Question about walking in marsh muck.

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Mossberg90MN
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Question about walking in marsh muck.

Unread postby Mossberg90MN » Tue Nov 05, 2019 11:25 am

Hi guys, I have a question about walking through marsh muck. I’m new to hunting marshes, and I got my but kicked today.

All just get to the point here... Do you guys actually walk through the muck? Or do you try and avoid the muck? You know... the kind that just grabs your leg and won’t let go.

I was trying to get to an island today... found a fresh scrape on the main land, and I found a fresh rub leading into the island.

There was maybe a good 150-200yds of marsh, brush and trees before getting to the island. The water was instantly about 4 feet deep with what just seemed to be years and years of marsh grass underneath it, just stacked up. I tried to travel on roots and closer to the trees, where I was able to find some solid footing. Then right before I almost got there I reached an area that was maybe 3-4ft wide and just pure muck. It was also about thigh deep. I was using a walking stick and it poked right on through to about 3.5-4 ft. I slightly stepped on the edge of this area and my boot sank in to my chins. It just grabbed my foot good and almost didnt want to give up my boot. After trying for a little, I got my foot back hahah, I wasn’t able to get to the island because I didn’t think it was a good idea to walk through this area because there was no cat tails, which means it’s not solid ground right?

It was definitely hard to walk through all that with my stand, sticks and bow.

Thanks for the help guys


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Re: Question about walking in marsh muck.

Unread postby ridge_runner91 » Tue Nov 05, 2019 10:03 pm

Newbie marsh hunter here as well with a similar experience.... I used my boat to get into the back side of a series of islands. These islands were separated by shallow streams maybe15-20 yards wide. I found some sign on the island I was on but i really feel like i needed to get to the other island.

Getting there proved to be nearly impossible.... too shallow for my boat.... and similar to mossberg the muck in the shallow streams between the islands seemed deep enough to swallow me. I took one step into that sludge and nearly didn't get my boot back.....

Looking forward to see what more experienced marsh hunters have to say.
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Re: Question about walking in marsh muck.

Unread postby dan » Wed Nov 06, 2019 1:47 am

Pick your fights wisely... learn them swamps and the best navigation in spring. Remember, whatever you cross in the evening sun, will have to crossed to get out in the dark, possibly dragging a 200 pound buck
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headgear
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Re: Question about walking in marsh muck.

Unread postby headgear » Wed Nov 06, 2019 2:16 am

Like Dan said you have to find a route, a lot of the time the deep muck/water is next to the mainland and then again next to the island, must be some kind of geological reason for that but 90% of the time when I fall in or burry a boot in muck it is right next to shore. Otherwise you can usually cross a floating bog or floating cattail bog ok but that can also depend on how much water the area got this year. This might be one of those spots you have to cross with waders, you still need to find a route to avoid the muck because wader and deep muck can be a nasty situation. Exit routes can be very important because getting out at night is usually when the interesting stuff happens. Also try and test each step as much as possible, go nice and slow and make sure you have somewhat solid footing. The more you do it the better you get.
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Re: Question about walking in marsh muck.

Unread postby Mossberg90MN » Wed Nov 06, 2019 2:40 am

Thanks for the responses. Ridge runner seems to have a similar experience with the muck. I took one step and it just grabbed my wader boot and wouldn’t give it up. I had to really lift up with my toe.

Seems like what I should do is press pause at the moment and learn the swamps in the spring. Maybe tackle some easier islands. This island is surrounded by false bog, it’s a big area of it. I take it cat tails means more solid ground?

Bummer was I was following fresh buck sign going into it!


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