Need some quick thoughts on best plan of attack

[briarman]

I have found a very untouched swap which is surrounded by quite a bit of human pressure, not hunters, just mostly dog walkers and nature walkers. The last time i was near the swamp "scouting" i got a little too close and jumped what sounded like horses fleeing across the swamp. They were bedding down along the leeward bank along the transition line of scrub(as close to the swap as they could get while being on the dry edge). There was one very high, fresh shredded rub in the area. One of the deer i saw fleeing was a good size buck, but he had plenty of company with him. That was about 1 week ago.

LESSON LEARNED: Stay off the Leeward bank dummy!


The entire swamp measures about 600' long by 200' wide with a couple of small points and a very narrow spot in the middle, almost like an hourglass shape. Its small, but our deer populations are high, and they seem to concentrate there.The swamp is mostly full of about 2 to 3' high scrub oaks. No cattails. The water is about 12" deep but the bottom is soft mud and you could go neck deep very easily. At the narrow points it looked like there were trails cutting through.

All the ground around the entire swamp is mostly large oaks and briars sloping down into the swamp on all side(Like a Pit). Not crazy steep but definitely a pronounced hill sloping down for about 200' on all sides. I did notice when the deer flushed out of there they seemed to run to the narrowist section to get across the swamp to the other side.

Im trying to put together a plan of attack. Im going to do an evening hunt today and set up an observation stand on the down wind side of the swap at the narrowest spot and try to scan to see whats going on in there.


Any thoughts would be great. I know jumping those deer didn't help anything, but I'm learning how close is too close. Im also trying to get better at "knowing where they should be, without having to see them to provide myself proof". Easier said than done sometimes. Still a rookie at bowhunting, i'm basically learning from this forum...not a bad place to start!

If Im way off, be brutally honest.

[Ragingun]

You won't be able to hunt in the bedding area or swamp according to what I understand with this setup. You can get close to where they bed in accordance with where you saw them I am guessing. Find the trail/trails they are using with the freshest sign available. Since you're hunting in the afternoon fresh sign should be easy to find if they are still using this area. An observation stand is a good idea with the option to shoot anything worthy as it walks by. I'm not sure if you can see from a distance every trail that leaves that swamp so if you can't it goes back to finding the freshest sign.

When I hunt a pothole like that I find that the deer tend to follow a pattern of coming and going. It could be the same trail that they enter and then leave on however I've seen it where they enter one trail and exit another. This is easily found by simply walking around the area and seeing which way the majority of the tracks on the trails are facing. Just be careful not to scout the trails on the upwind side of the swamp for obvious reasons.

[dan]

I would look at both sides of the narrow middle depending in the wind, and I would hunt where sign leads out of the swamp... Just make sure to hop around the whole swamp so you get eyeballs on where exactly the target animals exit.

[Stanley]

The swamp you described is about 3 acres. Sit on the leeward side and see what happens. Move in from there.

[matt1336]

Id think that you’re likely going to have more luck in the morning because you’ll use the rising thermals to get your scent out of there

[briarman]

The swamp you described is about 3 acres. Sit on the leeward side and see what happens. Move in from there.

When you say leeward side...you mean so the wind is blowing past me and down the hill into the swamp. Just want to be sure. Just put it so my scent stream is off to the left or right? Seems like that would give the bedded deer the wind advantage...No?