Bedding Area Strategy
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Mike from IA asks:Love your show/ask winke part of your site. I've been closely following your way of hunting and have learned a lot. This spring I have been planning to adjust a few stand placements to reduce the presure. One thing I struggle to figure out is which way to know the deer will come from in the morning for stand placement. There is trails leading to bedding areas from two different food sources on opposite sides of the woods. Makes it hard for me to determine place (and which wind) to hunt without getting busted. Any feedback is appreciated.Winke Responds:Mike, In that situation I would likely have stands on the other two sides of the bedding area and then hunt the one that keeps your scent away from the deer. In other words, assume the deer approach the bedding area from east and west. Place stnads on north edge and south edge. Hunt the north stand with a south wind and approach from the north. South stand with a north wind and south approach. Keep completely away from the feeding areas on the way in and have a decent way to sneak out when things slow down in midday. You might cheat a bit toward one of the sides where the deer are coming from and maybe try to overlook a trail on that side, but really once deer hit the bedding areas they tend to fan out and it becomes tough to predict where they will end up, so I have always just tried to stay on the downwind edge and put in my time. If you get too aggressive you can spook deer and that bedding area will not be as productive in the future. Remember, you need to keep the does coming in faithfully too, so during the rut the bucks will cruise that area. Good luck. (3-31-12)
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Kevin from TN asks:Hello Bill. Congratulations on your recent trophys. I would consider either one to be the buck of a lifetime. I have a question regarding set placement during the season. I've just about made up my mind that I will set a new stand. Could you offer any advice on what I should do, or shouldn't do, to limit my impact on the deer in the area? We have a very healthy doe population so my plan is to use this new set as a morning stand to target doe headed towards a thicket bedding area. And of course hope that a quality buck decides to stroll by. I learn something new from you everyday. Thanks for all you do.Winke Responds:Kevin, If you can get in there completely undetected to set the stand, do that. If not, it is best to make noise, drive a vehicle close, run a chainsaw a bit and move the deer out with plenty of warning. They will forgive this kind of intrusion faster than if you sneak in there and surprise them right in their bedding area. Sounds like a good plan, however. Good luck. (11-19-11)
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Can you help me to find bedding and feeding areas in central MO where there are not any crop fields?Rick from MO asks:Everyone talks about DOE BEDDING areas but never has any one described how to identify one. I live In mid Missouri and we dont have crops. I have heck of a time looking for a stand site between bedding and feeding areas. The best I can do is hunt funnels. Any advice?Winke Responds:Rick, That is not a bad strategy overall, but if you can fine-tune it by knowing where they likely feed and bed, that will help you decide which funnels to hunt at certain times. You will need to find out from a local biologist what they browse on in your area, but for sure they eat mast (acorns primarily but apples, pears, persimmons, etc.) I would try to find areas with concentrated food sources (these may be very hard to find). For bedding, generally, deer like to bed on high areas where they can see danger below (downwind) and smell it behind them (upwind). So they bed on the downwind edge of high points and ridges, if possible within a jump or two from cover. They also bed in and around any areas of really thick cover where they can burrow in. Good luck. (11-1-11)
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Bob from IL asks:Hey Winke, i love your website. im a bowhunter that hunts in central illinois. my ?, i seen a great buck bedded in the same spot for some time now, he beds on the edge of a crp thicket with a woods to his south a standing corn field to the south of that. there is woods to the southwest of him also. he must be hitting that spot up early in the morning. how close would you get to his bedding area and what time would you set up? i wanna setup to the southwest of him in that woods off a crazy deer run, probably 50 yards from where ive been seeing him bed. i want to come in from the east southeast part with a NW wind. not sure where he goes after beddind and i dont know where he coming from to his bedding spot, im pretty sure its from the S or SE. what would you do Winke?Winke Responds:Bob, I would set up in the direction you think he is heading toward when he gets out of his bed and hunt him in the afternoons. Much easier than trying to squeeze in on his bedding area at this point. I would not set up closer than 100 yards from where you think he is bedding so that would put you a short ways into timber, I am guessing. Don't let him know you are hunting him or he will move off, but at the same time, now is the time to hunt him, while you know where he is bedding. Go get him. That is what I would do. Good luck.
