Rut Tactics In Marsh

[wiscbowhntr]

I just started hunting marshes this year so I don't have any rut hunting experience in marshes. I have a couple of wooded islands surrounded by cattails that I want to hunt. Should I set up in the island or on the edge of the island? I don't know if the bucks usually cruise through the cattails cutting the trails leading to and from the island or if they cut through the islands. Reason I want to hit the islands is it seemed there was a fair amount of does bedding on them when I checked it out this spring.

[onebuck]

I guess one thing I have learned is that the Does will bed right out in the cattails or cattail redbrush mix. They don't seem to relate to islands the same way bucks do, I think beacause they have safety in numbers they don't have to use as much discretion choosing a bedding site. That being said I would get downwind of any suspected doe bedding, the problem being that it can be pretty sporadic as to where the actual beds are. But if your islands are getting a fair amount of doe traffic even if they aren't bedding sites I would expect younger bucks to cross the islands and older bucks to cruise the outside edge (downwind).

I have some islands (tiny, brushy maybe a tree here or there) that I will be sitting on in hopes that a buck will be using them as cover when cruising my local marsh for hot does. They aren't bedding sites but I do think they attract deer just because of the structure they offer. If anything they are the only spots with trees over 3" in diameter.

[dan]

I have does bedding on the islands I hunt. The key is to know where exactly they bed and how the bucks travel in relation from your scouting.
Most of the rut action I see in the marsh occurs near the trasition line of cattails and woods, or dogwood and trees.

[Schultzy]

I have does bedding on the islands I hunt. The key is to know where exactly they bed and how the bucks travel in relation from your scouting.
Most of the rut action I see in the marsh occurs near the transition line of cattails and woods, or dogwood and trees.

Makes sense as this (the transition line you speak of) was where I saw 3 bucks close to yesterday evening.

[mcmidc]

Most of the rut action I see in the marsh occurs near the trasition line of cattails and woods, or dogwood and trees.

Dan would you say that it's more mainland woods and cattails or the transition lines of the woods on the islands and the cattails? I guess what I'm asking is are you hunting that first transition line to the marsh primarily during rut or heading farther back in to hunt transitions of islands and high spots out a ways?

[dan]

Most of the rut action I see in the marsh occurs near the trasition line of cattails and woods, or dogwood and trees.

Dan would you say that it's more mainland woods and cattails or the transition lines of the woods on the islands and the cattails? I guess what I'm asking is are you hunting that first transition line to the marsh primarily during rut or heading farther back in to hunt transitions of islands and high spots out a ways?

Both... They tend to skirt the edges of the islands as well as the edges of the mainland.