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Bedding area?

N

Nick Steele

New Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2021
Messages
10
Hello I just started hunting Florida this season and I’ve learned a lot and still have plenty to learn. I started the season hunting oak hammocks near what I believe to be bedding areas and heavily used game trails. Below are two pics of an old water hole and surrounding area that has been dry for a few years it is filled with high grasses (4-6ft). With all these trails through there is that a likely bedding area for deer?
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Traversing trails.

I almost exclusively hunt swamps and grasses and can tell you that if you look at them on the map this is common. Being able to observe deer movement for years in this kind of terrain I can tell you the most common bedding I have found around areas similar to this are on oak ridges where a timber transition with cover is, or on the edge of the swamp/grasses where there is some tree/shade cover. Now take this with a grain of salt because I am on the top side of the eastern sea-board and you are on the bottom.

I am not saying deer won't bed in there. Deer bed where they want and when they want most of the time. They are for the most part unpredictable. It will drive you mad. It's all a sick game we are trapped in.
 
I'm in N fla so it's a little different but from what I have seen and expect when looking at spots to hunt is: deer bed on the edge of flag ponds, isolated palmetto flats that are hidden (can't see in aerial photos) up in the pines or swamp, 10-15 year old clear cuts, and pockets of young pines that are 6-10 foot tall and super thick....these kinda spots seem to attract doe groups. They can/do literally bed anywhere but I have good luck looking in these type of areas...bucks I tend to find them on the small high spots/islands out in the swamp...however, I'm not that successful of a hunter so take that into consideration....hahahaha
 
I would say no, based on the photo you posted. It looks like its pretty easy walking and right next to some roads. If its dry, everyone can access it, which means its probably not that good. Also, I dont usually find bedding in completely open areas like that. If there were a tree in the middle of it and it were really remote, then maybe.
 
That area in ur photos looks like pretty easy access and I assume the roads are closed to vehicle traffic...maybe walk/ride ur bike in there and go to the down wind side and get up high in 1 of those pines and watch the pond for an evening...
 
view those trails with the knowledge that soft and/or moist soils get tracked up easier than harder and more drained soils....it's easy to turn soils in valleys or wet areas into 'cow paths'
 
Interesting I’ll have to keep this in mind when scouting.

It’s not too accessible it’s about a 1 mile hike down around a firebreak. The roads are actually another wma that doesn’t have much deer hunting pressure and you aren’t supposed to go across the fence either way.
 
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