Bedding Area Trees

[Double Tap]

I'm curious about creating specific bedding areas, what trees do you plant?

From what I've observed, bedding areas are only good for several years until the trees grow and mature, leaving a barren under story.

My favorite bedding areas are 10-15ft tall pines with switchgrass growing between them (plantation cut spacing). Below are some buck beds found in such an area.

See the banana shaped bed behind the trees?

Bed-side rub (old but still being used)

(Left) another buck bed located on the edge of the planted pines. (Right) is a bucks trail leaving his bed. The burn made trails and beds easy to locate...

So what do y'all prefer to plant for bedding areas and how do your deer like it?

 

[ruskbuckss]

I planted 300+ scotch pines and white spruce along my road to block of my food plot. I have 5 rows with 10 ft spacing. In between the rows is native grass/weeds. Although they are right next to the road the deer love bedding in them. In the winter, just about every mature white pine on my land has beds under them. The third bedding spot on my land is where a tornado actually went thru, it is thick and the deer are always bedding in there.

 

[Bill]

What you discribe is about the best sure fire bedding I've encountered, Evergreens in native grass.
I'm not in swamp or big woods country, I'm sure it's completely different there.

Hinge cut timber ranks right up there for me also. Having said that I think they will lay anywhere that offers them some protection if human activity is low. I've raised a few retrievers over the years and found that if a crate is not used as punishment when thier young they actually prefer to sleep in them even with the door open. Probably something that is in them instinctively to gravitate towards protection. I always figured that's why deer like to be next to Brush, a log, windfall or evergreen.

I don't make buck beds specifically because I've never been successful at it. I hinge cut, plant grasses with cedars in it etc and let them figure out where to lay down.

 

[Double Tap]

My biggest concern is the ecological time-stamp that occurs with these evergreen/switch-grass combinations. These areas are dynamite for several years but once that under story thins out the deer will move elsewhere.. At least the ones you WANT to have. If there was only a tree/shrub that stayed at a low height with a wide canopy that would be perfect, in my opinion.

I agree human intrusion and the sense of danger really dictates mature buck bedding to immature deer bedding to no bedding. Mature bucks don't tolerate much as many have "seen it all" and that's what most of us strive to have on our properties. There is no way to "build" a buck bed, you can create the habitat & safety net for them but that's it.

 

[yoderjac]

That is what timber management accomplishes. We have a pine farm. We recently clearcut two low quality hardwood stands for bedding. We aren't planting anything in them. First, we had herbicides applied to kill stumps and keep suckers from taking over from these large root systems. When the herbicides had done their job and everything was brown, we conducted a controlled burn. We will continue to hot burn these areas every 3 to 5 years to keep them in early succession as long as possible.

However, as you say, nothing in nature is truly permanent. We have divided our pines into management units. We should have a section of pines ready for the final harvest before we lose this bedding. When it is clearcut it will be replanted in pines and they will be properly sprayed. We have plenty of bluestem broomsedge in our soil bank so we will get the exact bedding cover you describe. Our plan is to have another management unit ready for final harvest about the time that area canopies. The idea is to always keep some management unit in early succession.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Double Tap]

That is what timber management accomplishes. We have a pine farm. We recently clearcut two low quality hardwood stands for bedding. We aren't planting anything in them. First, we had herbicides applied to kill stumps and keep suckers from taking over from these large root systems. When the herbicides had done their job and everything was brown, we conducted a controlled burn. We will continue to hot burn these areas every 3 to 5 years to keep them in early succession as long as possible.

However, as you say, nothing in nature is truly permanent. We have divided our pines into management units. We should have a section of pines ready for the final harvest before we lose this bedding. When it is clearcut it will be replanted in pines and they will be properly sprayed. We have plenty of bluestem broomsedge in our soil bank so we will get the exact bedding cover you describe. Our plan is to have another management unit ready for final harvest about the time that area canopies. The idea is to always keep some management unit in early succession.

Thanks,

Jack

Jack,

Sounds like y'all have an excellent setup going on. Are any of your bedding areas/pine stands located on a hill top or near the transition line of a hill? If so, have you noticed a trend in buck bedding/rubs going into/out of the bedding areas located on hills vs flat land?

 

[yoderjac]

Jack,

Sounds like y'all have an excellent setup going on. Are any of your bedding areas/pine stands located on a hill top or near the transition line of a hill? If so, have you noticed a trend in buck bedding/rubs going into/out of the bedding areas located on hills vs flat land?

Our land is rolling. The two hardwood clear-cuts are on high ground. Both will likely be ready to attract bedding this year, so it is too early to tell. The current bedding areas are on neighboring property which is one reason we initiated these hardwood clear-cuts. There are clusters of rubs in the current bedding areas, but I would not say there are distinct rub lines leading from them. Instead, I find rub line from fields that peter out before they get to the bedding area. It almost seems that bucks intentionally avoid the area close to but not in the bedding area at our place. The current bedding area on the neighboring property is not on high ground.

When I lived in PA, it seemed deer had much more distinct routes between bedding and food. Down here, they seem to meander much more. We have much less distinct trails here.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[H20fwler]

My part of the state is pretty much devoid of natural stands of pine, we do have some volunteer red cedar.

My experience is the same as most that have replied here.
My area is very agricultural with mixed hardwoods, a grown over pasture with a few islands of 7-10 pine and spruce planted in switch and thorns is a deer bedding magnet...twice as good if water is nearby. It doesn't seem to matter if the trees are mature or young the deer seem to be drawn to them.