need swamp advise...

[growalot]

Ok ..So I cleared the back property and decided to go all the way down to the swamp stand...This stand was set before the set back laws changed and is in a very nasty area that I haven't hunted in 2 years due to the knees...well Ma nature is cruel for like with sleeping beauty my stand area was encased in wild rose and downed trees...I took me some time but I managed to get to the stand that also is incased in wild rose...

Heres the thing the buck sign down there is crazy and the wild apple trees are loaded and they are hammering them,,,one bush  had been shredded to pieces and several trees rubbed near inhalf...I cleared a trail to the edge of swamp but I will need to go down again and hand prune and cut some brush inorder to use the stand.

So for you guys thathunt swamps what do you think I should do? I don't really know how they utilize the swamps ...opinions  please..

[stoneam2006]

I don't hunt many swamps but the one I do the doe I shot last year outta it came thru chest deep water right to me big doe too...I don't know if that helps t all lol

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[growalot]

What times do you guys usually see the deer using the swamps ....

[nyantler]

If its a cattail swamp there will be an entry point into the swamp that the deer use... find that and you'll do well if you play the wind... the path should be easy enough to find, it should be beaten down pretty good. There may be more than one into the swamp that they use when the wind direction changes.

[DirtTime]

I will only hunt a swamp or real marshy area if it would be a bedding area, and I do not go in. I would try to set up on an exit trail. Loosing a deer in a swamp or marsh is a bi#$%. Even if you make a solid kill shot, if they run into that water tracking will be a nightmare. No tracking a blood trail in water most times.

Edited October 21, 2015 by ....rob

[stoneam2006]

The swamp I hunt is a bedding ground morning or night could produce but most action I see is at night coming around one side or other to feeding area

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[philoshop]

I spent a lot of time hunting swamps in my more adventurous youth, often with a canoe and always with a complete change of clothing and basic survival gear sealed in a dry-bag. Not so much any more. It's dangerous and a lot of work.

 

One thing you might do is find the entry/exit routes and wait for a thin skin of ice. They're good swimmers, but the deer won't use the swamp when they have to go through shin-barking ice to do it. They'll go around and pick up their usual trail on the other side.

Even if they head into the swamp after the shot the tracking is pretty easy. Just follow the holes in the ice. You'll probably still want the dry change of clothing after the retrieval though.

[NFA-ADK]

Bedding and nighttime use, they love thick cover for travel last but not least food.  Like NYAntler says their should be entry and exits if you can get on one of those trails I would think you would have a shot.  Tree stand set up I would try doe in heat call followed a few min later with a young sounding grunt.  If one is close I would bet next weekend he would at least get up and check.  This is where a good scent trail from downwind leading back into your stand/swamp area would be perfect in case he tries to get downwind. 

 

Sounds like a really hard spot to hunt, I will come up and help if needed, lol.  Dam you have me excited for my swamp hunting this year.  I just hate getting stuck in them and I always do for some reason. 

[TreeGuy]

Swamps are great during the rut. Bucks always seem to either lock down does or cruise through scent checking. You must ( as always) play the wind. Most swamps are bedding areas, you start spooking the mature bucks out of there, they will figure you out quickly, also very typical. As far as the rose bushes go, they are a safe haven for deer.... I think you will do fine if the wind is right and with some good there the rut will be busy for you! Good luck

[chiefbkt]

I've typically only hunted swamp edges at night. Usually find an entry/exit trail and set a stand up 20-30 yards from it and cut only a few small shooting lanes. I would usually set up between the swamp and a food source or transition area. I haven't hunted swamps in years but it was how I hunted when I lived up north. I've never killed a giant from a swamp, but know guys who have. Good luck, that multiflora rose is horrible!

[bubba]

In my younger years, we hunted swamps almost exclusively. The deer would flick to the high bogs and bed during the day. It was great security for them. They could hear you coming forever and had escape routes out. We would set up on the escape routes and make drives. Very effective. There were times I would be in water half way to my knees to be on watch. Then in the evening as mentioned we would set up on the trails they used to go to food areas. They would stage up on the swamp edge and wait to move out. The down falls to hunting swamps is getting a deer out if you do get one and having to track one in the swamp. Be prepared to get wet.

[nyantler]

What times do you guys usually see the deer using the swamps ....

Mid-day hunting near a swamp can be productive especially with a grunt call... remember that the bigger bucks will always try to get into the wind before leaving the swamp especially if they hear the grunt and can't see what made it. With bow, positioning yourself based on the wind is essential because of how close you need to get... not as much with a gun because you can reach out farther. Many times you see the buck get up in the swamp, too far away for a shot with bow, but plenty close enough for gun range.

