determining bedding activity

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Spike
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Greennhorn here. Stumbled on a bedding site when squirrel hunting on public in January. Scouting it for next season now.

Very difficult to access, on the raised island of an oxbow of the creek with swamp on the other side. Is there any sign to look for to determine how recent this activity is? Should I throw a trail cam up? I found an adult deer femur on the downslope of the hill, not sure how significant that is. I didn't want my presence at the site unnecessarily.
 
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Spike
woodmoose said:
that was a "permanent bed",,,,likely the femur belonged to the last resident
Click to expand...
Lol that's funny. Thanks.

A lot of other sign in area, tracks still going in and out. Do you think this spot is more likely than others to serve as a new bed for another resident?
 
aya28ga

aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
The location you describe sounds promising and worth further checking out, but the photo posted is most likely where a dead deer laid, not a normal deer bed.

(I've never seen that much hair in a deer bed, even from one that was wounded).
 

DRS

Old Mossy Horns
Like others have said a deer bedded there and died. That could also mean that the deer felt safe there. I have seen deer bed in open woods where they could watch from all sides, but slip out when danger was detected. Put a camera out and you will find out how the deer are using the area. IMO, deer like these secluded islands surrounded by water. One of the problems you will have is trying to get in there without alerting the deer, it's near impossible. Hunting trails to and from or hunting from a canoe/kayak or using them to access a stand would be a good start, when the water is up. Deer will hear you a long way off, if you try to walk through the water, you kind of have too "slide" through the water. Good luck.
 

buckman4c

Spike
Like others said...dead deer bed. However, like others said, the deer sought refuge at that location. I have found locations where multiple deer have laid up and died over the years in one particular spot. They obviously felt safest in that specific location for the area.

You could scout the immediate area and look for other beds to determine if its a heavily used bedding area. You could also examine the droppings for very old, old and new which shows continued use. You could also scout the exit trails for rubbing activity to determine if a buck or bucks commonly use the bedding location. Finally, as was said, a well placed camera along an exit trail or two would tell you how often its being used.
 
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