Buck bedding areas in the big woods

[NBK]

Hunting the big woods can be a daunting task.  In it's simplest terms, hunting is finding A) the food and B) the bedding, then setting up somewhere in between.  I've hunted agricultural areas and almost felt like "This is soooo much easier" but I live and love hunting big woods.
I've seen bucks bed in nearly every type of terrain feature with the most consistent being taller grass near creeks.  My question to you all is where do you believe is the "preferred" bedding terrain for big woods bucks?  And where are these bedding areas in relation to wind direction?  Example:  I notice more beds on the upwind side of a creek presumably so that they can scent check for danger coming from the timber and visually look over the more open area of the marshy creek.  Any and all input is appreciated here as I start to dial in stand sites.  Thanks.

[Steelhead]

Big ewoods are a whole different ballgame vs woodlots and hedgerows etc.It can be daunting.

I dont claim to be an expert at all but have hunted big woods myself with friends who are hardcore bowhunters.The thicker/nastier the better.The closer to water the better (creeks,ponds,water holes,lakes).Creeks are always good as you mentioned as they are natural corridors.Saddles near creeks are good to funnel deer.cliffs next to creeks are very good as they pinch deer in.Combine water and food and its a better bedding area (good mast).A higher bedding area can be more attractive as a buck can see below and winds are steadier and whirl less.

If you can find a spot with as many of these features as possible you have a great spot where a big buck will set up and you have features that help with getting a close shot as well to  help close the deal.Saddle,cliff.superior bedding,creek crossing do to shallowness,food.Doe's tend to favor these same areas for the same reasons so thier good during the prerut and rut.
You can have large areas in big woods with little deer and  small areas with higher density based on some or all these features being thier or not being thier.Maps and lots of footwork is whats necessary.Footwork is essential.But once you find these special niches they will work for many seasons to come.Recently loggod areas are good.Areas that had alot of storm damage from tornadoes or ice storms  become good bedding areas.Fruit trees near good bedding.

Openings and meadows are attractive in big timber.The edges of swaps are good.Older bucks often bed in swamps that have high areas within

The more variables that are good for big bucks in an area the better and thier will be a good buck or 2 around for sure.Humping alot of terrain will pay off in my experience and get you in shape as well.

[STUMP THUMPER]

The wetter the better.
The thicker the quicker.
Move slow and stop and drop often, this catches leg movement.

[Bill Carlsen]

Bedding areas in big woods can be problematic to find. Here in NH if there is good mast,( acorns, beechnuts, apples), deer can feed and bed right where they are and often do. When there is an overall good acorn crop deer are very difficult to hunt because they can virtually stop, eat and sleep almost anywhere as very little traveling is required to find thick cover and food...virtually they are in the same place. If I were hunting big woods I would focus in on food sources and not so much bedding areas. I would also focus on those food sources that had the freshest sign. As for the big buck thing....bucks won't be far from does in the not too distant future. Does like to feed, bucks find does where they feed...again, it's the food sources for me.

[roundbal]

Where I am hunting in Va this year acorns are scarce so I know I need to do more scouting to find what they are eating. But with that being said I will hunt the edges of the thickest, nastiest, thicket of mountain laurel I can find until I figure out what and where they are feeding on. In my limited scouting this year I have found 2 thickets with heavily used intersecting trails that hopefully will help me figure them out and maybe even get a shot    But in my opinion I alway look for the nastiest terrain and start from there.

[ron w]

It's been my findings in the Adirondacks that bedding is a very finicky thing. Food ,water, wind all are factors. The one common thing is a high spot. Even in a low swale/grassy area near a beaver flow or swamp, look for a spot that is elevated, a bit of a knob with cover. Deer will lay there with the wind to their back and so they can see down wind. On ridges with mast....same thing a bit of an elevated area will be a good spot to look at. Before you get to close to these spots glass it real good....not just a quick look, take 5 or 6 minutes and pick the cover apart.

[Warchild]

20 years of hunting the big woods of the Upper Peninsula has taught me that the best bedding areas are tag alder swamps or cedar swamps. I prefer hunting the tag alders in early and mid season and cedar swamps in the late season when they use the cedar browse for their primary food source. I find many rubs in and on the edges of tag alder swamps and most scrape lines along the edges of cedar swamps. The scrape lines are almost always in conjunction with rub lines. Bucks seem to like corridors between cedar swamps and hardwood ridges the most. If there is pine growth that tends to "fade out" between the cedar and the hardwoods, you can bet that there will be a heavy deer run with a rub/scrape line along the corridor, especially if the fade out lies along the base of a  ridge and not just a flat hardwoods. The ridge can be no more than a small hump or a "step" that runs the length of the steeper ridge. These corridors are my favorite hunting areas, they are what I look for on a topo map. This topography also provides a tight funnel that channels deer by a tree stand within the short ranges that we as bowhunters need. The topo gives you a place to check and a good start but there really is no substitute for putting your boots on the ground in the area. It's quite a thrill to find a good hot corridor on a map and then walking it down and finding it loaded with sign. This also provides a great place to hunt chasing bucks when the rut starts as Does will run out to the edge for some open space while being chased but they can stay close to cover. The "buck corridor" is for me the number one scouting goal, find a corridor and you will find a buck. The best part is that the corridor will be used year after year by many different bucks.