[growalot]

Thanks guys...Well the stand is set ...and I won't be moving it but I did put it for a west wind and on the far east corner due to boardering houses...here the thing I did have a narrow path that took me from the road up to the stand along the creek...but that was a path I had to cut several times a summer to keep wide enough to walk through ...rose everywhere....Now several ash have fallen blocking my last 100 ft to the stand that way...So I'll have to come in down through my woods....I cleared a path to within 60 ft of the stand because half a huge apple tree broke off then 2 ash fell across that way in as well...but I managed to clear it enough to get in...

I wish I could say there are defined one or two trails but there isnt there are 4 going in and or around the edges and 3 main ones exiting to either the road or the bigger boardering swamp... there is bedding every where in there...

I need to clarify..it is more ...hhmmm bog/marsh? than swamp...it is one large under ground stream bed with two main streams running its edge and across it...You can walk across the marsh grass clumps and look down to see and hear the water flowing under your feet..one missed step and it's a..good luck getting that boot back situation..this is mixed with small areas where apples and blk walnut are growing. Most ash are all dead..except the one the stand sits against......I'm thinking the cross bow in gun season...ppl hunt illegally there..for one trespassing and two with gunsway too close to houses for guns...I have avoided it during gun mainly out of fear...but had some great sightings during bow,,,just out of range until the cross bow...then the knees went.

[Northsox65]

My dad loved hunting swamps, especially after opening weekend, all the big bucks would hide out in the swamps because they felt safe. 

[NYbuck50]

i get in early and al day sit that during the rut. The big bucks love the swamps

[thphtm]

Hunted a swamp ONCE during the warmer weather , as you said there is water under the clumps of grass, got stuck and had a heck of a time getting out. A nice 3 + year old 10 pointer got me excited. I only hunt them when the ground is well frozen now. Or try to sit them out coming or going into the swamps.

[dbHunterNY]

i've hunted huge swamps public land swamps with islands of trees and nothing else but cattails in between with wooded edges on the perimeter of the several hundred acres.  farm has 4 of them varying in type.  one is open cattails between fields, two are brushy swampy holes in a wood lot, and the last is the bigger of the 4.  it's littered with rose bushes, low growing scrub trees, apple trees, and evergreen and hardwood timber around it.  they can be very tricky.  problem is there more like a sanctuary with only a fraction of the acreage along the fringe being truly huntable.  you haven't been down in there and probably no one else so its a safe haven for the deer.  problem is it's always a low spot.  evening hunts when the wind lays down will have thermals drawing your scent down into them, and then down in the middle of them is unpredictable swirling winds.  also deer bed all over where there's a dry spot.  hard to get down in without deer knowing you're there.  deer trails are usually covering every inch of it making a stand location not obvious based on trail intersections and use alone.  it's great midday cover though.  mornings are great and evenings with certain wind conditions.  late season action is amazing as it provides cover from wind and weather.  setup a stand accessed from the edge not through a portion of it and working with a certain wind.  small patches of timber between it and food sources work well.  also swamps usually have inlet creeks feeding them.  trails and travel patterns can be more predictable there.  late ripening apple trees at more open edges are hot spots for doe groups and thus bucks later in the season as everything else gets picked over first.  due to safety of cover and desire for higher sugar content of apples that are more ripe versus not.  for big open swamps terrain is flat and open so prevailing wind takes scent from whole swamp to a particular edge.  find it and a good tree a pinch point and you've got a buck killing spot.  they'll utilize this path to scent check the large "open" area up to several hundred yards quickly and move on.  same goes for wooded ridges downwind of swampy holes within timber.  a mature buck won't trudge through or down into them if he feels he doesn't need to.  could type a lot more but I don't fight rose bushes.  too much disturbance to deal with them at this point.  spray them early summer maybe but know you'll loose some cover.  only other exception is use tractor with rotary mower/brush hog to make paths in desired locations to encourage deer to travel through it where you want.  before the season you can go in with weed wacker or hand tool with an edge.  just be very aware of wet areas and don't get stuck if using equipment.  easier to do than you'd think but equipment saves time.  can be used during the season with less disturbance versus walking around if you're an ag area with deer accustomed to equipment.  also the intent is really as an observation stand with a gun.  great way to harvest a nocturnal hard to kill deer that you know probably uses it.  making intersection of paths and then putting a hands off cellular trail camera there is even better.

