Buck bedding randomness, too unpredictable to hunt ?

[Lockdown]

The researcher is Dr Bronson Strickland. At no point in there did he say hunting buck bedding is not a viable option. He said that buck bedding is at random due to pressure and the hot food source at the time, which is what most say here.

This particular study was done in the Mississippi delta. There’s quite a bit of ag, but bedding cover is still far from a limiting factor where this study was done. Due to that, you’re going to see more random bedding than you do in most of the Midwest.

I think the consensus is that a lot of us feel like bedding is random, because it is. It’s… predictably random

You will find comments from me in the 2014-2018 time frame saying how I thought observations were mostly a waste of time because they rarely repeated their actions. I don’t feel the same anymore, but I still don’t see the consistency that I hope for.

I feel if I see a buck do something I can capitalize on, there’s a 1 in 4 chance I catch him doing it again. If I’ve got a cam set up and I catch a buck doing the same thing more than twice a month, that’s a pattern. I know he’s not walking by my cam every time he’s in there.

Are there situations where bucks can be robots and do the same thing consistently? Sure. I’ve had it happen twice in the last 12-14 years.

I just feel there’s a big misconception on bedding use frequency. It’s not near as stable as people think. And that’s 100% why hot sign is so important.

Fresh tracks don’t lie. Bark on top of snow that fell last night doesn’t lie, etc

[Lockdown]

I have no proof, and the only proof would be radio collared bucks with known strategic hunters in the area focused on beds. If little pressure in bedding areas I'd imagine buck bedding would look more random since they have options. If someone picks apart and area, hunts bedding area to bedding area stacking them into less and less bedding options the randomness would be less and less.

Agree.

Nothing determines where they bed more than pressure. The higher hunting pressure is, the more predictable they are, but they’re also harder to find. They’ll tuck in a little hidey hole and hang out.

[WVArcher32]

I’m glad this topic came up today because I’ve got a question for the deer bedding experts.

I’ve got eyes on two shooter bucks who are predominately staying on a southern ridge facing north. I’ve always read about bucks bedding with the wind coming over top their back.

Today we have a N/NW wind. I have a perfectly placed trail camera in a bedding area on the ridge a little over 2/3 of the way up. This morning my trail camera sent me a picture of the shooter buck bedding in front my camera facing the N/NW wind. Any ideas or explanations for this?

Pic of said buck is attached. Thanks for your time.

[Hawthorne]

This is very true! Hunting field edges is the most consistent way to kill big bucks. We as a hunting community need to get this message out. Ladder stands on field edges wearing scent lok, using an Ozonics. This is the only way to kill mature deer on public land! Oh yes don’t forget the Sitka & first lite cami!

Sign
Everyone

The Public land challenge in Michigan I saw them hunting field edges on public. I couldn’t believe it. They almost had a 2.5 year old. Usually my experience you won’t see a button buck or even a track. I might try it. Lol

[dan]

I’m glad this topic came up today because I’ve got a question for the deer bedding experts.

I’ve got eyes on two shooter bucks who are predominately staying on a southern ridge facing north. I’ve always read about bucks bedding with the wind coming over top their back.

Today we have a N/NW wind. I have a perfectly placed trail camera in a bedding area on the ridge a little over 2/3 of the way up. This morning my trail camera sent me a picture of the shooter buck bedding in front my camera facing the N/NW wind. Any ideas or explanations for this?

Pic of said buck is attached. Thanks for your time.

Based on the buck facing down hill / down wind I would suspect he is getting some sort of breeze from above behind him in that spot. Especially if you have multiple Photos and he is facing that way. I have seen them bed windward ridges, but generally the look down wind. I have seen exception, but usually the exception are looking in my direction making me think they heard or sense me in some way. I do agree there is some amount of hopping around, I would nor call it random though... But they make mistake and get a little careless on occasion.

[dan]

The researcher is Dr Bronson Strickland. At no point in there did he say hunting buck bedding is not a viable option. He said that buck bedding is at random due to pressure and the hot food source at the time, which is what most say here.

This particular study was done in the Mississippi delta. There’s quite a bit of ag, but bedding cover is still far from a limiting factor where this study was done. Due to that, you’re going to see more random bedding than you do in most of the Midwest.

I think the consensus is that a lot of us feel like bedding is random, because it is. It’s… predictably random

You will find comments from me in the 2014-2018 time frame saying how I thought observations were mostly a waste of time because they rarely repeated their actions. I don’t feel the same anymore, but I still don’t see the consistency that I hope for.

