Mature bucks are like grumpy ol' men, they wanta be left alone. They can bed in a very remote thicket or in a small patch behind Walmart. Mature bucks do have some tendencies , but not many when it comes to beds.
This exactly. From a dense thicket to just that little thicket you dont look twice at. They are just big rabbits hiding in the thicket is how I always look at them. And like a rabbit most wont move until you step on em.
Those thickets make a racket if you try to come in on him and they love that.
When I was around 15 we were deer hunting on the farm. We would all walk out to this field and spread out and head to different areas. The next field over had this little knoll with some big rocks and just enough thicket and 5 to 7 trees DEAD Center in it. Usually 2 to 3 of us would walk through it on one side heading to a patch of woods.
I decided man,..if I was a buck Id lie there and just watch.
One day I decided I was going to go see. So I started sneaking that way...staying low, then actually crawling the last 50 yards looking the whole time. My little Marlin 30/30 open sights ready to shoot.
Man, I scanned every clump of brush and rocks on the slow way there. I couldnt see a rabbit much less a dang 200 pound deer. Finally I had crawled real close. Probably 25 yards and was behind this tall grass...and I finally figured out" Nope no dang deer at all. What the heck was I thinking? Man I must look like a fool crawling here like this. I hope none of the guys SAW ME!
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I stood up ,....and a big buck jumps up and runs the other way on the other side, keeping that island of brush between us.
I was a 15 yo kid so you know I shot that dang 30/30 quick like the ole "Rifleman" on TV! Man was I mad at myself. All that dang work and I BLEW IT!
Nothing but air but man did that buck teach me something. I never saw that joker and I was looking HARD, but he must have watched me quite a dang while.
I thought I was SMART, but that ole boy was WAY smarter then me. Sneaky and nerves of steel.
And he had watched a couple of the other boys walking right along the one edge of the field the whole time. Probably did every dang day.
All I hunt is thicket. In thicket or as close as I can get to it without spooking them. Thats the best bedding for a big buck IMO.
