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Buck Bedding Area

G

GeoFish

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
May 5, 2021
Messages
2,438
Location
Kentucky
I found a place a good buck is. I think he is the deer I saw last year as a 8 point.
The top of the picture is north. I have to enter from the south. The fields to the east and west are in corn. There are fields between the corn and strip of woods about 30 yards wide.
My question is, does a buck normally like to enter his bed with the wind in his face?
 
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I think they like to enter with the wind in face or to J-hook where they can smell if anything is in it.
That little buck in LBL I was telling you about J-hooked around me and got down wind before he bedded
 
Is he out in the fields and you are trying to catch him going to his bed? Or in his bed and you are trying to catch him going to the fields?
 
This is a tough scenario because if you get right up in the bedding area and something goes wrong or he beds out of range you still need to get out which might not be possible without spooking him. Like KYhunter said, a normal Jhook is likely to check the bedding area before settling down is likely.

not having many specifics if I knew he wasn’t pressured or worried about other hunters pushing him around and this buck is on a normal routine of eat then going to the bedding area, I would take a day or two and hunt far enough away to check his exact route in and out without spooking him and then plan for a perfect north wind to get in on that route closer to the bed and hope it all works out. Very soon his routine will not be normal and he might never be back in that bed until after the rutt so you don’t have much time to work with. Hopefully you see him tend a scrape on the edge of the field that is easier to set up on than his bed.

Another option is to focus on the doe routes in the area and if those are easier to get to and set up on plan to do that once you see more rutt action and hope he is cruising looking for doe.

just this week I saw two young bucks chasing doe and a set of mature bucks fighting. If he is the dominant buck in the area you could try rattling him in this week or next, also might be a good option to not blow his bed up and give you more chances to get him with the other options above. I wouldn’t over do it with the rattles though. It’s still early so he likely isn’t looking for a fight, just curious to who is in the area fighting.
 
If they can, they like to scent check the whole area first by skirting in cover along the downwind edge to make sure their bedding location doesn't smell like anything scary. Of course, I've witnessed them several times come in with a tailwind too but we have swirly winds where I hunt. I think generally they will head into the bedding area anticipating how they will be setting up in the bed. In other words, they will come in the way they want the wind to be when they actually lay down. IF they are pressured more I think they button hook and spend more time waiting and watching too. I've got shooters on camera early this fall coming to feed regardless of the wind so I'm assuming the distance and what they can see is what is governing this movement. I rarely have luck where I hunt expecting them to come into feed in the evenings with a tail wind. They just won't do it, but they will head in sometimes on the downwind edge if there is a right to left or left to right wind so they can smell the field before entering.
 
Do you have the ability to access by water? If so I would hunt that on a south wind and come in quietly by water. Meaning no outboard right up to the bank. Either get semi close and use a trolling motor or kayak in if that is an option.
 
I’d set up where those two fingers of woods meet and hunt it on a s/sw wind and try to get him on the j hook
 
GeoFish said:
I found a place a good buck is. I think he is the deer I saw last year as a 8 point.
The top of the picture is north. I have to enter from the south. The fields to the east and west are in corn. There are fields between the corn and strip of woods about 30 yards wide.
My question is, does a buck normally like to enter his bed with the wind in his face?
View attachment 73600
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Damn! I KNOW exactly where this spot is! LOL. Dont worry i wont tell anyone. :) Killed quite a few deer on that property around there.
 
In my areas he usually likes to jhook the area then when bedded wind is over his back while looking out in front of him
 
No access by water.
Think I am going to set up south of bed.
East side in west wind and west side in east wind. I think he beds their in a west wind since he is east of a big ditch.
 
If I wanted to hunt north of bed I could walk the ditch if their is not too much water. Another option is to circle either from the east or west.
 
There is nothing that is 100%, right. So for me it depends on the situation. Do they play the wind, yes. All the time, no. Killing mature whitetails has a good amount of luck involved in it. Yes, skill is a major part but you have to have the lucky opportunity to kill him as well.
 
Hall17 said:
There is nothing that is 100%, right. So for me it depends on the situation. Do they play the wind, yes. All the time, no. Killing mature whitetails has a good amount of luck involved in it. Yes, skill is a major part but you have to have the lucky opportunity to kill him as well.
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I would rather be lucky then good, LOL.
 
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