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justin from OH asks:I was getting lots of pictures in early August of deer going to the bedding area now its late September and not getting any thing.Should I move my stand out of the bedding area and try somewhere else or will the deer start using it again?Winke Responds:Justin, That is a tough one. I never like hunting bedding areas at this time of the season. Some guys do well with that strategy but it just feels way to risky to me. I like the idea of letting the deer have their safe areas for now and hunting them on the fringes or much closer to where they likely feed. You run the risk of educating them and causing them to move to a new area or at least move only at night. In short, the conservative strategy is to move from that area to one closer to the feeding areas for now. You can get back and hunt the bedding areas a bit more during the rut when things are more stirred up and the patterns are not as consistent. Good luck.
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cw from VA asks:Really enjoy the show and especially the website. I know you stress the importance of entry and exit routes and I wanted to know if it would be ok to drive by a bedding area on the way to a stand. This land holds good deer but is difficult to hunt because of its features. The bedding area I will be driving by is approximately 300 yards from the stand and is the only way to get past the deer before getting on foot. My thoughts are that it would be better to drive by, rather than walk. Thanks very much.Winke Responds:CW, Yes, it likely would be better to drive by than to walk by unless the walking route is bulletproof. It will work even better to drive by if the deer are at least somewhat accustomed to a truck going by on that route. The setup is not ideal, but I think the lesser of two evils is to drive past. Good luck.
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Alex from WI asks:people always say you need to stay out of bedding area? obviously this is were they rest but how exactly do i figure where that is with out going and looking for them/disrupting them? are they typically 100 yards in the woods, 200 yards..... please help me so i dont kick all the deer off my land.Winke Responds:Alex, I would just go ahead and disturb them, but do it very early. If you pass through the area, making a lot of noise, like carrying a chainsaw and firing it up every 50 yards or so, they will not see the disturbance as too sinister on your part and you can look for actual beds. After you get to where you know the types of places deer bed in your part of the country, you can just avoid those types of places. That is basically how I approach it. Deer in our area typically bed in certain types of places (list too long to go into here, but for starters they like the inside bend of a river, right by the water, a ridgetops and points where they overlook bottoms, etc. Learn those types of places where you hunt and you will be on the right track. It may take a few years to get your property wired, but then it will not change from year to year and those same terrain and cover features will be good bedding areas on other properties too. Good luck.
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Seth from IN asks:hey, first of all I'd like to say thanks for all the answers and it has really helped me think about how to get in and out of the stand properly etc. My question is... Is it alright if I hunt right on a bedding area.Winke Responds:Seth, I don't usually hunt right in the middle of them, but rather on the downwind fringe in a spot where you know the deer won't smell you when you are on stand. Also, only hunt it when the wind is blowing from the direction you expect the deer to approach and then enter the stand with the wind in your face. That is a good strategy for the rut. I don't think I would hunt the spot too much before then for fear of alerting and educating the deer and making them more wary and nocturnal in their travels. Good luck.
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Brent from MI asks:Bill, if you bump a bedded buck(big one) exiting your stand location in the morning, would it be safe to assume that he would return, to bed there again? Thank you very much!Winke Responds:Brent, Most deer generally have options when it comes to bedding areas, so this buck may not come back there again right away. I would say that he will be back at some point within the next couple of days though. Some of it depends on how you spook him. Did you get close and really give him a scare? That will make him think his bedding area is vulnerable and his security is at risk. They don't like being spooked at close If you spooked him at a distance, I believe he is likely to be back sooner than if you get right in on him and give him a good close range scare. It matches my philosophy on scouting. Make plenty of noise well in advance (chainsaw for example) when scouting near bedding areas. Make him think his early warning system is working so he doesn't change things too drastically.
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Seve from ME asks:I have about a 20 acre tract of land I hunt in N.central Nebraska, It supprisingly holds quite a few deer. There is one large buck I am pretty sure was four years old last season. He was not harvested last year so I am hoping he is still there. My question is about the time the pre rut begins he seems to disappear which leads me to think he is not the dominant buck in the area. I know where the bedding area is and it might be my only chance to get close enough to take him with a bow. Any suggestions on how to hunt a bedding area would be greatly appreciated. If he returns I will start sending trailcam pictures but he could be a 170 to 180 class deer this year!!!!!!!Winke Responds:Seve, There are likely several ways to do it - here are a couple of ideas. First, you can go in now and hang two or three stands that give you options for different wind directions. Then arrive very early the day you go to hunt the spot (assuming early season before he leaves if the pattern holds). Be there at least an hour before first light. Sneak in very carefully from a direction you think is opposite where he may be feeding. If he senses anything at all out of the ordinary he will not use that area. You may have to hunt the spot several times to make it happen, so you will need a really good exit route. If deer are bedded close by when it is time to climb down, I would probably have someone approach making lots of noise with a chainsaw and move them off. Another option is to try to find him late season. Not sure if you tried that last season, but we find that the bucks are reasonably vulnerable late season here when we have good food sources. So that would be my goal if I were you - have a great food source and try to pull him back in after the rut. I don't think I would hunt the bedding area then unless you know he is there (trail cam photos) and is not coming to the food during daylight, then it is worth the risk. Good luck.
