Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

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I_Love_Scotch
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Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby I_Love_Scotch » Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:58 am

A lot of the public marshes around my area don't get a lot of attention from deer hunters and have a ton of great sign. They do however get POUNDED by duck hunters on the river and around backwater puddles. What is everyone's consensus on how duck hunters affect deer movement in the marshes?


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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby dan » Fri Mar 21, 2014 4:04 am

I_Love_Scotch wrote:A lot of the public marshes around my area don't get a lot of attention from deer hunters and have a ton of great sign. They do however get POUNDED by duck hunters on the river and around backwater puddles. What is everyone's consensus on how duck hunters affect deer movement in the marshes?

One of the main marshes I hunt gets p[ounded by duck hunters on the river and pond, and pheasant hunters on the dry land... It actually is kind of good, because it keeps all the bucks at the bedding in between those areas which is much easier to narrow down.
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby adrenalin » Fri Mar 21, 2014 12:39 pm

How close do you think bucks will bed to where guys duck hunt?
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby PK_ » Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:57 pm

Great topic. I have wondered this myself. I notice it seems the locals have their favorite little spots to setup for ducks, I imagine the deer learn these areas just as they do deer stands…?

I have had several hardcore duck hunters tell me that they see 'plenty of big daddy bucks' (as one of them put it) while duck hunting in the swamp….

Go figure.
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby yungbuck » Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:57 pm

i think "big daddy" bucks became such because they followed their nose and their memory...they made it through a single season of duck hunters and realized their spots were safe so now they are 3-4-5- plus years old....odd how the game you are hunting is always around when you are chasing another species ha
nothing but a simple minded god fearing public land bow hunter
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby dan » Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:33 pm

adrenalin wrote:How close do you think bucks will bed to where guys duck hunt?

Thats a good question... I think they bed closer than most would imagine. A lot of the duck hunters hunt off islands of trees that would normally be good buck bedding but with the hunter activity they scoot back. I was hunting a spot last season during duck season and got hit by pellets several times as hunters shot at ducks in my direction. I had a small buck get up despite all the banging abnd feed his way under me.

Unother time I saw gun hunters in the cattails jump a nice 8 pointer on the pond edge and shoot it. At the shots there was a bunch of yelling and a couple duck hunters got up that were within 20 yards of where the buck got shot. The duck and deer hunters did not know each other were there. Not sure if that buck was bedded that close, or the gun deer hunters pushed it to the edge before it jumped, but either way it was close.

I think the void area for the most part is the stuff right on the waters edge. But 100 yards back can be a whole different story.
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby wiscbowhntr » Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:31 pm

About 12 – 13 years ago I was duck hunting during the gun deer season at Rome Pond. My friend and I shot a couple different times. About a hour before dark we heard some rustling in the cattails. We stood up on the seats of the boat and there were two guys doing a push. We whistled so they knew where we were. As we whistled a 130” 8pt stood up about 60 – 70 yards away from us. The drivers dropped it in its tracks. We ended up giving one of the drivers and the buck a ride back in our boat. We saved them one of a drag.
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby dan » Sat Mar 22, 2014 1:47 am

wiscbowhntr wrote:About 12 – 13 years ago I was duck hunting during the gun deer season at Rome Pond. My friend and I shot a couple different times. About a hour before dark we heard some rustling in the cattails. We stood up on the seats of the boat and there were two guys doing a push. We whistled so they knew where we were. As we whistled a 130” 8pt stood up about 60 – 70 yards away from us. The drivers dropped it in its tracks. We ended up giving one of the drivers and the buck a ride back in our boat. We saved them one of a drag.

LOL... I watched that hunt unfold and saw you boat the buck out... I was perched in a tree on an island about 100 yards south of you. Small world. Its the hunt I was talking about in my previous post.
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby basspro05 » Sat Mar 22, 2014 1:53 am

dan wrote:
wiscbowhntr wrote:About 12 – 13 years ago I was duck hunting during the gun deer season at Rome Pond. My friend and I shot a couple different times. About a hour before dark we heard some rustling in the cattails. We stood up on the seats of the boat and there were two guys doing a push. We whistled so they knew where we were. As we whistled a 130” 8pt stood up about 60 – 70 yards away from us. The drivers dropped it in its tracks. We ended up giving one of the drivers and the buck a ride back in our boat. We saved them one of a drag.

