Bedding

[nchunter1989]

So next week kicks off our '18 improvements & habitat work. One thing I realized this past year is a need for improving & creating new bedding. Trying to make our little patch as enticing as possible. Landowner is planning to burn possibly at least the north side before spring, but if that doesn't happen I want to still have some improvements. The other bedding threads have made me think-

Threw together this little mockup- So 90ac, looking at 5-8 bedding areas around 1/4-1/2 acre openings. Go larger with some or stay around the same size? These are based on the topo.All are roughly 100yrds apart, give or take.

Southeast section has north,east & south slopes.

The orange is a 4.5 "bowl" that some may have read about in the property tour. Ties into the 20ac wetlands- Possibly clear an area on the slopes around the "bowl"?

North side I know they are bedding in the pine thicket to the west. With our new 15-20ft firebreak around that side, trying not to get too close to the access points.

Thoughts or criticism welcome

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[j-bird]

Only thing I will say is that I have had zero luck creating bedding pockets like you describe. I try for a 1/2 acre or bigger and the bigger the better. I think the sense of security is more easily reached with size. I am not saying it can't be done...far from it.....I just struggle with it. The term that I think Jeff Sturgis uses is "depth of cover" and I think it's difficult to create that secure feeling without that "depth". An acre is roughly 208 feet X 208 feet so a 1/4 acre is only a patch of cover that is roughly 55 feet x 55 feet. I simply try to create as high of a stem count as I can in a general area and let the deer figure it out from there or simply try to improve an area I have evidence they are bedding to begin with. Location and mainly topography seem to be a more determining factor in my area for bedding. The deer seem to like to be hidden with cover to their back in the direction of the primary wind direction (to smell danger coming from behind) with a fair view in from of them (where they can see danger coming from a distance). I am sure this isn't written in stone, but it is what I see and I can try like heck to convince them to bed in low areas and the like and they simply refuse to cooperate for me for the most part.

 

[nchunter1989]

Yeah the SE section is sloped on 3 sides, I have thought of going larger with the areas, would not be a problem.


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[Bill]

Thoughts...
Think about how a buck will cruise between those bedding areas in November. Does it put him near a low impact stand you can nab him at?

I personally use larger bedding areas and don't try to catch them in between bedding (not always, but mostly) it's just because of the lay of my land. More often I want to catch a buck checking a food plot for does. I've observed bucks that only weeks earlier would bounce out in a plot holding back in the high grass or cover watching that plot for a very long time.

 

[nchunter1989]

Thoughts...
Think about how a buck will cruise between those bedding areas in November. Does it put him near a low impact stand you can nab him at?

I personally use larger bedding areas and don't try to catch them in between bedding (not always, but mostly) it's just because of the lay of my land. More often I want to catch a buck checking a food plot for does. I've observed bucks that only weeks earlier would bounce out in a plot holding back in the high grass or cover watching that plot for a very long time.

True- that’s something I’m actually looking at this weekend before driving down Monday for a workday. I’m a visual person-My wife laughs at me, usually from November -oct I’m on the computer with HuntStand & google earth up sketching out something habitat related.. she usually asks “are you playing FarmVille again?” Lol.


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[Bill]

I know that feeling. I could draw my farms aerial picture from memory but still spend hours looking at it from google earth to find what I'm missing.