Putting Them to Bed

[CouesPursuit]

One of the most effective methods to consistently have a chance at outwitting mature coues bucks - glass them up and wait for them to bed before making any moves.

 

So you were glassing on a hunt, you put a coues buck to bed. What happened and why did he get up or bust? Was he solo, in a bachelor group, the rut? Was he completely, partially, or not at all visible in his bed? On average, how long did they stay bedded?

 

In a place our party has a tag for this year, there are 4 bucks bedded in this photo, only one is (although completely) visible at all. They were bedded by 7:15AM on an October rifle hunt and remained bedded for an hour until they were shot at from 350 yards, sad to say the shooter missed.

 

Solo buck that was down by 7:30AM, leaving himself mostly visible at 197 yards. The shooters in our party tagged out the day before so we didn't have a tag remaining. This buck remained in his bed for the hour I watched him. A great 4x4 we are looking to catch up with in October.

 

I've been wanted to toss this discussion around for awhile and figured the excitement of draw results could get some knowledgeable folks talking and sharing.

[DCS]

The buck I killed last year I watched bed at 8:30 in the morning.He repositioned himsef 3 times in the next 5 hours,due to the sun starting to shine on him.I could only see parts of him,and finally at 1:30 he got up,streched,and started to walk straight away.After all this time I had decided to shoot my best shot at 600yds if he went up the hill,if he came towards me I would let him come,reducing the yardage.I squeezed off,and he is in my freezer.This was on the Dec hunt,last day of the year.

[ready2hunt]

Its usually all about the "wind factor" for me. If the wind is in my favor I have been able to get within 20 yards (however I hunt wooded/thick areas that I cannot glass effectively at a distance). I have found that even if I make noise, the deer with rise up from the bed but will generally wait (until they are sure which direction to run) before they make a break for it.

 

If the wind is not in my favor though....I will never had a chance to see them.

[Kaffer62]

Yeah they don't stay on their feet for long. In my experience they are heading for bed before the sun is up.

[DAS]

I helped two buddys last year on the thanksgiving hunt bed two different bucks. The first was around 8a.m. only thing you could see was the tips of his antlers when his head would turn or an ear twitch. He stayed bedded a little over 4 hrs. Unfortunatly when he stood my buddy missed the shot. Next day put one to bed about 8:30a.m. Couldn't see him at all. He stayed bedded about 3 hrs. Finally stood up and started to feed and got dropped in his tracks.

[Bowtechian84]

Favorite thing to hear.."he's up"

[CJohnson]

Favorite thing to hear.."he's up"

I like "he's down" better...

[ivhunter]

while the buck is bedded and wind is in your face do you guys close in on them to shorten distance? And if so do you guys remove boots or use "bear claws" covers to keep noise down? they area I hunt has a lot of washes with very noisey gravel and the few times that I have put a stalk on I get busted by the noise the gravel makes.

[CouesPursuit]

The buck at 197 yards above was originally spotted at 450 yards. The wind was in my favor, so I crept in. Nothing special on my boots, just slow and low. For archery hunting I may put something under my feet.