[growalot]

no equipement access on this spot even though it is at the bottom of the hill on another road frontage...there is no access from the road and the property is 1/2 mile long from our top border to the road...it is small with a larger neighbors swamp to the N/E ...horse and beef farms across the road to the  N and the hard wood maples we own to the east...houses on the west side..

The property has 6 full time streams that start about half way up the hill and eventually connect to two waterfall streams that then split again at the edge of this marsh area...flowing just under the surface all over. It is impossible to even get a 4 wheeler in on this piece No culvert pipe on the road frontage and the town has dug 10ft deep culvert ditches to handle the water flow off us...It is steep with too much water and the stream beds are narrow and steep......due to the tresspassing here I keep all the wild rose intact,,,it is a killer for sure I have the scars to prove it...thus the hand trimming small paths...but you discribed it to a tee dbhunter.....

Edited October 22, 2015 by growalot

[Core]

I've spooked many deer this year and the only one that was a buck was next to swamp. Got within 50 yards and he barreled out of there off to the side of me. I had no idea he was there until his exit. Hellacious stuff to walk through, though. Can go from merely damp to boots sucked off in no time. Walking through them is terrible, and also very loud. The one benefit of some of the swamp area I've been at is visibility was quite good; certain areas had only fairly large trees decently spread apart. Would have been great with a rifle.

[TreeGuy]

If your walk in has you in the wrong wind then kiss that buck goodbye, he will be gone before u get to your stand.... And hopefully your stand has some cover too, since I assume its fairly open, you could be spotted climbing in.... Either way, good luck!!!

[phade]

Mid-day hunting near a swamp can be productive especially with a grunt call... remember that the bigger bucks will always try to get into the wind before leaving the swamp especially if they hear the grunt and can't see what made it. With bow, positioning yourself based on the wind is essential because of how close you need to get... not as much with a gun because you can reach out farther. Many times you see the buck get up in the swamp, too far away for a shot with bow, but plenty close enough for gun range.

 

I can't say I believe that to be true. I've seen too much of the opposite to believe otherwise. I also rarely believe in concrete statements like "always" or "never" when it comes to big bucks and big buck hunting.

 

A lot of bedding in swamps are wind-based, but not all big bucks will try to get nose to wind. Especially if they are bedding with satellite bucks or does around them.

Edited October 22, 2015 by phade

[moog5050]

My property is 60 percent cattail marsh.  It is hard hunting but of the five parcels we hunt, this property consistently has the biggest bucks, if you can get on them.  It sounds like you are set already, but hunting the transition lines and points are great.  In my experience, the cow like trails are usually doe and not frequented much by bucks until rut.  Watch for lesser trails downwind of the big trails for the bucks.  The small islands in the marsh are preferred bedding so treat that area as such and don't blow into it.  Also, be careful with thermals as the cooler swamp will draw scent in.  Bring your milkweed to constantly check wind and thermals.  Sit between bedding (cattails) and food source with wind to food in evening (even better if on a point or finger of higher ground in the marsh).

 

One tip, if you need to cut a trail in cattails, use a full piece of plywood, lay it on the cattails, walk on it and then flip it over and repeat.  It knocks down the tails and leaves a bed to walk on.  its hard work but way better than cutting.  Also, the deer already know the higher ground in the marsh so their trails tell the tail before you step waist deep in water and muck.  Be careful, deep bogs can be scary.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

On a more serious note. Every spend the whole day in a swap, stirring up that stinking muck with your movement, Happens a lot while duck hunting too. Every notice you farts smell just like the swamp muck after sniffing it all day?

Edited October 22, 2015 by Culvercreek hunt club

[nyantler]

I can't say I believe that to be true. I've seen too much of the opposite to believe otherwise. I also rarely believe in concrete statements like "always" or "never" when it comes to big bucks and big buck hunting.

 

A lot of bedding in swamps are wind-based, but not all big bucks will try to get nose to wind. Especially if they are bedding with satellite bucks or does around them.

I was referring to their reaction to grunting primarily. Big Bucks will play the wind 99.9% of the time when using a grunt call... I should have clarified that... and you're right I shouldn't have said "always" when it comes to big bucks... yet if you live by what I posted you will be more successful than if you don't.. especially if you're going to set up shop and wait for him to come to you.. and more especially if you're bow hunting and need to get him close... when they are on the move and alone (other than maybe during rut) they are all about the wind. I will give you the .01% that won't. But, if you'd rather set up with your wind to them that's your prerogative.... and good luck.

Edited October 22, 2015 by nyantler