Hmmm?

Excellent question. I seem to stumble upon them myself, by accident of course. I look forward to hearing the correct answer though.

 

first places i check are the thick places, along creeks fence lines etc. if that doesnt get me anywhere I figure it out by watching where deer come from to eat in the evening and where they go when theyre done in the morning and narrow it down. thats kinda the basic version

 

Most of the time it's gonna be the thickest place around. If there's a place where you can't or don't want to go into, that's prolly it.

 

Funny thing I agree with all three of the above posts you find them sometimes by accident, the thick stuff by creeks and fence lines as in one of my favorite properties. I keep that area as kind of a sanctuary let them in and out but I don't go in there very far and like the last post said it's not very fun to get around in there anyway although the trails are like highways in there.

 

you answered your own question, i walk through thick areas till i jump some deer.

 

Also check near water sources. Usually a deer will feed then drink and then bed up for 2-3 hours.

 

Bedding areas are where you find them. The deer are GOING to bed where ever they feel safe. It can be in an overgrown field, roadside ditch, behind an outbuilding, etc... They will bed wherever they feel safe, bucks or does.

 

Cutovers, and grown up CRP fields are my first places to key in on.

 

i agree with all the above. I also look for a little top. Deer like to bed were they can see stuff coming if need be, and make an escape. rarely have i found beds in bottoms or low land.

 

Bedding areas are where you find them. The deer are GOING to bed where ever they feel safe. It can be in an overgrown field, roadside ditch, behind an outbuilding, etc... They will bed wherever they feel safe, bucks or does.

All good answers but this one is the best. Most of the time they are in the thick cover but I have seen them bed in less dense cover on the high side of ridges. Anywhere that will cover them and make them feel safe is a good spot. Just be careful if you go looking. Bucks often vacate a bedding area if you bump them. Best to stay on the outside edges and don't set up right in the bedding area. A deer knows this area best of all.

 

my .02

I've found that deer are incredibly lazy, they dont move too far from where they eat unless they absolutly have to. I usually start in a food plot or edge of a corn field and try to follow trails and such to the thickest areas. They also like to be able to see any danger, so if its thick and on an elevated area thats usually the spot. Good luck, it can be daunting.

 

Like others have said usually in the thickest part of the woods and where ever they feel safe. What I do to find bedding areas is post season scouting in the winter. Beds are easy to find in the snow and they will usually keep using the same areas year after year as long as nothing changes to much around the area. Once hunting season comes I have a pretty good idea where they might be bedding from the scouting I did in the winter. It doesn't mean that deer will be bedding in the exact same place but, at least it gives me a place to start or at least have some general idea as to where the deer bed. Thats just what I do anyways.

 

I find bedding areas several different ways. It actually depends on where you're hunting and what the cover is like. Also mature animals or groups. In my experience I find a lot of older bucks like a secluded patch or ravine instead of your run of the mill big thick spot. Where I'm from in PA and where I was last stationed in MD, if you could find a laurel thicket, you could find a large concentration of beds grouped together. If it was very windy, you can find beds on the leeward (sp?) side of a slope. Also, in NC, if the temps went way down, they liked a young planted pine thicket I suppose because it kept the thermals longer.

Here's a couple of ways that I would find them if I didn't know of any already:
1. If on the way to work in the morning, you see a deer crossing the road just before or just after sun-up, chances are they are headed down to bed. Mentally mark that exact spot in your mind and then come back when time allows. Follow the trail until you find the bed. If by chance the trail leads you to a stand of oaks with acorns, hang a stand bud 'cause you just found yourself one helluva morning spot.
2. Works the same way in reverse. If coming home in the evening just before or just after sundown you see a deer crossing the road, mark that spot and back track it.
3. Of course, you could always go to the known preferred food source for that time of year (soy beans, red oaks, white oaks, standing corn,etc) and find the trails coming into there and back track them.
4. I have also found rub lines on field edges and followed them to a bedding area. You can walk the perimeter of it until you see a rub on the field side of the tree. This is usually (not always) the rubs they are making on the way back to bed in the morning.
5. If you're walking around and find a greenbriar thicket the size of your house or bigger, I bet you could find a bed somewhere VERY near it or inside its perimeter.

I've rambled long enough. Hope this helps.

 

thank you

This is great, I really appreciate the info.

 

The best area's I have fond have been along the river. Very thick with plenty of escape routes. If the deer feel trapped they will not bed down there. I only hunt these area's during the rut, but others hunt early season also.

 

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i do not know if you have swamps around you or wet areas like we got here in the mountains but bucks and does bed in them look for high spots or bumps out of the water i'v seen them bed there to

 

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All good answers but this one is the best. Most of the time they are in the thick cover but I have seen them bed in less dense cover on the high side of ridges. Anywhere that will cover them and make them feel safe is a good spot. Just be careful if you go looking. Bucks often vacate a bedding area if you bump them. Best to stay on the outside edges and don't set up right in the bedding area. A deer knows this area best of all.

Good advice. Stay on the outside edges between bedding and feeding.

 

I think alot of it depends on the type of terrain you are hunting. Most of my hunting in eastern Oklahoma is in very hilly terrain. They will usually get about 3/4 from the top of the ridge and bed. Any type of water source is good wether it is a lake, pond or river. I think they use it as a barrier to protect them.

 

if you scout in the early spring and you scout very carefully for bedding areas you will find that deer bed everywhere. get down on your hands and knees around field edges or ravine edges and clear away the old leaves in a suspected bedding site, you will find deer hair. for hunting the rut you really want to locate are the doe bedding areas. not just single bed spots but multiples. key in on those for stand placements. these locations are usually in thick spots because why they have cover. all other bedding spots are just that, bedding. no cover. or minimal cover. deer will use those all summer. but when the leaves fall off those does will go where they have cover. place your stand between there and where they might feed. so after you have a good stand site you must be careful to find good clean routes to get in that stand. i do all my scouting right after the snow melts, you can see much better.

 

I think those are all great ideas until the pressure heats up and the bucks are running does. Then they will bed up in any small place the people overlook. One area I have found to be amazing at holding deer here in north missouri is a plum thicket. Towards the end of the rifle season I have jumped numerous deer out of these and some dang good bucks too. Some of those thickets may have only been 5X5 yards but the deer get in them and you basically have to kick it to get them out. So keep that in mind when they pressure heats up those bucks may vacate their prime areas if the pressure is too high there and move to less appealing areas.