LOL... I watched that hunt unfold and saw you boat the buck out... I was perched in a tree on an island about 100 yards south of you. Small world. Its the hunt I was talking about in my previous post.



Wow, that is a small world...just goes to show, you never know whose watching you :lol:
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby wiscbowhntr » Sat Mar 22, 2014 4:16 am

[/quote]
LOL... I watched that hunt unfold and saw you boat the buck out... I was perched in a tree on an island about 100 yards south of you. Small world. Its the hunt I was talking about in my previous post.[/quote]

Nothing like hitting the deck to the sound of slugs flying through cattails! They shot in a somewhat safe directions, it was nerve wrecking though since my buddy and I didn't know where the deer was. All we heard was one guy say BIG BUCK, and then BOOM, BOOM! If you were 100 yards south of us you're in a nice pinch point, I bet a couple deer get bumped through there every gun season.

The two guys doing the push said they watched it stand up right before they shot.
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby wiscbowhntr » Sat Mar 22, 2014 4:19 am

dan wrote:
wiscbowhntr wrote:About 12 – 13 years ago I was duck hunting during the gun deer season at Rome Pond. My friend and I shot a couple different times. About a hour before dark we heard some rustling in the cattails. We stood up on the seats of the boat and there were two guys doing a push. We whistled so they knew where we were. As we whistled a 130” 8pt stood up about 60 – 70 yards away from us. The drivers dropped it in its tracks. We ended up giving one of the drivers and the buck a ride back in our boat. We saved them one of a drag.

LOL... I watched that hunt unfold and saw you boat the buck out... I was perched in a tree on an island about 100 yards south of you. Small world. Its the hunt I was talking about in my previous post.


Nothing like hitting the deck to the sound of slugs flying through cattails! They shot in a somewhat safe directions, it was nerve wrecking though since my buddy and I didn't know where the deer was. All we heard was one guy say BIG BUCK, and then BOOM, BOOM! If you were 100 yards south of us you're in a nice pinch point, I bet a couple deer get bumped through there every gun season.

The two guys doing the push said they watched it stand up right before they shot.
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:03 am

I've been hit by pellets from duck hunters more than once but haven't spent a ton of time in these types of areas. This is an interesting post and I don't recall the dynamic of duck hunters on one side and pheasant hunters on the other before... good stuff and I'd like to hear more.

I'm sure we must have other Beasts that hunt the duck areas? Any sharing of aerials and buck bedding would rock the Casbah too.
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby PK_ » Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:22 am

dan wrote:
wiscbowhntr wrote:About 12 – 13 years ago I was duck hunting during the gun deer season at Rome Pond. My friend and I shot a couple different times. About a hour before dark we heard some rustling in the cattails. We stood up on the seats of the boat and there were two guys doing a push. We whistled so they knew where we were. As we whistled a 130” 8pt stood up about 60 – 70 yards away from us. The drivers dropped it in its tracks. We ended up giving one of the drivers and the buck a ride back in our boat. We saved them one of a drag.

LOL... I watched that hunt unfold and saw you boat the buck out... I was perched in a tree on an island about 100 yards south of you. Small world. Its the hunt I was talking about in my previous post.


Holy crap. haha.
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby PK_ » Sun Mar 23, 2014 3:45 am

It's funny, I have a little saying that I used to say to myself when scouting/setting up, when I was first trying to break out of the box which was my old hunting tactics;

"Don't be a deer hunter"

Basically meaning to stop doing what every other deer hunter is doing that isn't working or is rarely working.

This topic made me think of it because last season I thought to myself that most deer hunters would be better off simply going out and setting up as if they are duck hunting. I think they would have a much better chance at seeing/killing a big buck than they would in their 'deer' setup.
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Re: Duck Hunters - Public Marshes

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:24 am

That's very well stated, Palmetto. Hunting the same way as the masses and in the same locations as everyone else is mostly counterproductive.


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