Seasonal flooding

[cbigbear]

What has been your experience with seasonal flooding & buck bedding habits? Is it similar to marsh bedding, where higher points & islands are key? Here is an example, this piece is flooded maybe every other year for weeks to months at a time. I'm guessing the yellow circles would be key areas, but also wondering if the flooding time frame is to minimal to force higher ground bedding.

[headgear]

I think the deer might be more drawn to a small bump or clump of roots in the water than actual high ground close to the roads/trails. Is there anything like that there, if not they could be bedding elsewhere nearby.

[cbigbear]

When flooding everything is underwater except the levees (some being roadside & some not) & higher ground farther away from the river. The roads shown are gated & only accessible by oil well companies. They receive vehicle traffic maybe once or twice a month & foot traffic on occasion during hunting season, but most hunters travel the atv accessible trails.

[headgear]

What kind of trees are flooded area? Is it more brush or do you have any photos?

[JoeRE]

In my experience with islands and backwaters of the Mississippi that flood every few years, many of the deer and particularly most of the bigger bucks relocate to much higher ground (up the bluffs) for the rest of the year on a flood year, they don't just move to slightly higher ground. That might be different than what you are looking at because high bluffs next to the Mississippi are often only a few hundred yards to half a mile away so they are easy to move to. I see a lot of mature buck activity in flood prone areas only after 2-3 consecutive dry years. Like I said its probably different when all the ground is much flatter.

[cbigbear]

What kind of trees are flooded area? Is it more brush or do you have any photos?

Tupelo, gum, cypress, willow, hackberry are the main trees. The brushes areas are chuckle bur & small trees.

[Knute78]

In years when it is inundated with water and then resides is there much, if anything, for ground cover? If not, my guess would be the deer will move elsewhere with more cover. Blufflands were the example I was thinking as well.

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[Stanley]

I have done a lot of river bottom hunting. When the bottoms flood the deer move to higher ground. I have seen fawns get stranded on rock piles and mounds of dirt. They will starve to death if the water stays up for any length of time. Couple friends of mine relocated 2 fawns to higher 3 years ago. A third fawn was dead.

[PK_]

They will gravitate to the levees if there is no other high ground nearby. I see it all the time down here. But there is literally no other high ground for miles...