Scouting River Bottoms

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Brad
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Scouting River Bottoms

Unread postby Brad » Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:30 pm

I am heading out to do some scouting in some river bottom areas here in MO. I've been to several areas in various parts of MO that are river bottoms, and am able to find a good number of tracks, but haven't found much that I have considered definitive sign. I've watched Dan's swamp and marsh bedding DVD's, and alot of it is centered around cattails, but I don't see alot of that where I go. What I find seems to be areas of timber that are pretty much wide open underneath, mostly muddy areas that keep the tracks very obvious. Outside of the timber is mostly areas with high grass or water. It seems the area of timber is either water or very muddy, and the areas that are slightly higher are in the high grass, and not the timber like most of the information I've seen from hunters further north with cattail swamps. Have any of you seen areas like I am describing? Where would one expect to find bedding in these areas? The bowls in the timber seemed to have a good amount of trails leading in/out of the timber. The only noticeable beds I've been able to find have been out in the tall grass, but it is difficulty for me to tell if these could buck beds. I have not seen any uck specific sign. What do you think I should be looking for? I know this time of year is not ideal for scouting to find bedding areas, but I'm trying to get some good intel before early season opens in mid september. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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live2hunt
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Re: Scouting River Bottoms

Unread postby live2hunt » Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:44 pm

I’d start at river bends. Also shallow parts of the river where deer are able to cross easily. If there are bluffs or the highest points along the river I’d look at points on either side of a drainage ditch that drops off to the river.
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Brad
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Re: Scouting River Bottoms

Unread postby Brad » Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:58 pm

That is how i've approached areas with smaller rivers and bigger creeks and often found beds. The areas I'm talking about here are off of big rivers like the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, so I doubt they would use that as an escape route. There aren't any bluffs in these particular areas, just some levys, definitely are patches of standing water, some up to knee deep, and some much deeper. A couple of these areas are managed for waterfowl hunting, so I would only get about a month of hunting before the area is shut down for waterfowl seasons.
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Tsom
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Re: Scouting River Bottoms

Unread postby Tsom » Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:08 pm

I don't have much experience with river bottoms myself but I'll drop this here.

https://youtu.be/aF5fH9AJtbY
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Re: Scouting River Bottoms

Unread postby oldrank » Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:32 pm

Look for secure bedding. The bucks will be where the river protects them.
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Re: Scouting River Bottoms

Unread postby live2hunt » Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:22 pm

Brad wrote:That is how i've approached areas with smaller rivers and bigger creeks and often found beds. The areas I'm talking about here are off of big rivers like the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, so I doubt they would use that as an escape route. There aren't any bluffs in these particular areas, just some levys, definitely are patches of standing water, some up to knee deep, and some much deeper. A couple of these areas are managed for waterfowl hunting, so I would only get about a month of hunting before the area is shut down for waterfowl seasons.


Oh the big crick. I haven’t deer hunted areas like this but have spent a lot of time walking them. Trust me they will still use those rivers as escape routes if forced to. Especially the Missouri. Many people I know do drives on the islands so they get there somehow.

Levees are good but usually not the main levee if there is a lot of foot traffic most will gravitate there for easy walking. Deep drainages with small levees running perpendicular to the main levee are often good.

I find beds in grass like you described but I tend to see more buck sign when the grass area is mostly surrounded by small trees growing very thick.

Pinch points between thick cover and food sources might be a thought for the time of year you will be there.
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Re: Scouting River Bottoms

Unread postby justdirtyfun » Mon Jul 27, 2020 6:08 am

Are there any individual trees in the grass?

Funny story about levees along the Mississippi. One access had a spot on the end of the levee to park and hunters usually did. Well from observation driving past I saw deer bedded close. So the long walk down the levee to the"good areas" took everyone past a doe group.

I have also learned that the deer spot you on top of the levee and often I went on the sidehill for a ways before sneaking straight up and over. I would also do it before daylight to take their visual advantage.
Open floodplain is one instance where going in before daylight is a smart move, even if you don't expect the activity until much later. I saw numerous nice bucks by hiding in a 10 foot wide strip of cover along the Mississippi. Wind blowing out towards the water. Never connected but close.
You don't have to be the best, just do your best.
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Brad
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Re: Scouting River Bottoms

Unread postby Brad » Mon Jul 27, 2020 2:55 pm

yea, there are individual trees in the grass in some areas. Some places it seems like those individual trees are in low spots, and some areas they seem to be in high spots. The ones in high spots definitely are more likely to have beds from what I've seen. Today I found some small trees that hang over to act as a canopy over beds in the tall grass. There were several of these on points, which makes sense. Today I did bump the biggest buck I've seen on public land. He was definitely bedded in tall grass, and it was an area with a row of some tall trees as well, but I never did find the bed he came out of. I am not exactly sure what made him want to bed in that spot, but I hope to do some glassing in the couple weeks before the season to see if I can find him and try to figure out a way to set up to hunt him. Seeing him today got me even more excited about the upcoming season... as if I needed to be any more excited....
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Re: Scouting River Bottoms

Unread postby A5BLASTER » Tue Jul 28, 2020 1:51 pm

Brad wrote:That is how i've approached areas with smaller rivers and bigger creeks and often found beds. The areas I'm talking about here are off of big rivers like the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, so I doubt they would use that as an escape route. There aren't any bluffs in these particular areas, just some levys, definitely are patches of standing water, some up to knee deep, and some much deeper. A couple of these areas are managed for waterfowl hunting, so I would only get about a month of hunting before the area is shut down for waterfowl seasons.


Keep your eyes open for big trees that are blown down in those deeper water spots. It will blow your mind when you see your first deer bedded in a blown over tree out in 4 foot of water.
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Re: Scouting River Bottoms

Unread postby gsquared23 » Tue Jul 28, 2020 3:06 pm

I recall having a heck of a time finding any patterns out of open river bottom that occasionally floods. Topos aren’t helpful as it’s all generally very flat, and there seemed to be random maples and cockleburrs everywhere with no great edge that I would expect them to consistently bed along. Without a piece of water close (in the area I hunted), there were no oxbows to speak of either. We focused on food and had rut success.
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Brad
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Re: Scouting River Bottoms

Unread postby Brad » Tue Jul 28, 2020 10:33 pm

gsquared23 wrote:I recall having a heck of a time finding any patterns out of open river bottom that occasionally floods. Topos aren’t helpful as it’s all generally very flat, and there seemed to be random maples and cockleburrs everywhere with no great edge that I would expect them to consistently bed along. Without a piece of water close (in the area I hunted), there were no oxbows to speak of either. We focused on food and had rut success.



Yea, topo's don't mean much in these areas, so i focus more on satellite view and look for edges, points, bowls, etc to start with. I was surprised to find most areas having lower ground where the timber was in most cases. I have found more bedding under the smaller trees that you don't see on the maps, especially when they spread over the top of the beds, where the tall grass makes a wall around the bed and the small brushy tree creates a lid to cover the bed, and especially find these around points and bowls of the timber or other thicker areas at the edge of water. Where I was scouting this weekend I think I would need to be creative and find ways to potentially hunt from the ground because there just aren't many trees that could be set up in.


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