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Dalton from KS asks:Hey Mr. Winke, Sorry to bother u again but I have a question about the staging area. I am allowed to hunt a piece of property that has about 40 acres of THICK cedar and CRP mixed in it. Where it ends is a 120 acres of farming feild and in the middle of that is a pond surrounded by trees. On the other side of the fence where this property begins is a field of probably 100 acres of CRP with cedar trees mixed it it. In the middle of the property i hunt, telaphone wires run through but brush has grown so thick that u cant walk through it hardly at all. Right in the middle of the bedding area there is a oppening that has the shape of a football. I know deer walk through here to go to the corn field. My question is if i planted a food plot there as u suggested can i hunt it without spooking the deer out of the bedding area with my scent? I also could plant a food plot on the verge of the bedding area that i can hunt properly with 3 kinds of wind. Thank u very much!!Winke Responds:Dalton, It is hard for me to completely visualize your layout, but anytime you can place a small food plot between a bedding area and a larger feeding area, you have a classic staging area. I would want to have at least one wind I can hunt it with that doesn't blow to the bedding area. If it is far enough off the big field that you can get to it without alerting deer close to the big field, it is also a good morning stand, otherwise, you hunt it only in the evenings. The closer the staging area is to the feeding area, the harder it is to get out clean and the closer it is to the bedding area, the harder it is to get in clean. So the best ones permit both - undetected in and out. Good luck.
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Cody from KS asks:First of all I want to say I enjoy your show more than any other whitetail hunting show on the air today. My question is about hunting bedding areas. I have access to a decent amount of hunting land with corn and beans as a food source and a reasonable amount of timber. However, near the land I hunt is several other fields and lots of timber. I want to know where to find the bedding areas on the land that I hunt but I am not sure if they bed on my land or just eat and travel through it. I realize that without a map of the land that is tough to answer. What should I be looking for as to if they do indeed bed on my land or not. There is also a creek that runs through the property if that helps. Thanks.Winke Responds:Cody, Thanks for your support. I appreciate it. With an aerial photo it is sometimes easy to point out the most likely bedding areas, but there are other ways. At this point, with the KS season nearly done, I would get out immediately after the season and walk every inch of it. Look for the actual beds. Generally, they will be near (sometimes in) areas of thick cover. When there are decent deer numbers, you will find them bedded in most areas with adequate cover. They don't all bed in the prime locations because there is not enough room - they tend to spread out more. I suspect they are bedding on your property as well as feeding there and traveling through. There may not be as many bedded there as you will find in areas with more cover, but I bet you still have some bedding areas. Good luck.
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Eric from MI asks:Hi, I live in southern MI, I hunt on private property. It is late bow season now after the rut and cold. I havent seen any deer, but alot of tracks. I see them at night. Gun season is over now, and there is woods on both sides of the corn fields. The corn fields are tilled up and have been since late october. The property is 375 acres total. What can I do. I know where the deer bed at to.Winke Responds:Eric, I would say that at some point you will need to go to their bedding area if they never come out during the day. Tilled corn is not a strong attraction. Just be sure to get in there at noon, run them out, set the stand and show up early in the morning to hunt it - well before daylight. Good luck.
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Phil from WI asks:Bill, I have found on my property that each year one certain area is littered with rubs. These rubs are near some thick bedding cover. I have never entered this bedding area to avoid bumping deer but have witnessed many times does traveling to and from this thick cover. Do you think that this area is primarily a buck bedding area or doe bedding area? and how would you go about hunting this area? Should I go directly into the middle of things and hang a stand or hang one near the rubs and wait for a cruising buck? Thanks, PhilWinke Responds:Phil, I have seen this too, every year the same area but the rubs are abandoned very soon after they are made. I would note when you saw the rubs first and start hunting the downwind fringe of that bedding area just before that date next year. It is the best I can come up for taking advantage of this. As I said, I have seen it several times myself, but rarely hunt until late October because of work so I have not ever set up on this kind of sign. Good luck.
