Swamp. Interior trails. Rut.

[PK_]

Many times when looking at aerials you can see the 'spoke' type trails pointing to the bedding locations. You can then see beaten down trails leading from one bedding area to another within the interior of the swamp.

Has anyone setup and experienced good mature buck movement during rut (particularly midday)on this type of trail?

I'm thinking the obvious is that this sort of setup would be great, but I never really thought of trying it before recently… I feel it would be almost like a secluded funnel?

Thoughts? Experiences?

[Jeff G]

I was looking at the same thing today. Very obvious sign between islands in our swamp. Looking forward to hearing comments on this.

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[62kodiak]

I know a spot just like your talking about. Depending on what the experts say, I just might have a rut stand.

[Stanley]

I hunt one area kind of like what you are talking about only it is not swamp but a timber spider (what I call it). I have found this too hard to get into without being detected by the buck. So I have had no success in this spot. Not sure this helps you any but thought it to be interesting.

[dan]

Those trails you see in the cattail on zoomed in aerials have lots of action during the rut here.. But, the lack of trees and speed of the deer make hunting them tough.

[BigHills BuckHunter]

I hunt one area kind of like what you are talking about only it is not swamp but a timber spider (what I call it). I have found this too hard to get into without being detected by the buck. So I have had no success in this spot. Not sure this helps you any but thought it to be interesting.

Not to get off topic too much, but couldn't that spider timber be a great funnel spot for you during rut?

[Singing Bridge]

Many times when looking at aerials you can see the 'spoke' type trails pointing to the bedding locations. You can then see beaten down trails leading from one bedding area to another within the interior of the swamp.

Has anyone setup and experienced good mature buck movement during rut (particularly midday)on this type of trail?

I'm thinking the obvious is that this sort of setup would be great, but I never really thought of trying it before recently… I feel it would be almost like a secluded funnel?

Thoughts? Experiences?

I have lots of thoughts and lots of experience with this... as do my friends and family. The types of trails you mention have a lot of potential, but there are many more of them that are unproductive rather than being productive. For example, you mention "beaten down" trails between swamp bedding areas. In our experience what you want to look for are "buck trails" or trails that look more like "squirrel trails" connecting the bedding areas during the rut phases. When the bucks cruise between bedding areas they are often parallel trails to the main trails (downwind) or coming in from a completely different direction. Even during the rut, the good bucks in our areas tend to shy from the main, beaten down doe trails.

Another thought- the size of the swamp and hunting pressure on the interior of the swamp will have a huge impact on success when hunting these trails. Medium to large swamps with incredibly thick and nasty access are your best bet. If the bucks feel pressured, the first and last hour of daylight become the most important once again.

In good sized swamps with interior cover so nasty that other hunters keep out, we have shot lots of bucks during the rut (gun season included) during midday hours.



When you find the "right" squirrel trail, it can produce year after year during the rut. We've had the right trail produce for 12 years in a row, for example.

[Stanley]

I hunt one area kind of like what you are talking about only it is not swamp but a timber spider (what I call it). I have found this too hard to get into without being detected by the buck. So I have had no success in this spot. Not sure this helps you any but thought it to be interesting.

Not to get off topic too much, but couldn't that spider timber be a great funnel spot for you during rut?

In my opinion not so much. I tend to hunt areas with high concentrations of does during the rut. Bucks are looking for does during the rut. This spot holds very few does. I think if it was surrounded by high crops it would be much better and easier to hunt. The fact that it is cow pasture kind of keeps it from holding many does.

[PK_]

Hmmmm, some food for thought here.

I know of a couple swamps that are setup great for picking off bucks if they are cruising the interior. I scouted parts of them and seems there is no human presence below the water line. Seems nobody wants to sit and watch the swamp, they prefer looking at the hardwoods. When I scouted during gun season I was kicking deer out all over the place bedded in there. I was amazed at the network of trails and all the buck sign. I thought the deer were just bedding in the swamp, I am starting to think they pretty much live in there…during the day at least.

Thanks guys, this is something i will be investigating and tinkering with and will revisit this topic as I learn/try more. Hopefully others will do the same.

[May-39]

Not that it answers your question directly but along the same train of thought, I have let cams soak in season in these "I'm sure nobody will be right here and steal my cam in the middle of marsh" type of spots. It's how I figured one large maze of tag alder infested marsh over the years. I prefer the plot watchers because one windy day will result in about 500 empty pics.

I hunt these type of areas a lot..it's what I look for on arials..cluster of tags out in marsh with spokes from one destination to another to another.

I see quite of bit of post 10:00 a.m. traffic,,almost every decent buck I've killed in these areas has been after 10a.

[Singing Bridge]

Palmettokid wrote: I thought the deer were just bedding in the swamp, I am starting to think they pretty much live in there…during the day at least.

If a buck's core necessities are being met inside your swamp- food/water/security/does- they will absolutely spend a lot of daylight time in there, especially during times of high hunting pressure outside the swamp.

[yungbuck]

First deer I ever drew on came sloshing through a public swamp early season, after watching every Hunter walk right passed the swamp fir the timber I realized why the deer spent their time there...because no one went into the water...so after then after dark the deer headed to the fields...swamp met needs for cover, refugee, water, she some food...I'm a new swamp convert

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