Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

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ThePreBanMan
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Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby ThePreBanMan » Mon May 29, 2017 4:59 am

Here in coastal Mass most of our marshes are brackish and/or salt/ocean water. Do the deer use these as/like they would a fresh water marsh? Or do they travel through but bed/feed elsewhere. Seeing what look like they could be game trails in the aerials on what would be a new piece of land for me. But the marsh is sea water. It's abutted by swamp which I'm guessing is brackish. There are no identifiable fresh water sources (rivers, streams, etc) exiting or draining into the swamps or marsh.

Worth the time of boots on the ground or should I focus elsewhere?


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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby Buckshot20 » Mon May 29, 2017 6:32 am

Deer use them down here in Florida. I've wondered around a state park here with my jaw open looking at giant tracks 100yrd from the beach. All salt marsh around with high spots.
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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby Nelson87 » Mon May 29, 2017 8:25 am

I have zero experience with salt water marshes, but Truth From the Stand podcast recently had Greg Litzinger on, and he hunts them.

http://truthfromthestand.com/deer-hunti ... ing-fiend/
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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby wickedbruiser » Mon May 29, 2017 12:46 pm

I hunt a salt unit in MA and it's loaded with deer. To answer your question. Yes, deer live in these marshes as long as there is good cover and upland where food/freshwater is present. Majority of upland will hold some sorts of freshwater . These deer will be bedded on the high marsh in lower tide and upland transition when tides are up. I just mainly focus on beds right on the upland transitions and islands out in low marsh.

Getting out into a salt marsh now will be tough but doesn't hurt if you plan on hunting it this fall. I prefer right after the season to end of April.

I've spoken to Greg Litzinger a couple of times and he's THE guy for salt unit. Check him out on YouTube or Instagram @ bowhunting_fiend
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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby PK_ » Mon May 29, 2017 3:27 pm

Yes they use them pretty much the same. Tide makes the bedding a bit different. If you can find a spot that is secure for high and low tide that is a bonus. Big bucks don't like to be bothered by rising water if they can help it.
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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby MATexbow » Fri Jul 07, 2017 3:04 am

PK_ wrote:Yes they use them pretty much the same. Tide makes the bedding a bit different. If you can find a spot that is secure for high and low tide that is a bonus. Big bucks don't like to be bothered by rising water if they can help it.



PK_ What kind of terrain features fit into that? Rivers that have tidal shifts and the oxbow banks? Just islands? I am looking to hunt a salt flats location this fall for the first time. The place is clearly crawling with deer but I haven't been able to establish good patterns. The buck beds I have found are all on raised islands with hardwood points.
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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby PK_ » Fri Jul 07, 2017 3:51 am

The spots you found may be what you are looking for.

Oxbows could be good. I have never hunted a tidal river though. But I don't see why they wouldn't be good.

Basically a spot that is secure when the tide is down and doesn't get flooded when the tide is up. They can be islands or little humps or points that have enough surrounding cover. If the water stays around the bedding but just rises/falls a couple feet that is good. Some places the slope is so gradual that the water line between high/low tide could be hundreds of yards difference. These are the places where it is tough to nail down bedding according to the water body for obvious reasons. It will be more topography(even the slightest elevations) and cover-based.

Same basic principles as marsh/swamp just have to account for the rise/fall of the tide.
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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby Dthree » Fri Jul 07, 2017 7:05 am

Some the biggest deer in my area are on the islands and marshes here(Outer Banks, NC). Of course most of the land is NPS so we can't hunt it.
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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby woodswalker » Fri Jul 07, 2017 8:42 am

Deer use salt marches in MD as well. I have seen some real bruisers while I was duck hunting.
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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby KLEMZ » Sat Jul 08, 2017 2:39 am

PK_ wrote:Basically a spot that is secure when the tide is down and doesn't get flooded when the tide is up. They can be islands or little humps or points that have enough surrounding cover. If the water stays around the bedding but just rises/falls a couple feet that is good. Some places the slope is so gradual that the water line between high/low tide could be hundreds of yards difference. These are the places where it is tough to nail down bedding according to the water body for obvious reasons. It will be more topography(even the slightest elevations) and cover-based.

Same basic principles as marsh/swamp just have to account for the rise/fall of the tide.


I am from Wisconsin so take this with a grain of salt...
Around here, back water marshes off of rivers tend to flood once or twice a year (not daily like tides). I have noticed that mature bucks will have bedding on the ends of dry points that are only obvious at high water. In other words, if you look at an aerial taken at flood stage, mark any point that juts out into the water yet is dry. Even in low water conditions these will still tend to be bedding spots. Obviously this depends on hunter pressure. Vegetation is also different on the point vs the flood zone. Points set up for the prevailing wind are best.

I look at all possible aerials I can find to hopefully catch one taken during high water. One odd source that I use is terraserver.com you can use the "viewer" to find your area and then check all the different photos they have using just the viewer (not purchasing anything). It also tends to have winter photos available.

Since deer behaviors are pretty consistent across geographic range, I would think this might hold true in the tidal marshes? One additional detail you may have to deal with is ocean land/water thermals?
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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby tbunao » Sat Jul 08, 2017 2:48 am

Check out bowhunting_fiend on YouTube and the podcasts with him. The newest thread about beast member podcasts has his list. Mastermind is a beast member just doesn't post anymore.

Pk and wickedbruiser are on the same level
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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby Wlog » Sat Jul 08, 2017 3:41 am

There's a bunch of salt marshes near me that I've hunted. They are worth looking at for sure but they're not all created equal. Some are better than others and it mostly has to do with how many people are hunting them. When you look at a satellite image of a salt marsh it's hard to tell until you go check it but it can be a mixture of phragmites, knee high marsh grasses and maybe even a few patches of cat tails.
As with any other terrain the deer are in the hardest areas to get to or overlooked spots. Some islands that look remote from the mainland are still hunted pretty regularly because if it's just knee high marsh grass with ankle deep mud beneath its still relatively easy access. The islands I find the most bedding on have thick cover around the edges. Here it's usually a mixture of brush and cedars around the perimeter and hardwoods in the middle.

Scouting the remote islands in summer is tough because they seem to be devoid of deer right now and the sign is real hard to see from fall and winter. I wouldn't say don't scout it now if you've never been out there but just keep in mind the sign isn't going to be impressive this time of year. They have no reason to be out there. There's thick vegetation with plenty of food, cover, crops, etc on the mainland right now and no human pressure. Not too many people are going out there in summer because the flys, ticks and mosquitoes scare away 99% of people. They are atrocious but tolerable if you use permethrin and deet.

Not sure about Mass but here a lot of the islands have a mixture of oaks, maples and persimmon trees. All good food sources.

It's possible to pick up deer trails out there on a satellite image but they are really hard to distinguish from a small waterway and you really have to see it in person to know for sure. The best islands for bedding are ones that are too small for people to put deer stands in.

These kinds of marshes are really conducive to glassing from a distance. If you were patient enough to bounce around and sit observation stands a lot you could probably learn a ton about one of these places in a season. If they were a shorter drive for me that is exactly what I would do.

Hope this helps. There are a few other members that hunt this stuff regularly but don't post a ton or come on here very much but a search might find you some good info.
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Re: Marsh Question salt / Braskish water

Unread postby Clink » Tue Jul 18, 2017 3:38 pm

This is the kind of post that make me wonder if you're on to a couple of my spots in MA :think: :pray:

All jokes aside, salt marshes offer great cover and security. Good stuff if you hunt it right.


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