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Post by jbird on Apr 4, 2019 8:25:56 GMT -6
Here is a little bit of an ugly layout of where this is situated... The "H" is the high ground and the "L" the low. You can see how the deer have a commanding view over that entire bottom area. The red line is the beginning of the slope. Bird - So if you bump deer bedded do they head east or west so they can stay in cover as an escape vs running down the hill into the open field? Both. It all depends on the situation. When they bolt - they bolt to the open ground. They seem to understand that they can create more distance between them and the threat by using the open ground. However they also tend to run 100 to 200 yards and then stop and look back to re-asses the situation. Then they head to the nearest block of cover. If they simply become uncomfortable - they will slink away by using the cover. I see this more when farming equipment is moving in of the like. They are not afraid...just know that they need to move. They also are lazy...they tend to not want to go straight up and down a slope...but rather across if they must. They will also choose the level ground if possible. at the base of my slope there is a well worn deer trail that follows the contour of the slope for the most part. Here the deer seem to prefer to stay low if they can. You can have a flat field and one small low spot that goes across it and the deer will follow that low spot...even if it's just a 2 foot elevation difference. Also the crop in the field seems to matter to some extent as well. beans don't offer much cover, but corn is like a forest. So that impacts things here some as well. Something I want to be PERFECTLY clear about on this. This is primarily does and young buck bedding. I have 1 spot where I have had a decent buck bed, and the situation was very similar BUT it was in a wooded environment. Backcover, elevation with a view, access...all just as important....just back in the woods away from the typical doe activity areas near field edges and typical doe bedding areas.
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Post by jbird on Apr 4, 2019 8:48:46 GMT -6
He is the view from the lower ground looking up. It's tough to see because I wasn't focused on it...but the bench is right at the red line. if there was a deer laying there....you would have NO idea. Yet that deer is gonna see you from a long way off! The switchgrass (to the left) is 5 to 6 feet tall and the "woods" starts 120 feet away. I'm a firm believer in the "depth of cover" concepts of Mr. Sturgis. This is typical of what my buffer on top looks like...like I said it may only be 30 feet, but it's a nasty tangle of saplings and brush and brambles. Aint' much getting thru there without making some noise in the process. The only real thing this bench doesn't have is the traditional "military crest" - where the back slope is low enough for the deer to be able to see over. The one in my woods where the buck likes does.
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Post by batman on Apr 4, 2019 8:50:53 GMT -6
Bird - So if you bump deer bedded do they head east or west so they can stay in cover as an escape vs running down the hill into the open field? This is primarily does and young buck bedding. I have 1 spot where I have had a decent buck bed, and the situation was very similar BUT it was in a wooded environment. Backcover, elevation with a view, access...all just as important....just back in the woods away from the typical doe activity areas near field edges and typical doe bedding areas. Doe groups is what I want to try and control. Dictate doe bedding you can make a plan to hunt bed to feed and rut.
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Post by terrifictom on Apr 4, 2019 9:02:18 GMT -6
I wish I would have taken pics of the beds I found but I was in a hurry to get out of the bedding area after my wife shot her buck opening morning this past season. In this 1st pic this is one of several flot spots on my south facing slope that runs thru most of my 40. This pic was taken east to west. If you zoom in to dead fall to left of my wife there was a single bed on far side of dead fall. There were several beds to right out of picture and more behind her. Almost every bed was by a deadfall. In this second pic taken south to north you can see the slope. Zoom in and you can see the dead falls. There were several beds by the dead falls on both sides. This area is about 100 yards off food plot which is at bottom of south facing slope. Don't know which way deer run as I never go in there. This was the 1st time in 10 years in daylight that I went in there.
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Post by batman on Apr 4, 2019 9:29:58 GMT -6
Can they see the plot from where they bed? Do you remember if they had heavey back cover plus the deadfall?
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Post by terrifictom on Apr 4, 2019 10:35:12 GMT -6
Can they see the plot from where they bed? Do you remember if they had heavey back cover plus the deadfall? No you can not see plot. Yes on the heavy back cover, but on some of the beds the heavy back cover was 10 to 15 yards away. Also the beds seemed to relate to flat spots that had a little bit of opening. I am thinking this is for sunning them selves but still be protected from wind. This area is about 150 yards from blind. and could hunt it with any wind without being busted by deer.
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