how to hunt swamp bucks?

[deerpassion]

Deerpassion I'm guessing you hunt the Cicero swamp ? Lol

no , Tonawanda WMA or "Alabama Swamps" as I've heard some call it in middleport... 

[growalot]

I have one stand in a swamp area that there is just one single gnarly trail to...it over looks an area that has several streams feeding into it and unless you know which clump of swamp grass is sturdy enough to hold weight...don't expect to come out with booth boots on...the deer ,turkey and grouse love it and have beds and trails all over the place...It's just so nasty and buggy the only time anyone...other than the trespassers.. are in there is when I go down to trim my trail(wild rose and honey suckle brush) in and then when I hunt it 2 X's ..I'll go in at 5 am and stay till I can't sit any more and bow only...

[deerpassion]

All I can say is WOW!!! All those trail and tracks going in and out and all through the swamps I've hunted by must have been my imagination! Theres no question that deer hang out in swamps. I've watched them walk out into the middle of them and bed down for hours on a dry spot not much bigger than the deer itself.

i have to agree with arrow flinger.... 90% of all my hunting is in the swamp and i see more tracks cutting out into the water n mud than you'd think... last season i watched a doe wade out of sawgrass and three feet of water through a clear cut trail in the sawgrass to dry ground right under my stand and mosey off... i've got a couple cams set on trails that lead into the mud n water and they consistently come out a there... i love the rut in there cause the bucks come out of the wet sawgrass to dry ground to seek and make scrapes and my stands are all at there access points so they have to walk by me given they do it in day light....  i've seen guys shoot deer down south in the everglades in wide open sawgrass swamps with a couple feet a water off a airboats... they don't care one bit..!  wish i could hunt your swamp, i bet theres a biggin in there you've never known about..!  

[robw]

I hunt the 'bama swamps as well.  I walk in early, climb a tree where I can get a 30 yd shot in at least 1 direction (that can be tough, but now I know a couple spots) and do what I can to bring the deer to me.Stay scent free, use the appropriate buck lure for the time of the season ( I do like the buckeye scent gel Erway makes), grunt and rattle occasionally.

 

I've found in really thick cover, you can see the trails the deer use going across thickets, and I'll set up near those. 

 

There are a lot of deer in there, and on weekends, a lot of hunters as well.  Plan your hunt right, and they do a great job driving the woods for you. 

[gjs4]

Happen to be friends w a couple guys who trophy hunt the swamps....buy that video i referenced....you have lots to learn and would guess 95% of the guys that hunt the swamps have no idea what theyre doing. I know a guy from work that shot a 150s 100 yds from the p lot last year....total luck. Killers wear waders and canoes.

 

Learn to find trees and bedding on small islands. Walk the edges of cat tails and high ground...youll find the beds on the bumps..

[asav2013]

iv lived with this swamp behind my house for 18 years and iv only ever seen 2 big bucks from my house, my buddy killed a 133" buck not even 300 yards behind my house this was before I was old enough to hunt alone and had permission to hunt here, I actually got this whole lease started because of those 2 big bucks 2 seasons ago that walked across the back field together, right after I posted this about a week ago now I waded into the swamp not super wet from the end I went in where the creek feeds in, waded in through all the cattails and swamp grass in maybe 6" of water crossed the creek and wadered to a dry spot that was all tore up eatin down and flat from beds, I stood there huming and hawing about hanging my camera there I no sooner looked up and see a deer standing there, about 80 yards away, I see its a buck Im thinkin no way I just got here and I see a buck, I crouched down and the buck screwed around for a while not giving me a good look at his antlers, I watched him for prolly 5 mins trying to get pictures with my phone with no success, he TURNS and walked RIGHT at me, I got 3 mins of video with my phone he walked 10 YARDS away, with still  good month or more of growing me and my buddy whos no rookie to aging and scoreing big bucks, we argued 3-4 years old 18" wide hes a 9 point now crab claws on both sides with a 3rd brow tine, with time to grow still mass was hard to judge but he may push 120-130s. I found a tree ,perfect wind and trail already , I hung my camera right there to hopefully get better pics to show and examine im going to check itt tomorrow morning very very anxcious!!

[gjs4]

Congrats to you but why would you want a picture of a buck that you know is already there and risk moving him out?

