My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
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My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
So I started off this season with full intentions on making bed hunting work. I definitely had some trouble with it from the start. The area I hunt is flooded swamp so sign is hard to come by, no tracks at all, no scrapes, just occasional droppings and rubs, and the deer herd is down right now due to recent hurricanes so it was definitely a struggle. Anyway towards the latter part of the season I finally found some decent sign. By this point I had somewhat resorted back to my normal tactics and I setup on a bucks rubline, but after one hunt I had a pretty good feeling I was on his outside edge and he probably wouldn’t make it to me in the daylight. So I did some scouting of the area and came up with some options. I wasn’t sure if this was a common area or an individual but based on the terrain I assumed the buck would be bedding in one of two areas so I setup closer to those a couple days later on an extremely windy day, 20-30mph. About 4 pm the wind laid down and 15 minutes later all of a sudden I heard a deer easing through the brush about 80 yds behind my left shoulder.. My thoughts were he must have been bedded there and got up since he was pretty noisy all at once, anyway he took about 20 min before I could catch a glimpse… He eased his way to a small opening and was feeding for awhile but it was extremely thick. I had him in the crosshairs awhile before I could catch an opening and take a shot, when I fired he slowly galloped towards me, thought I missed clean, struggled to jack in another round and missed, he turned left, fired again and saw water explode over his back.... while reaching in pockets for another bullet, he got in another thicket and started struggling, I could see his head and fired another..... With one bullet left I settled down and realized I needed to go after him, didn't wanna be chasing him through the swamp at night with a pocket knife!! I made note of a tree where I last saw him and when I got there it took me a few minutes to find him laying dead…. He was a better buck than I had thought, nice thick horns! It was very thick and I noticed mound 10 yds away with plenty deer droppings… Where he ran and died was only about 20 yds from where I initially heard him so I started really thinking this was his bedding area. Further investigation was required! By the way up to this point I had covered endless miles of swamp and had been having a terrible season so needless to say I NEEDED THIS ONE and was quite pumped!!!
I went back and investigated thoroughly a week later to try and put it all together. I discovered plenty of his beds in a small area only 20-30 yds from where I shot him. Most were in the middle of very thick patches, visibility was 10-20yds in one direction at best, the beds were well used with droppings and hair but could easily be overlooked (which I’m sure I did in the past), He seemed to have about a 200yd core and seemed to rub the edges of it. There were no rubs by his beds. He had a few beds scattered in the area but most were in that small patch… This was a eye opener for me! I went back weeks later and there was no sign what so ever so I’m confident it was him.
I got a lucky on this one, I didn’t know I was that close to his bedding and the high wind allowed me to setup up as such, but again I didn’t plan that. So some factors definitely helped me and prior to the beast I probably would have sat on that original rubline longer than I did and probably wouldn’t have waited for the right wind. I may or may not have got him but I sure wouldn’t have learned what I did…. I learned two major lessons from this buck. One was seeing his actual bedding area so I could try to duplicate that scenario. It was in a spot that I would have avoided so that was key to be able to see. The other was the location of the bedding in relation to the sign I had initially found. The sign was not near the bedding but seemed to be more on the edges of the core area, which probably varies from deer to deer but it was great for me to see cause it has since enabled me to find others with this approach. Much of this is common sense but seeing it really has made it start clicking for me.
The other buck I killed was while I was after another. But the significance of it again was a great learning. I found this area during pre-season scouting, found big buck sign and a couple beds on the edges. I left it alone until later season being nervous to ruin it. I made assumptions and had a plan and I made a quite a few hunts here and saw a few deer but never saw the big one. This buck I killed was just a passer by, as come to find out later it was more of a doe crossing. After I burned it I investigated and realized my assumptions were all wrong, especially from what I had learned from the other bucks bedding. I did some better scouting and realized the sign he was dropping was on doe trails and where I believe he was bedded was not where I had gambled on, so I was hunting it on the wrong wind. There were plenty doe beds in the area but I found a couple buck beds and the most heavily used one was in a spot where he was most definitely aware of my presence and could see from his bed the tree I climbed. But the lesson I learned was to get in there and go for it, scout the area intensely and find the bedding area, otherwise its a crapshoot…
So the beast tactics have pretty much totally changed my approach to hunting in one season. I have taken this in my post season scouting and been able to find quite a few buck bedding areas so next season I will have a much better study pool, but this season was a great learning! This site is Awesome!!
I went back and investigated thoroughly a week later to try and put it all together. I discovered plenty of his beds in a small area only 20-30 yds from where I shot him. Most were in the middle of very thick patches, visibility was 10-20yds in one direction at best, the beds were well used with droppings and hair but could easily be overlooked (which I’m sure I did in the past), He seemed to have about a 200yd core and seemed to rub the edges of it. There were no rubs by his beds. He had a few beds scattered in the area but most were in that small patch… This was a eye opener for me! I went back weeks later and there was no sign what so ever so I’m confident it was him.
