Bedtime

I do not recall ever having a trail camera record a picture like this one.  

A whitetail bedding-down for a spell.   

click on the image for a better look

 

I find their beds all the time when scouting in the brush - a carefully matted-down depression in the taller grasses or a hollowed-bowl melted into the snow. 

Whitetail deer like to sleep in locations where they feel secure. Typically, where they have the wind at their back to smell danger and can see potential danger in front of them – a place that offers good cover.  A deer is quite vulnerable while they sleep if it were not for the sensitive sniffer and always swiveling ears.  Deer know what is happening around them at all times and if they smell or hear something out of place with the normal rhythms of their surroundings they will bolt and skedaddle.  In the wintertime deer prefer to bed amongst the thermal cover provided by dense stands of pines.  

Deer also prefer to bed near water and food sources.  Sometimes they sleep solo.  Sometimes they bed-down in groups.  Because they are creatures of habit if they find an optimal location it is not unusual for several return visits. 

Sleep is usually five to ten minutes in length - as in the case of the series of photos this camera captured.  Some trail camera surveillance supports the notion of up to twenty minutes of sleep.  The whitetail sleep cycle is not at all unlike that of the whitetail deer hunter – dozing-off for a few minutes and snapping to attention. 

Consider this too; bedded deer might not be dozing at all.  They might just be hanging out for a siesta to chewing their cud.