The Rut: Should You Hunt Whitetail Bedding Areas?

Every experienced whitetail nut knows the importance of locating bedding areas. Knowing where a target buck or a group of does is sleeping on your hunting property allows you to adjust your strategies and stand locations to capitalize on daylight movement patterns, while at the same time remaining undetected. The onset of the rut causes many hunters to push the envelope on how close they hunt to bedding areas, but Zeke Espey of Espey Outfitters feels this is the wrong move. Here’s why:

Why Are Bedding Areas Important During the Rut?

Espey said, “We believe hunting near bedding areas [during the rut] is pretty important because that’s where your bucks are going to go to look for the does. They’re going to hit them in the mornings. They’re going to hit them in the middle of the day. They’re going to hit them at night. When they’re searching, the bedding area’s the primary spot that bucks want to go to. During the rut you want to be between two bedding areas where you can catch the bucks passing from one bedding area to another. You want to find those main trails coming in and out. If you see a lot of does coming in and out, those are the trails you want to be on.” Espey also warns hunters that, just because the bucks are rutting, you can’t forget about the wind. You can use certain techniques to your advantage such as whitetail scents and lures and grunt calls but these aren't solutions that allow you to disregard the wind. You can read this article Whitetails: When and How To Speak Their Language to gain more insight on whitetail calling techniques.

Stay Out to See Success

Espey does not recommend hunting in or right next to a bedding area, even during the rut. He said, “You don’t ever want to hunt right on top of a bedding area. That’s probably the worst thing you could do. At some point, going to the stand or coming out of the stand, you’re going to blow deer out if you’re too close to [the bedding area.]”

Espey’s number one concern is maintaining the integrity and security of his bedding areas. He warns hunters that any time you enter a bedding area you risk blowing a deer out that may never return. Espey said, “Even on stuff like looking for sheds, my thing is, if I’m out there and I bust up a bedding area and I run a good buck out of there, then that means he can run over to somebody else’s property and he could be like ‘I like it over here better.’”

Spooking Does is Bad for Your Rut Hunt

During the rut, bucks spend most of their time looking for receptive does. Therefore, hunting near concentrations of doe family groups is a great way to see bucks. Espey said, “If you get too close to a bedding area and you run the does out, then you just messed a spot up for the rut and that’s where a lot of guys go wrong. We’ve been able to set up our stands in places where we leave the bedding areas alone 100 percent of the time. We never go in there.”

Establish Safety Zones and Leave Them Alone

Whether you call them safety zones or sanctuaries, establishing areas that receive absolutely no hunting pressure will make deer feel comfortable on your property and increase your chances of success. Espey encourages hunters to learn where deer like to bed on their properties and establish these safety zones around the bedding areas.

Espey said, “Deer feel comfortable in their bedding area. The more comfortable they feel in that bedding area, the more likely they are to come out during daylight hours. If you start spooking them out of the bedding area, they’re either going to leave or they’re going to go nocturnal and neither one of those options is a good one.” For that reason, Espey sets his stands a minimum of 200 yards from a bedding area in spots that he is sure can be accessed without spooking deer.

Espey recommends designating approximately 30 percent of your hunting area as a safety zone and, if the cover allows, locating the safety zone towards the center of your hunting property. That way, any deer that you do spook while hunting will likely move into your property rather than off it.

Manage Your Pressure

Espey said, “Every time you go out and hunt, you put pressure on the deer. If you see ten deer while your hunting, you probably scared ten more. Every time you go in and hunt, it puts a little more pressure on them and that buck is a little more likely to go nocturnal.” The rut is a great time to be in the woods and mature bucks definitely show more daylight movement than they do during other phases of the season, but according to Espey, this is no reason to get sloppy in your hunting strategies. Use his tips to hunt smart and hang your tag on a big buck this November.

To book a hunt with Espey Outfitters contact them at: www.guidefitter.com/espeyoutfitters