I got a lucky on this one, I didn’t know I was that close to his bedding and the high wind allowed me to setup up as such, but again I didn’t plan that. So some factors definitely helped me and prior to the beast I probably would have sat on that original rubline longer than I did and probably wouldn’t have waited for the right wind. I may or may not have got him but I sure wouldn’t have learned what I did…. I learned two major lessons from this buck. One was seeing his actual bedding area so I could try to duplicate that scenario. It was in a spot that I would have avoided so that was key to be able to see. The other was the location of the bedding in relation to the sign I had initially found. The sign was not near the bedding but seemed to be more on the edges of the core area, which probably varies from deer to deer but it was great for me to see cause it has since enabled me to find others with this approach. Much of this is common sense but seeing it really has made it start clicking for me.
The other buck I killed was while I was after another. But the significance of it again was a great learning. I found this area during pre-season scouting, found big buck sign and a couple beds on the edges. I left it alone until later season being nervous to ruin it. I made assumptions and had a plan and I made a quite a few hunts here and saw a few deer but never saw the big one. This buck I killed was just a passer by, as come to find out later it was more of a doe crossing. After I burned it I investigated and realized my assumptions were all wrong, especially from what I had learned from the other bucks bedding. I did some better scouting and realized the sign he was dropping was on doe trails and where I believe he was bedded was not where I had gambled on, so I was hunting it on the wrong wind. There were plenty doe beds in the area but I found a couple buck beds and the most heavily used one was in a spot where he was most definitely aware of my presence and could see from his bed the tree I climbed. But the lesson I learned was to get in there and go for it, scout the area intensely and find the bedding area, otherwise its a crapshoot…
So the beast tactics have pretty much totally changed my approach to hunting in one season. I have taken this in my post season scouting and been able to find quite a few buck bedding areas so next season I will have a much better study pool, but this season was a great learning! This site is Awesome!!
Last edited by Swampbuck on Sat Mar 22, 2014 12:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- Dhurtubise
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
Great buck. I love the palmated antlers.
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
Great write up and great buck! Love the mass on him, very unique rack. Congrats
It is very important IMO once you successfully setup on a buck bed, even if it doesn't result in a kill, to analyze the area thoroughly and then use that information to find other bedding areas. What were the terrain features, thickness of cover, how far out can he stage and still be safe? It is still a work in progress for me, but I am making progress.
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It is very important IMO once you successfully setup on a buck bed, even if it doesn't result in a kill, to analyze the area thoroughly and then use that information to find other bedding areas. What were the terrain features, thickness of cover, how far out can he stage and still be safe? It is still a work in progress for me, but I am making progress.
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
What state is that in? Appears to be the south
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
Great deer and I really like the mass!
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
Awesome!
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
Them swamp bucks are going to be in trouble in a few yrs.
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
Great deer. The palmation really makes it a trophy.
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
Man, that is just awesome! I am so pumped after reading that!
The small area that held most of the beds, was there something different about that area? Was it thicker(in reference to the rest of his 'core')? Or was it simply the area where the most dry spots were?
Those are some great looking swamp bucks, congrats!
Man I'm fired up to go slosh and scout...
The small area that held most of the beds, was there something different about that area? Was it thicker(in reference to the rest of his 'core')? Or was it simply the area where the most dry spots were?
Those are some great looking swamp bucks, congrats!
Man I'm fired up to go slosh and scout...
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
Congrats!, Cool looking buck.
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
briar wrote:What state is that in? Appears to be the south
Sure is, Southeastern Louisiana!
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
PalmettoKid wrote:Man, that is just awesome! I am so pumped after reading that!
The small area that held most of the beds, was there something different about that area? Was it thicker(in reference to the rest of his 'core')? Or was it simply the area where the most dry spots were?
Those are some great looking swamp bucks, congrats!
Man I'm fired up to go slosh and scout...
Thanks! I need to get back out too before the gators and moccasins get to horrible lol!!
Yeah the little area was extremely thick with jackvines that you can't hardly walk through, but there was a open finger in the center with mounds out the water where he bedded. It was thick enough where he had to brush against it to walk through, hence how I heard him... His visual was marginal but no way anything approaches without him hearing it.. This whole area was quite thick but his little spot was on the edge of this thick area. the little finger allowed him to go from one section to another and bed to bed... I really couldn't determine a bed/wind correlation but that may just be me. This whole area is floton' and drops off bad near this thick stuff so I would have normally walked the outside edge of this and never known!
I've got some pics of the bedding on one of my phones that fell in the water ill find and post
I've since found it to be a pattern if I can find something similar.... Unfortunately I cant really see it from the aerial, ARGHHH!!
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
Swamp ninja you are!!!
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Re: My 2013 Public Swamp Kills
nice read and congrats one some great trophies
nothing but a simple minded god fearing public land bow hunter
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