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Shannon from VA asks:I put a stalk on a huge bedded buck. I stalked to within 15 yards of him but when I grunted to get him to stand up, he came up running. He was bedded in an old 2 acre garden that was grown up with briars and small cedars in the middle of a 40 acre hay field. He never smelled me and he didnt see me. I think I just surprised him with the grunts. Do you think he will come back to the same spot to bed?Winke Responds:Shannon, Yes, I do but probably not right away. In that situation I have learned to simply sit down and wait them out. I have done that on many stalks for other kinds of big game and it works much better because of exactly what happened to you. Live and learn. Good luck.
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chris from OH asks:How deep do deer hide or bed in corn,and does it mader on the size of the corn field.Winke Responds:Chris, I have seen them in the very middle of huge fields. When you go to hunt them, you will need to either sneak through the cornfield looking up and down the rows and then sneak in if you see them or you will need to find something in the field, like a small woodlot in the center, that concentrates their activity. Otherwise, all you can do is wait for the farmer to pick the field. Good luck.
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Jonathan from MN asks:I located a bedding area, which is in a old overgrown field that has been left to go "wild" for the last 40 years. The area is used frequently by mature bucks and has a small lake on the west side. I set up a good stand site 30 yards from the lake which I access by way of canoe. While setting the stand on Oct. 15 I bumped a doe and a small buck out of the area. Do you think this will have a negative impact for when I come in to the stand in the early morning once the pre-rut starts around Halloween? Other wise I think I have found the perfect bedding area to hunt in the early morning, by way of my canoe enterence and exit. What due you think?Winke Responds:Jonathan, Sounds like the perfect spot to me! I would not worry about those deer. I think it sounds like a great spot. As long as you can access it early (as you plan) you should beat most of the deer in there. Your only challenge will be to get out of there clean if deer are bedded close by. I used to carry a sling shot and some stones to move deer that were bedded close to my stands when it was time to climb down. Good luck.
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Mike from ON asks:How do you check trail cameras and hang stands in or around bedding areas? Do you do it early in the year, certain times of day, certain times of weather, or do you hunt them right after hanging the stand? I just want to be as invisible as possible but maintain my scouting and know what is or isn't in my areas.Winke Responds:Mike, I hang stands in these places but I don't hang cameras in these areas. Normally, you can tell by the way a buck approaches the camera where he is coming from and if it is an evening, you can probably figure out roughly where he is bedding as a result of knowing his direction of travel. I just don't to mess around in bedding areas until the start of the rut. I generally hang my bedding area stands early in the year. I will hang my feeding area stands (afternoon stands) or transiton stands, the afternoon that I go in to hunt those areas. Bedding area stands are morning stands and it is hard to set a good stand in the dark of pre-dawn so I get them up well ahead of time. Keep the trail cameras on the fringes (if you can use bait in front of the cameras, that is a good idea) and use what you see to determine where the bucks were coming from and thus where they are bedding.
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Keith from NC asks:I am hunting in the foothills of NC. My stand is situated in a creekbottom surrounded by four ridges covered in thickets. The deer bed in the laurels on the ridges and come to the creeks to drink before moving out to feed. The thermals constantly change. Any suggestions to hunt this area?Winke Responds:Keith, It is a really hard situation. I guess I would rather try to hunt them on the ridges before they come down into the valley. We have a similar setup here (not very rugged, but enough to cause swirling when the wind blows). I just stay out of the bottoms most of the time and focus on hunting ridges.
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Jordan from IN asks:hey bill i got my bow shooting strait now and have it zeroed in at 55 yards. Today i was out scouting and setting up some cameras and i found a really nice spot but i have no clue where to set up at. Its got a corn field right out in the very front thats about to be harvested and before that right next to some woods is a wheat field and on the edge of the woods next to that is a line of acorn trees all of them dropping. Then about 50 yards in the woods is a bedding area next to a pond and a crp field. im wondering where should i set up at to catch these deer during early season?Winke Responds:Jordan, Without a doubt, I would be hunting those acorns until the deer mop them up. Then I would move toward the other food souces (you'll have to look at the sign to see which are attracting the most deer) after they are gone. As you get closer to the rut, start hunting back by the bedding areas in the mornings (not the evenings). Be sure to approach it by a way that keeps you away from the feeding areas. Also, find a way to get to and from the oaks without alerting any deer. That will be the biggest challenge. Figuring out where to place your stand is only about 20% of the challenge. Figuring out how to get in and out without alerting deer is the 80%. Good luck.
