The other notation that I made is that he used this staging area during daylight exclusively on days that had an afternoon southwest wind. I saw him 3 times under these conditions during daylight including the day I killed him, on an afternoon with a (insert any other wind direction other than SW here) he would not show, nor would the other young bucks. I firmly believe that this buck was using this bed almost everyday.
DropTyne, was a SW wind in his favor so to speak for that bedding to staging route? You said you believe he was bedding there daily, did you ever get a visual that he was, but was leaving with the wind in his favor?
Dan have you ever found a case where a buck may have 2 staging areas and heads to which ever is better for the wind that day?