I feel if I see a buck do something I can capitalize on, there’s a 1 in 4 chance I catch him doing it again. If I’ve got a cam set up and I catch a buck doing the same thing more than twice a month, that’s a pattern. I know he’s not walking by my cam every time he’s in there.

Are there situations where bucks can be robots and do the same thing consistently? Sure. I’ve had it happen twice in the last 12-14 years.

I just feel there’s a big misconception on bedding use frequency. It’s not near as stable as people think. And that’s 100% why hot sign is so important.

Fresh tracks don’t lie. Bark on top of snow that fell last night doesn’t lie, etc

I would say this is pretty much spot on... we get consistently day to day patterns but they last a week or two and its not every day... But to say its to random to capitalize on is house manure. and anybody looking at the top beast hunters kills knows that

[CBM]

I don't believe there's anything random about where a big buck beds. At first glance, it may appear to be random. Especially from a daily, weekly, or even monthly pattern, but if you start studying a mature buck's annual patterns, they can be very predictable if the surrounding environment remains the same.

[dan]

I don't believe there's anything random about where a big buck beds. At first glance, it may appear to be random. Especially from a daily, weekly, or even monthly pattern, but if you start studying a mature buck's annual patterns, they can be very predictable if the surrounding environment remains the same.

Yep... Precisionly random

[Ognennyy]

There is always a randomness to hunting or they would call it killing and you’d be successful nearly every time you head out.

My ex's father - who was like my hunting father figure - used to say this to me all the time when I was first learning and got home after a miles deep hunt up in the mountains, frustrated that I saw no deer, and venting about it. I didn't appreciate it in the moment but he, and you, make a good point.

What does "too unpredictable to hunt" mean anyway? Does it mean you can't possibly enjoy yourself if you hunt buck beds? If not, then it's a viable strategy for hunting and many people here do it and even kill bucks. I don't because I never find well used buck beds in the mountains where I hunt.

If you want to try hunting buck beds, have at it. You do you and just enjoy being in the woods.

[mipubbucks24]

This is very true! Hunting field edges is the most consistent way to kill big bucks. We as a hunting community need to get this message out. Ladder stands on field edges wearing scent lok, using an Ozonics. This is the only way to kill mature deer on public land! Oh yes don’t forget the Sitka & first lite cami!

Sign
Everyone

The Public land challenge in Michigan I saw them hunting field edges on public. I couldn’t believe it. They almost had a 2.5 year old. Usually my experience you won’t see a button buck or even a track. I might try it. Lol

I saw that, also I will say the public I hunt the deer are not back into the secure bedding till mid October, most of the deer are on private hitting the beans or corn till it starts coming down. Public anywhere on the South East side of the state gets more pressure in my opinion. I’m planning early season to hunt more populated public because I believe the deer will be more pressured, and hiding in the secure bedding that suits beast style hunting better. Just a theory I want to test this year.

[mipubbucks24]

This whole topic points to why in-season scouting is so important. If you know where the bedding is, and you walk the transitions and find hot sign you are in the game. To me the sign takes the randomness out of it. Now again it’s not a perfect science but both bucks I shot last year, and the 2 in 2020, and the buck I shot and did not find in 2018 were based on the bedding, and when the sign lit up I hunted and had success. Rubs with wet sap, and shavings, fresh scrapes with pee in them, with big tracks when I find that stuff I hunt and the results have been good. It’s probably a 3/4 day window, but you just jump from bedding to bedding to bedding and eventually you run into them. Learned it all on here from Dan and others, but it works & and it works better then any other strategy in my opinion.

[Lockdown]

The researcher is Dr Bronson Strickland. At no point in there did he say hunting buck bedding is not a viable option. He said that buck bedding is at random due to pressure and the hot food source at the time, which is what most say here.

This particular study was done in the Mississippi delta. There’s quite a bit of ag, but bedding cover is still far from a limiting factor where this study was done. Due to that, you’re going to see more random bedding than you do in most of the Midwest.

I think the consensus is that a lot of us feel like bedding is random, because it is. It’s… predictably random

You will find comments from me in the 2014-2018 time frame saying how I thought observations were mostly a waste of time because they rarely repeated their actions. I don’t feel the same anymore, but I still don’t see the consistency that I hope for.

