you're saying about not focusing on a specific bed, because 2 different said could have a West wind but they could be somewhat different in direction or strength with out being classified differently. I've been looking at some research online about the wind tunnel and it really is so variable based on subtle terrain changes and wind speed and direction. (one scientist showed a drastic difference in the location of the wind tunnel with just a 5 mph difference in wind speed).

What resource do you use for wind/weather data history? I know weather underground has this info, but unfortunately their closest stations are atleast a mountain away in either direction. I like caltopo's wind plot, they seem to have accurate data (i believe sourced from the Nation Weather Service), but cant find any indication that this data is stored for any length of time.
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Mathewshooter
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Re: Trail Cams in Bedding Areas?

Unread postby Mathewshooter » Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:00 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.


The hotel analogy is a good one and basically the same way I treat the bedding where I hunt. I dont have much in the way of hill bedding or cattail swamps around my hunting areas. I mainly hunt big thickets. Mostly pine thickets but some a red brush mixed with tall weeds and briars. Some of these thickets are huge so pinpointing a specific bed a buck will use on any given day is tough. I concentrate on hunting where they seem to come in and out of these thickets to destination areas just outside the bedding like primary scrapes, Apple Trees and Acorns. I dive into these thickets during my spring scouting to see where the big boys look to be spending the most time.
I take my Bowhunting seriously


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