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Dean from NJ asks:Bill, Knowing from all of your shows, you really dont hunt a lot of mornings unless it is the rut. Could you shed some light on why and and also how you go about choosing the mornings you do hunt in the early and late seasons? Also, what kind of hours do you spend in the stand during the rut? Thanks again for all the effort you put in to help fellow hunters. DeanWinke Responds:Dean, I am like a lot of people in that I don't have an unlimited amount of time to hunt so I do what I can to be in the best places at the best times - make the most of my time in the tree. I would hunt the mornings early and late in the season if I knew a good way to do it without burning out my hunting area. Basically, you need to be near bedding areas or on the trails and funnels leading to the bedding areas. You can get away with hunting such spots some, but not a lot. So in an effort to keep my hunting areas as fresh as possible, I avoid those areas except during the rut. If I hunted near bedding areas all season long, I wouldn't shoot much. So I am basically picking my fights. I don't hunt any mornings before Oct. 25 nor after about November 25. So basically, I hunt every morning for a month straight and that is it. I may still hunt several evenings in early October, here and there, just for fun really. I spend most of my early season time worrying about getting the kids on deer. During the late season I hunt every evening from the time the gun season ends until the time the bow season ends. It is just very hard to get on a mature buck back in his bedding area during the early and late seaon without runing the area. However, I can set up in good funnels near food sources with a wind advantage and a good way to sneak out and hunt it several times in a two week period. If I have ten such spots, I have more than enough for the entire late season and early season. During the rut, I will occassionally hunt all day, but that is usually from Nov. 4 through Nov. 8 or 9 if the weather is cool. Usually, I have something I need to do back at the office so I climb down at about 11:30 and then hunt a different stand at about 1:30. My morning stands are usually different from my evening stands. The morning stands tend be back deep in the cover and the evening stands tend to be more in the open, toward food and just small staging areas (sma
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Jacob from MO asks:Bill: Love the show! you guys are doing great. Would like to see it on TV soon! I have a couple questions for you. Our families farm is around 45 miles from where i live. But we also have around 300 acres where i live, which is half in the city limits and half not. It dosnt get any hunting pressure but, It is all cedars and locust and pastures. There is no oaks which means no acorns. Most of the land is bedding area. I turkey hunt the area quite a bit but havnt deer hunted it much. I decided to put up a stand last week and found trails everywhere coming out of where i think they bed.along one of the trails i found 7 or 8 fresh rubs. i had to put the stand in a cedar because it was the only tree that would work. I saw 6 or 7 deer that night and the buck but he came out right at dark and stayed around 70 yards. Do you have any idea about stand placement around bedding areas? and how can i catch this buck before dark? and what would the best entry/exit route be? Thanks for the responseWinke Responds:Jacob, I would keep hunting the trails near where they come out of the cover and soon enough he will make a mistake. That would be my afternoon strategy for now. In a few days (maybe around November 1) I would start to hunt near the bedding areas and get in early using the backdoor to avoid bumping into the deer near their feeding areas. I would only hunt it when the wind is right (blowing from the food to the bed) and then set up on the downwind fringe of the bedding area. That way, you don't leave a bunch of scent in there as you go in and you won't likly get picked off when hunting. If there are natural openings, set up where you have at least some visibility. Cedars can be tough to hunt if they are thick because the deer are on you without warning. Another option is to find a spot between two bedding areas (ideally a funnel) and then spend lots of time there during the rut waiting for bucks to cruise back and forth between the bedding areas. These travel route stands are less risky because the deer don't linger in these areas.
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Josh from WI asks:Hey bill I was wondering where you think deer are bedding!! here is the situation,there is are abunch of oak ridges and abunch of 1 1/2 year select cut that is now about 8 feet tall with brush! I have seen deer beds in both areas but dont know which one is the spot where the bucks will be cruising in the mornings or will they be cruising both areas?? these two areas are only 2 hundred yards apart!! thanks Josh HurayWinke Responds:Josh, For sure they will be cruising both areas. They know exactly where the does bed and that is one of the main places they look for them when the rut starts to build up momentum. I would stay out of those spots until about Nov. 3, or so. I like to wait until the bucks are actively looking before I start knocking around in these sensitive areas. A funnel in between the two spots would also be a great stand site that you can probably get away with hunting more often without the risk of educating a bunch of deer. You might do well to find any such spots.