I feel if I see a buck do something I can capitalize on, there’s a 1 in 4 chance I catch him doing it again. If I’ve got a cam set up and I catch a buck doing the same thing more than twice a month, that’s a pattern. I know he’s not walking by my cam every time he’s in there.

Are there situations where bucks can be robots and do the same thing consistently? Sure. I’ve had it happen twice in the last 12-14 years.

I just feel there’s a big misconception on bedding use frequency. It’s not near as stable as people think. And that’s 100% why hot sign is so important.

Fresh tracks don’t lie. Bark on top of snow that fell last night doesn’t lie, etc

I would say this is pretty much spot on... we get consistently day to day patterns but they last a week or two and its not every day... But to say its to random to capitalize on is house manure. and anybody looking at the top beast hunters kills knows that

In general, it seems as though a lot of my camera intel goes something like this. One stretch of 3-5 days where a buck will use a bedding area consistently. This doesn’t mean I get him on cam every day.

So… there will be a short stretch where he’s around then he’s gone for 2-3 weeks. Or maybe he pops in during the middle of the night a time or two but shows no indication of bedding near my cam.

Of course there are exceptions. One would be the drop tine I chased 2 years ago. He was around much more than what I described above. But he still disappeared for a 2-3 weeks at a time sometimes. I scouted him all summer then hunted elsewhere with my kid opening day because I was confident he wasn’t around. All the sudden there he is and it’s game on again.

I can understand your viewpoint and how you seem to see a LITTLE bit better consistency than I typically do. When I spent those few days in WI it was pretty wild how different the bedding was. I had a way harder time finding bedding but when I did it was telegraphed with rub lines and buck beds.

But when you said you see a buck hang around for a week or two, that’s not the norm for me.

I also saw more hunting pressure in WI than I do back home. I feel the pressure and bedding differences are directly correlated.

The problem we face is each buck is different. And there are no answers like “This is what they’ll do.” We have to learn each target’s habits, tendencies, and preferences. And there are a million things that can screw it up for us. Other hunters, food source changes, unfavorable weather, you name it.

Going back to the drop tine, I knew a LOT about him. I knew he was very visible late October so I was being patient and waiting for the right conditions (wanted to take a swing at him a couple times but wind wouldn’t cooperate). Then next thing I know he completely vanished early October.

[Hawthorne]

This is very true! Hunting field edges is the most consistent way to kill big bucks. We as a hunting community need to get this message out. Ladder stands on field edges wearing scent lok, using an Ozonics. This is the only way to kill mature deer on public land! Oh yes don’t forget the Sitka & first lite cami!

Sign
Everyone

The Public land challenge in Michigan I saw them hunting field edges on public. I couldn’t believe it. They almost had a 2.5 year old. Usually my experience you won’t see a button buck or even a track. I might try it. Lol

I saw that, also I will say the public I hunt the deer are not back into the secure bedding till mid October, most of the deer are on private hitting the beans or corn till it starts coming down. Public anywhere on the South East side of the state gets more pressure in my opinion. I’m planning early season to hunt more populated public because I believe the deer will be more pressured, and hiding in the secure bedding that suits beast style hunting better. Just a theory I want to test this year.

Good luck! I’ve seen the bigger bucks way back in the pressured bedding the first week of October and moving only the last 10 minutes of daylight. You have to be really close to bedding. It does make sense anything in southeast mi would be the most pressured. Most populated area being closer to Detroit area

[Brad]

I’m glad this topic came up today because I’ve got a question for the deer bedding experts.

I’ve got eyes on two shooter bucks who are predominately staying on a southern ridge facing north. I’ve always read about bucks bedding with the wind coming over top their back.

Today we have a N/NW wind. I have a perfectly placed trail camera in a bedding area on the ridge a little over 2/3 of the way up. This morning my trail camera sent me a picture of the shooter buck bedding in front my camera facing the N/NW wind. Any ideas or explanations for this?

Pic of said buck is attached. Thanks for your time.

I would think that unless the wind is fairly strong, the thermals are more likely to determine where a buck beds. Also in hilly areas the wind it says on a weather app or website is very rarely what you have in person on location.

[Brad]

like others have said, yea it tends to be somewhat random, but there are a few things that seem to be true.
1. The more mature the buck, the more they tend to stick to their "safe place" for bedding, making it less random than other deer.
2. As hunters nothing is ever too predictable. What we are doing is trying to have the odds lean more in our favor with the knowledge, experience, and scouting information we get.
3. The majority of mature buck killers I've known or heard of have hunted them according to knowing where their beds are.