 

Glass it from afar, figure out his moments (inc escape routes) and other buck presence...match the conditions and hunt him early season

 

Hunted the refuge for ducks last year and found a mature buck bed within gun range of 63. Most folks are to lazy to scout and that's why posting things like this about that area will just get it mobbed with more morons. Letchworth has B&C deer within a few hundred yards of allowable hunting....

 

 

[phade]

me, gjs4, moog, and a few others are on the same page.

 

If you know he is there...no need to risk pressuring him out. Hunt him when the time is right.

[eagle rider]

ye Ole Swamp Donkey! We have a huge swamp on our property. I am the only one fool enough to hunt it. I have a stand on either side (its long and relatively narrow At its deepest its about 700 sq yds). Morning time does' move around it and afternoon there are some big deer in the boggy banks of it that at least one bruser of a buck hangs out it in. Its a definate all day sit, because he will will cruise in an out of it from time to time depending on weather and doe activity. I took his father from one of those stands a four years ago. Without a doubt, one of the biggest deers I have shot in NY. IMO, doe smell type lures cannot hurt you around a swamp. That said, I'm leary of blended estrus products, I think if you're gonna go doe-in-heat buy estrus that it from one doe (Code Blue). Reguar doe urine can't hurt, the banks of it reak from doe pee naturally. We got his father out with a tarsel gland off another buck shot the day before. It hung all day long and he came out at last light to finally check it out. There was a little contact grunting throughout that day with him. In the end it was all about 75 yards and a 35 Rem rouund into his vitals. He still got one good leap back into the muck. Anyway good luck and great hunting!

PS- think about his travel routes in and out, and the wind for stand placement. Kind of a given but I feel better saying it.

Edited August 3, 2013 by eagle rider

[bowaholic]

I love swamp hunting! Have my best luck in the thick wet cedars.  I have a couple of spots where the ground is solid (dry) and just a little higher I like to sit on.  they seem to travel really well through there whether it be running from someone who kicked them out or just wandering through on their way to bed.  Good luck and hopefully you can figure out their pattern! 

[sits in trees]

All I can say is WOW!!! All those trail and tracks going in and out and all through the swamps I've hunted by must have been my imagination! Theres no question that deer hang out in swamps. I've watched them walk out into the middle of them and bed down for hours on a dry spot not much bigger than the deer itself.

Say WOW!!! all you want, the OP said heavy swamp. Not sure of what your definition of heavy swamp is but come by my land and see if you or a deer can walk thru it, I could use the giggles...

[NFA-ADK]

Well said Sits in trees, remember perspective.  A thick deep mud filled swap that moose seem to like are usually not used by deer as much from what I have seen.  Scouting some of these areas when the top layer has frozen enough for me to travel has proven very insightful.  Deer seem to skirt the edges of these places as travel in them would probably limit their ability to move as it did to me for a few hours...  I would think that some swamps have different levels of mud, vegetation and land cover.  The deep thick almost impassable swaps I encounter do not seem to have many tracks or trails yet they seem to like the thick grass in smaller, shallow area's I notice.  Those small pockets of swamp pale in comparison to some of the deeper rain forest type areas IMO. 

 

A swamp 700 yards by 50-100 yards could be only a few feet deep with very little muck, rocks or change in elevation with high grass as always present making this ideal habitat.  The 900 yard by 300 yard deep swamp with rocks, steep elevation drop and open water are hazardous to any beast I find very few tracks here.  

 

Deer seem to take the path of least resistance, some swaps are just so overgrown, mud filled impassable valleys that even deer might avoid them.  Just like deer, not all swamps are created equal...  Never made it back to the swamps I wanted to check out last year, I have one other to scope out that seems to hold deer and one other known doe bed area in a low swamp that the bucks like to scope out.  Seems to me most of the "good" swamps are relatively flat with many escape routes.  The one's in deep valleys are easy to glass or watch over as a predator, might be another reason deer shy away from that type of swamp?  The amount of cover and swamp density in an area could have a effect.  Wonder if predation has a effect on swamp use.  Will they use the swamp less in high water levels?  Summer use vs fall/rut.  Do the higher elevation swamps get less use or more and why.  Does spring/summer bugs have a effect?  Any thoughts on these last few questions?