still hunting in marsh

[vwj]

I have never tried it in the marsh...has anyone tried it and what was the method of doing it?

[dan]

I do it... But its not easy. Cattails and brush are noisy. Quiet clothes is a must. Its really diffacult with a bow because the bucks generally just bust cover and take off not offering a shot. With a gun, it can also be dangerous. Shooting at deer in cattails or brush can mean not knowing what is beyond your target. On a recent deer drive in the cattails opening day I shot about 10 or 15 rounds from a tree where I could see the driver and the deer and was shooting down into the cattails. The next day I was across the marsh and noticed a duck hunter in camo stuffed into the cattails where I was shooting the day before... At ground level its even harder to know whats on the other side of the wall of cattails and when a big buck jumps up in the cattails a fraction of a second decision to shoot or not shoot is needed.

[Dewey]

I sometimes do some still hunting in marshes during very high winds because it is so hard to sneak around in these areas otherwise. Most of the time I will do this on the downwind side of islands or transition areas. Haven't had much sucesss still hunting buck bedding areas and seem to bust them out of their beds before getting in bow range thus ruining the spot for future hunts out of a treestand.

The best time for still hunting cattails is late season when everything is iced over really good and then you get a good layer of fresh powder snow on top. I follow the maze of trails through that cattails almost completely silent keeping the wind at my face. It's been amazing how close I have been able to get to deer this way since alot of times they bed right in the cattails. If you follow the trails in that are pretty heavy and then they start to scatter different directions you can bet they are looking for a place to bed and are usually very close. The problem is this is usually a large family group of does and fawns and when one busts out they all will too. Very hard to get a shot with a bow unless you see them first and they don't know you are there. The bucks always seem to bed in a more secluded spot away from other deer so most times I will concentrate on large single tracks in fresh snow.

Still hunting cattails can be a blast and I think it can be a very sucessful tactic if the conditions are right.