What makes a feeding or bedding area?

[rcdinaz]

Glassing mid day! Deer dont move in the afternoon, somehow they become catatonic and freeze solid.

 

I hear a lot of people say morning and evening but I tend to see a lot of deer in the middle of the day. Kind of counter intuitive but in my last trip I switched from the 15's to the 10's in the afternoon and just scanned and found deer moving around. I guess the wider FOV is the way to go if they are moving even a little. I still use the 15's because nothing gives you self confidence glassing better than finding a bedded deer and if it is a buck game on! Nothing better than a bedded deer to increase success rate.

[donniedent]

Dang guys I'm chopping at the bit for Jan 1. Ugh... Going a little nuts here.

[gogoj1]

If you are able to sneak up on a bedded buck, what's your next move? The few times I have been in that situation I blew it every time. I always snuck up behind him with a tree or bush between us but then I couldn't shoot him unless he got up and wandered into the open. My plan was always to wait,wait,wait but it never worked out. One thing I thought of was throwing a rock over his head and spooking him back in my direction.

[donniedent]

I try and get within my max range and stop there. Usually 75 to 80 yds. This time of year if I'm on a buck, there are does too. I worry more about the does than the buck. It's a situational call. Sometimes you can force the issue and get him to stand and sometimes you just have to wait them out. I'm really bad at waiting them out and I've blown untold opportunities by being impatient. Many times, all the does but the hot doe will bed. Mostly because the buck is keeping her moving. This is when you want to be in the right place at the right time. If I glass up a herd that has a buck with them that is a shooter, I beat feet and try and get close. I don't sit and watch them and wait for them to bed. Usually you can close the distance to under 200 yds. At that point is game on.

 

So to answer your question... lol... Get in close before they bed if at all possible. Deer are 1000 times harder to get close to when they are already bedded rather than when they are still up and feeding.

[KaibabHunter]

Here's a small buck from last week. Cold at night 26 degrees and he was soakin up some sun in the morning.

 

Zoomed in

[donniedent]

Oh yeah, post a pic and make a guy go from nuts to bananas.

[donniedent]

That's funny how he bedded down right in the sun like that. I tell you, when it comes to desert muleys, you can throw away the books. I hunted mules in Wyoming when I lived there and they acted exactly like Mike Eastman said they would. You get in the desert and those books work better for toilet paper. Totally different deer

[JakeL]

That's funny how he bedded down right in the sun like that. I tell you, when it comes to desert muleys, you can throw away the books. I hunted mules in Wyoming when I lived there and they acted exactly like Mike Eastman said they would. You get in the desert and those books work better for toilet paper. Totally different deer

 

Tell me about it. I've been hunting mule deer since I was 2. But that was up above 8,000 in Utah. These deer are a totally different game, without any rule book.

[donniedent]

Yeah lol, dessert deer are so different. Like I said, hunting in Wyoming was fairly textbook. Muleys did what they were supposed to do. Bedded under ribbon cliffs, fed in slides on north faces... everything they are meant to do. The one great thing about hunting desert deer is it has made me a better hunter all around. I truly believe if you can learn to find desert bucks you can hunt muleys anywhere. Just my opinion but I don't think there's a greater hunting challenge in arizona, if not the west.

[tjhunt2]

Dont skip out glassing mid-day... alot of the bigger bucks ive found have been mid day, getting uo to stretch, feed a little, and move to better shade. This is in august as well, just cause its hot doesnt mean deer wont move in the middle of the day, and because of the cooler weather deer activity during the day definitely goes up. I truly believe alot of bigger bucks bed at first light and get up to feed in the middle of the day when most hunters go home or back to camp for lunch. As for glassing I like to glass at a slightly faster pace then slow wayyyy down for when deer are bedded, and stay slow until I think movement picks back up for the evening. If you can see alot of country, or you know deer are on a certain mountain, stay in your glassing spot all day and memorize and look behind each blade of grass. If I am reglassing a hill and dont remember previously looking at the same spot the first time through, youve gone too fast. I know that goes against my previous statement of glassing quicker... but thats just a quick scan of the country in front of me looking for deer in the open or moving around alot. Then ill slow it way down and go over the country again

+1

 

TJ

[gogoj1]

I try and get within my max range and stop there. Usually 75 to 80 yds. This time of year if I'm on a buck, there are does too. I worry more about the does than the buck. It's a situational call. Sometimes you can force the issue and get him to stand and sometimes you just have to wait them out. I'm really bad at waiting them out and I've blown untold opportunities by being impatient. Many times, all the does but the hot doe will bed. Mostly because the buck is keeping her moving. This is when you want to be in the right place at the right time. If I glass up a herd that has a buck with them that is a shooter, I beat feet and try and get close. I don't sit and watch them and wait for them to bed. Usually you can close the distance to under 200 yds. At that point is game on.

 

So to answer your question... lol... Get in close before they bed if at all possible. Deer are 1000 times harder to get close to when they are already bedded rather than when they are still up and feeding.

 

Yes that is good advice. You reminded me of the one time I was able to run down low and set up an ambush for a buck pushing does. This was down in some rolling hills in 34B. After waiting what seemed like an eterniy for those deer to pop out in front of me, I was surprised to see instead - for the first time that day - another bowhunter. He was in hot pursuit and never saw me, and was probably the reason they were moving faster than I expected. I watched him chase those deer for at least another mile out of sight. It was a learning experience though because he made no attempt to conceal himself, and the bucks seemed to care less than the does.

[donniedent]

Wanted to clarify something.

Muleys are easier to stalk in on while they are feeding in the DESERT!

 

When I was in Wyoming I was out for the archery opener. There was a group of bucks I scouted for weeks. There was a tall, heavy 180 class buck in the bunch I wanted bad. Opening morning, I was on them. I ended up busting them and they were gone in a flash. I decided to go check another area miles away. On my way back to camp, I took a road that looped a mile south and below where I had stalked the bucks earlier that morning. I decided to stop and glass. Low and behold, I found those bucks under a line pine a mile away in a little shallow draw. I went back to camp, got a bite and went in after them. Long story short, I got within 50 and blew the shot at the big boy. Very next day, found the same bucks feeding in the same area. This time I got proactive and set up for an ambush. I got the big boy within 75 but at that time I was not confident at that distance. I got caught and they bounced. I decided to check and see if those deer went back to that draw. Sure as sh!t they did. I ended up within 45 yds and nailed a 150 class buck.

 

I was only able to do that because they acted like muleys are supposed to, not like desert deer and... The country allowed that because I was walking in dirt. 9 out of 10 times you'll never get 45 yds away from deer in the desert because it is flat out noisy. Desert deer are even less habitual than their mountain cousins. They sketchier than mountain deer and I think they are smarter over all. Who ever said muleys are dumb never hunted Sonoran or mohave mule deer.