Hunting near a bedding area?

[BIGBUCK247]

Any tips for hunting near a bedding area? Have permission on a new property that is next to a property I've hunted for 15 yrs. The area I have set up with a feeder and trail camera is very close to the main bedding areas on the property. Any tips for hunting them? Going to be a combination of hunting from the ground/blind and saddle hunting. Pretty green to the saddle as this is my first year so I'm still learning and leaning towards hunting that first hunt on the ground and setting up my sticks and platform after the morning hunt on opening morning so that I can see better and have less of a chance of spooking the deer in that area. I have 3-4 shooter bucks, a few younger bucks, and several does we are getting on cameras daily around that spot. Any general tips for hunting the bedding area? Ive hunted for 25 years but Ive never hunted this close to a bedding area (less than 150 yards if that).

 

[SuperDUECE22]

Don't ever hunt the upwind side of it
Having a safe way in & out of stand without busting deer is KEY.
Hunting right next to bedding can be the absolute best spots to get a mature buck during daylight and also great spot to sit all day during the rut when bucks are cruising looking for hot does.
if you are unsure where the deer are entering in the morning or leaving in the afternoon set up on the fringes your first time or 2 and just use it as scouting mission before you go all in.

 

[Forestryguy]

MUST have a consistent wind and I prefer at least 10 mph of more. Have routes in and out that you will not get busted on. Personally for bedding on private land I prefer to only hunt it in the evenings. I can see going in and not tripping on sticks. If you are going in in the morning. Be in the tree and set up at least an hour before shooting time. Are they coming back from ag that is close by, can you even beat them to the bedding without spooking?

 

[Gr8tz]

Timing must be perfect with optimal wind, if you blow them out of there it'll be tough to recover

 

[BIGBUCK247]

MUST have a consistent wind and I prefer at least 10 mph of more. Have routes in and out that you will not get busted on. Personally for bedding on private land I prefer to only hunt it in the evenings. I can see going in and not tripping on sticks. If you are going in in the morning. Be in the tree and set up at least an hour before shooting time. Are they coming back from ag that is close by, can you even beat them to the bedding without spooking?

Yeah they cross a road and go over to our other land that is mostly all open farm land to feed for the night but they often don't make it to the open land before shooting light is over or if they do it is so open there is not really a reasonable way to set up to hunt them archery wise.

 

[Yoder]

Check out The Hunting Beast on YouTube and also the forum. Dan Infalt is a master of hunting whitetail bedding. He has better advice than anything I could say.

 

[Bkelly]

Just listened to a podcast with Dan Infalt as well. Lots of good info!!

 

[badgerbybirth]

I just found a nice buck bedding area in some thick areas of managed forestry. Huge rubs, fresh scrapes, and fresh buck crap. No idea how to hunt it since it’s so thick and the prevailing wind blows right into it.

 

[badgerbybirth]

Also, sorry if I hijacked the thread