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Justin from VT asks:Hey Bill, just another question... My best early season stand is in an area of apple trees on a little plateau below a grass field. The deer love to snack on apples (within 10 yards of the stand!) and then head up to the field to feed right around dark in the evenings. Above the field is a patch of pine trees with another field above it where I park my truck to walk in. The problem is getting to the stand for morning hunts. Trail camera pictures confirm that in the early morning hours the deer can still be in the lower field feeding (between me and my stand). The most direct and silent entrance is through that field. The other options are walking through high grass where they sometimes bed (not good, also noisy), walking through the pine trees and then around the edge of the field and into the woods and to the stand, or around a 5 acre corn field next to the grass field, down onto a atv trail, over, and up to the stand. I think the 2nd or 3rd option is the best, but what do you think?Winke Responds:Justin, Without seeing the area specifically, I can only offer general advice. Basically, it doesn't matter how hard you have to work, if you are serious about success you have to appraoch the stand from a direction where you won't run into deer and where your scent won't blow to them. There is no easy way around that requirement. It is one of the fundamentals of success. Taken a step farther, you also need to exit by a way that will also keep you away from the bedding areas in the morning and away from the feeding areas in the evening. It is one of the biggest challenges of shooting deer - getting the entry and exit routes correct. Good luck.
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cameron from AB asks:Hi Bill, I have a large piece of land that I hunt and I dont have a problem finding evening stands but I cant seem to find good morning stands. what kinds of spots should I be looking for and how do I avoid spooking deer in the fields? and how Early should i get into my moring stand?Winke Responds:Cameron, I hunt back in the cover for most morning hunts or at the least, away from feeding areas. It is very hard to get to a morning stand if you have to cross a feeding area, or if you hunt near it. Save those spots for afternoon hunts. Look for ways to come in the backdoor - the direction opposite the feeding areas and then hunt it when the wind is blowing from the food to the bedding area. I also hunt small staging areas in the morning. These are isolated food plots or openings that I have in the cover. Usually, I can get to these without alerting deer. Also, look for funnels such as creek crossings and even brushy fence lines for good morning spots to intercept a cruising buck. In other words, anything that makes sense than near feeding areas. I get in fairly early, but generally not way before daylight. I am usually set up with a few minutes left until legal shooting time.
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Josh from IA asks:First off great site the interaction throughout the entire site is a great learning tool for all of us. I guess I have a couple of questions. First I was wondering if you were planning on putting up forums for those that visit this site to converse back and forth amongst one another. But my main question is this. There are two big mature deer I've seen a bunch this summer, I've done a lot of homework and have their bedding area pretty much figured out. I know they won't keep the same travel routes or food sources that they've been using now, but the problem I have is do I wait to hunt close to the bedding area until the rut or get in there early and try and get them before the rut. I'm confident a lot of does bed in this area as well which confuses me as to what to do. Save for the rut and hope no one else takes him or be aggressive and get in there early and hunt near the bedding.Winke Responds:Josh, Thanks. I am not planning to have a forum anytime soon. I don't like anonymity. I guess I have been wrongly blasted in forums enough times (with absolutely false information) that I have lost all interest in forums. To do them right takes a lot of policing and we just don't have the man-hours available to do that right now. I don't want to have anything show up on here that might offend someone, so I am controling all the content for now. Now, on to your big deer: When you have a pattern, you have to exploit it, regardless of the time of the season. Patterns are very hard to find, and if you have one, take full advantage of it and hunt them reasonably aggressively as soon as you can. Who knows where they will be come late October. Also, even if you bump them a little when the season opens, that won't hurt your chances for success come the rut. Good luck and thanks for your support.
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Josh from WI asks:hey Bill, Love the show! I was just wondering how to find where the deer are bedding? the land that I hunt is 80 acres of thick balsams so I am not really sure how to find exactly where they are bedding!thanks JoshWinke Responds:Josh, Sounds like in that kind of area, they may be bedding anywhere. However, if you have any natural rises or ridges in the terrain, they will likely be bedding on these. They like to bed on higher areas. If you really have problems finding these areas, wait until there is snow and just make a scouting trip through there and look for beds in the snow. See if the locations you find make any sense. One pass isn't going to push them off the place permanently. Make plenty of noise, maybe even run a chainsaw and cut out a few trees here and there so they don't perceive you as dangerous.
