Last August 2nd and 3rd it hit 108 here. The Umpqua Valley has mild wet winters and hot dry summers.

Bull, years ago, I hunted in a club near Monroeville. There was a mature buck I had pics of going and coming from a Democrats house on a county rd. Everytime I'd try to sneak up, the dogs(little yapping type) would bark and alert him to my coming close and I see him exit thru a cow pasture. He was using those dogs as an alarm system. The big mature ones are very smart. I've had farmers tell me about mature bucks bedding with cows.

A 140 inch plus 10 point was bedding at the gate going in to the lease. Not more than 30 foot or so. He was seen by several then one guy jumped him and the buck was killed by a kid in another club across the road.

Notice how those two bucks know to face opposite directions. Doe groups do that too.

Yeah, I believe they're smarter than we give them credit for being sometimes

In a freshly scorched earth clearcut with nothing but windrows cut in the dirt. Three were laying out in the middle of it.

In Dec 2014 this big blacktail showed up in my front pasture, about two weeks after the season closed. He hung around for about a week, then was never seen again.


Here he is bedded down behind a little rise, about 40 yards from my bedroom window. He had the wind at his back, and was watching the house. Nothing was getting close without him seeing or smelling it.

Here is the fawn that was in the shed.

I had a doe bedded down on a tiny island about 50 yards off the shore. It was a little island about 15x15 yards in size. Stickin out of water 10 feet. Little grass on it. Real close to ditto landing.

The best beds i ever saw was a dried up pond with cedars growin in it. 100 yards from woods. In a pasture beside a pear orchard. Paradise

I played baseball for Millsaps College and Berry was in our conference. It was always so cool to go play out there and see deer just wandering around campus. They'd also hang out behind the outfield wall. Made it really hard to pay attention in center field....

I hunted an old farm that a tornado destroyed back years ago and the deer were bedding in what was the horse stalls. They had a good thing going being able to stay out of the rain and keep the wind off them. I havent been there in a good while but if that old structure is still standing theyre still using it

At the military base I hunt I've seen them bedding right up against buildings in the shade, beneath abandoned aircraft, inside large culverts, right in the middle of gravel parking lots, and I guess just about any other crazy spot over the last 12-15 years.

I found a spot years ago that was about 20 yards in diameter that was way to thick for anything to walk through. I kicked up a rabbit and shot it and it tumbled into a hole in the briers that I hadn't seen yet. Went to find the rabbit and noticed deer tracks going into this hole. I got down on hands and knees and crawled into this hole. Maybe four feet in it just opened up. About a twelve foot circle with deer crap all in it. Wasn't any way anything bigger than a rabbit was getting in there anywhere beside that hole I crawled in to. I killed 3 does and a buttonhead accidentally, watching that hole over the next couple years. It burnt up in a prescribed burn the next year. This was an area that I was told there weren't any deer on and had squirrel and rabbit hunted for years and never seen any sign of any deer.

I used to have a doe and fawn bed in my driveway at my old house.

While looking for a buck that a friend shot on an organized hunt on Parris Island, I walked up on a nice 7 pt buck at the end of a slough laying in some cattails. Literally was like a foot away without a gun (no hunting on that day) I backed out very slowly and the deer never moved a muscle! Couldn't believe he let me get that close.

Place I used to hunt had an old half-fallen-in barn on it with trees grown up all around it. wouldn't even know it was there unless you were within 10yds of it. went exploring in it one day and found a bedding area inside it.

In pea gravel next to our HVAC unit at home. Fawn laid there in the sun while momma ate acorns in the yard.

I saw this online

Big buck bedded down right in middle of lot in Glascott in Ross Bridge. Jumped him several mornings walking with the wife. Big Big Big Buck. Literally 10 yards off the sidewalk.