[ron w]

Warchild....good point on the topo maps. I use then also to find saddles and those "corridors"!!

[captain caveman]

I hunt in southern Ohio beginning of Appalachians not huge woods but very similar hunting.  Difficult to pin down food sources when the every other tree is an oak or beech.  I've  seen deer eat the seeds off sumac trees.   Very hard to hunt specific food or bedding sites because they are everywhere.  Clear cuts are ideal areas to find big old deer often have logging roads through them allowing stalking corridors and no one hunts in the cut no trees big enough to hang stands and no easy way in and out without making noise.   Alot of sign down along creeks and hay fields seems to be nocturnal activity. For most part they head up high to bed with good view downwind and can smell trouble come from other direction.   Great book on topo map scouting changed the way I hunt about 8 years ago is called - mapping trophy bucks.  I think geographic features are the key high ridge top saddles with steady wind, wooded fingers into hilltop fields, and edges of really thick nastiness.  Good luck.  difficult hunting but i think is more rewarding when it does come together.  Maps are key and time in hills which seems to be hardest part to come by.

[KentuckyTJ]

Didn't read all the replies so sorry if already brought up. Thick yes but bucks like to bed higher than their surroundings also to be able to see better. Use those topos to find higher ground and it could possibly be a bedding spot.

[Gila Mike]

I was very lucky and very happy to have hunted the big woods of the Yazoo Delta in Mississippi for many years. The Delta National Forest is typical "ridge and swale" topography and the woods are flooded in the late fall and winter by beaver dams. What a great place to hunt!

No "trophy" deer but plenty of others. And ducks. And woodcock, too.

The huge pin oak ridges are mostly open during the late seasons after Thanksgiving. There are areas throughout the forest which were clearcut back during the early logging days. Those areas get sunlight all year long, although the high forest canopy blocks sunlight from most of the forest floor.

When I hunted there back in the 1970s, the old clearcuts had grown up with vines and saplings and brambles to a height of 10 feet, or more, and were mostly impenetrable unless you were on horseback or would get down on your hands and knees and crawl into them along the deer trails. We called those places "buck vine thickets". They held a lot of deer and hunting  near  them was usually pretty easy as the deer were constantly moving into them and back out into the open woods.

I really miss bowhunting in the South.

Mike

[buckeye_hunter]

I do not qualify as an expert, but I have hunted 60,000 acres of AEP property for the last 5 years. I have seen many deer and some whopper bucks.

I've noticed that I have the best luck seeing deer off of old utility/logging roads in combination with funnels. Putting those two together has had me close to deer many times. I just need to do better getting a shot off on those animals. Some of the funnels and roads are only 75 yards from the main road and others are a half mile back in the woods.

I have even caught several bucks not just traveling, but bedded right off the old logging roads. Didn't know it until they saw me first though.

Just some observations.

[Justin Falon]

spent about 6 hours on foot scsouting a big woods with a friend this past weekend. Looked at all the "ideal spots." I got dehydrated with all the walking and right about the time we get back to the truck, up jumps a GIANT 5 x 5 within 100 yards of the vehicle. He was bedded on the edge of a stock dam in the cover of the long slough grass.  We have not had a rain ALL SUMMER.

I scratched my head then said to myself, "This makes total sense." He was about 15 yards from the water, 100 yards from the corn, and 150 yards from the big woods.

If I would have sat there long enough to think about where a big buck would bed, I could have come up with the right answer. THe problem was that we just started out walking, just like we always have........ Stop and think.

[NBK]

Great insight guys, I appreciate it.

Warrior:  I like your comment.  Many times if I'm trying to decipher travel corridors, escape routes, etc. I ask myself, "If I had to get over there from here without being seen and killed, how would I do it?".  

Keep it coming!  I'm scouting more tomorrow!

[gringol]

Here's a pic of a bed I found today.  This is on about 100 square miles of public land.  There's about 100 yds of flooded cypress behind me and another 30 yds of water on the far side of the island.  There are scrubby oaks on the far side of the bed, with a number of old rubs.  There are lots of deer hairs in the leaf litter on this little island.  You aren't sneaking up on this deer unless you're some kind of ninja.

 

[calgarychef]

Gringo you're right about that spot being hard to sneak into, unless you get ther first and let him sneak to you.

[gringol]

Originally posted by calgarychef:
Gringo you're right about that spot being hard to sneak into, unless you get ther first and let him sneak to you.

Still working on the strategy for that...The only trees large enought for my climber are the ones right on the island...

[wollelybugger]

Up high with the wind to their back. Pretty hard to sheak up on them old ones.

[NOMAD88]

I have found some similar beds in the middle of swamps...Ive gotten close a couple times.Get out the rubber boots and go nice and slow through the water try not to make ripples and watch for snakes  

[wv lungbuster]

Deep wood bucks of WV Hunt seem to bed high so they can see danger from below and bed with the wind at their back so they can smell it from behind them. Topo maps are KEY when hunting big woods.