New spot, any suggestions??

[Ashreve93]

One more thing to add. Due west of the corner of timber you will be accessing through is a nice size island of trees in the swamp. Not sure how I missed it the first time. That's my favorite location on your aerial you posted. Maybe save it for last!

Forgot to ask, why save it for last?

[Ajazwinski88]

Straight down from the right hand orange line there is a big bend in the creek that has I nice little point of land sticking south (assuming top of pic is north). That's where I would be looking if it were myself. Also directly east of that point, across the swamp is a subtle point pushing into the swamp. I'd chance that spot also. If you're coming in from the blue zone your buddy will be wondering why you see deer and he doesnt

Those are awesome finds! You must have a good eye for this kind of thing! Do you think the spot coming off of the East transition line is a good first sit? So I can see across the swamp, and my wind won't scare a single deer? Plus it is a real good spot. I like it a lot.

As for your other response, you got me all sorts of excited! There HAS to be a bed there. It just seems too perfect.



The circle is the island you're talking about? Considering the wind, would you say the blue dot is a good spot to sit, or do you think it is too close to where the bed MAY be? Thanks for the help!

I would say that Eastern transition line would be a good first sit. Especially with the observation of the swamp as an added benefit. As for saving the island for last. I just feel with it being new property it may be tough to get in (especially with all the foliage on) and risk bumping right of the bat. If its a place you want to hunt frequently you may want to hit,the other likely spots and observe island from afar if possible. Just my opinion though. Good luck!

[brancher147]

The circle is the island you're talking about? Considering the wind, would you say the blue dot is a good spot to sit, or do you think it is too close to where the bed MAY be? Thanks for the help!

The spot you marked in blue definitely is an area to check out. And just to the east of that there is a corner transition area where it looks like 3 cover types come together. I can see a trail coming through here on the map. It looks like a creek or depression in here, and there will probably be a main crossing. But I would check out this whole area first and foremost and would anticipate finding bedding on the wooded island in the swamp to the west.

[hunter10]

The access across the field whether morning or evening is awful.. he will bust deer on that wind going in and coming out and at the end of the day, makes your job harder of getting a good deer because of him unknowingly letting the deer know something is up.

Do you think there is a way to take advantage of him using the wrong wind? Maybe hunting in a secondary bed up the transition line in the far eastern part of the swamp that the buck may run to when my buddy walks in?

My view on this is simple. If he goes into that stand in bad situations every time then over time the deer will begin to pattern him and in turn start bedding to watch his entry exit patterns which could end up affecting your entrance and exit patterns

[Lockdown]

I should have read the whole thread before marking up the aerial... others beat me to it. Here is where I would expect bucks to bed at first glance


The point of trees in between my marks and just east could be good too, but if there are deer traveling through there, bucks typically want to bed away from other movement.

If there's a west wind the "island" of trees will likely see bedding on the east side but not guaranteed. If wind is easterly you can bet they'll bed on the west side.

My .02

[Lockdown]

Also any river oxbow where it's thick. Check the riverbottoms thread in all time best tactical threads in the deer hunting section

[Ashreve93]

Hey guys. Sorry for the delayed response - honeydos has taken my life away. You've all helped a great deal. I just wanted to give you an update. I sat once so far this year. I went to the transition line between the 3 types of woodlines at the bottom of the map. saw nothing all day, but 15 or so minutes before dark I heard a deer (buck I'm guessing) get up from the southern island and walk to the opposite side of the swamp from me towards the field. So it tells me a buck is bedded on that island! Now, how to get there? Keep I mind the wind direction and the fact that thermals pull wind right down south to the deer, so I have no way of getting to him from the western side.

Here's what I was thinking: Monday night a front comes through. maybe i could get up @ 2am on Tuesday and come from the east and sit on the far south eastern tip of the island In hopes that he won't bed until after light (because of the front) and I'll have a poke at him. Thanks

[Ashreve93]

Just an update: I went into this spot for the second time this season on Tuesday. The wind was high, the ground was wet and the wind was going straight west, so my hopes were high to getting in close and unnoticed. My goal was to get as close to the island in the south as possible to see if a buck comes out of the island. I was also hoping to see fresh sign since i didn't see any on the eastern side of the swamp on my first sit. When i got to the transition line along the swamp, there was no sign of any new movement.

Then, when I got to where the hard woods stops, my wind changed from coming from the west to going straight towards the island, when i walked back towards the hardwoods, the wind went back to normal, so I'm not sure if the buck caught my wind or not.

Thinking there was still a chance of seeing something, I climbed a hickory, got situated, and let my sickness catch up with me and let out a terribly loud cough. At this point I know I had to scare everything in the woods.

So i emailed darkknight54 notifying him of everything that happened and we agreed the best thing to do is make the best of this ruined hunt, so i got down and scouted. - thank you for that. I'll post my findings next.

[Ashreve93]

I didn't get to go into that island because surrounding the island is a stream that is about waist high and my boots are just below knee high. I think i know how to access it now, but it's obviously too late. Lol

While walking I scared 1 buck. I didn't see his size, but I could see a rack and a rather large body. His body may have been smaller than I'm thinking because I didn't get a good look at his leg to body ratio, but from what I saw he looked pretty thick. He has a dark colored rack, so I couldn't tell how big it was. I scared him less than 30 minutes before sunset, so I'm guessing he was coming from the island, going into the field, or looking for does. I looked for a bed and couldn't find one.

Seeing the deer helped me to realize the southern tip of the swamp was more shallow, there were 5'x5' dry spots all over, but none of them had a bed (maybe they will in the late season). I followed the swamp edge all of the way up to the steam, but couldn't find an easy way to cross, so i turned around. Oddly enough, i didn't see any fresh buck sign, just like on the other side, just last years sign. Well, I did find one rub in a weird spot. In the middle of the swamp, on the northern side, right next to that stream that separates the island from the rest of the swamp. I didn't see any sort of trail leading to it or from it.

BUT the biggest thing I discovered is the wind direction when in the swamp comes from the south, even though the weather channel states it'll come from the west and it's coming from the west by that soy bean field, and where im walking in from. That was the biggest but if information I could obtain. And i was there a little after dark and never felt thermals change direction, and start heading south (which has worried me).

What I'm thinking of doing is sitting in the evening on the western side of the swamp, as far south as I can find oak trees and see what comes out of that swamp, even an hour after dark. What do you guys think?

Here's a photo of my travels:



Green arrows are the wind direction in the different areas i tested.
Red line is where I scared a buck and the direction he ran.
Blue lines were two beds that had absolutely no use recently. There were no fresh tracks or hairs. Both beds have trails leading to each other, 1 trail to the western side of the swamp, one to the eastern, and one straight towards the island.
Orange dot is where I was sitting.
Purple is the main trail to the island.

Here's a photo of the buck rub:



Here's a photo of 2 of the trails coming from the marsh like area (the blue lines):



Finally, one of the southern part of the swamp, where you can see it dries up a little, this spot is where i scared the buck, but i couldn't find a bed: