2" of rain for marsh hunters before the rut..thoughts?

[HEINEN86]

My first year hunting a marsh during the rut...was pumped. Now I see up to 2 inches of rain for the area tonight.....will this ruin the area? I'm in the Pipe area in Fond du Lac...the water levels have been down since August since we've been in a decent drought since then. Any experienced marsh hunters have any thoughts? Would this rain even bother you or worry you? Should mention that the south branch of the Manitowoc river snakes along the border of my property....

This was last Thursday...
https://youtu.be/G_1L3yjt5Rw

[Dewey]

Doesn’t bother me at all. It’s been really dry and it takes a lot of rain to saturate the dry peat soil before water levels start rising. At this point it will take way more than 2” to make any difference. Might be temporary wet spots but wetlands do a great job sucking up that water.

Last year water levels were high already heading into the season and then we go dumped on late September into October with record rainfall. The water levels had nowhere to go but up. One of the wettest seasons I have seen in a LONG time.

[HEINEN86]

Thanks so much for easing my mind!

Doesn’t bother me at all. It’s been really dry and it takes a lot of rain to saturate the dry peat soil before water levels start rising. At this point it will take way more than 2” to make any difference. Might be temporary wet spots but wetlands do a great job sucking up that water.

Last year water levels were high already heading into the season and then we go dumped on late September into October with record rainfall. The water levels had nowhere to go but up. One of the wettest seasons I have seen in a LONG time.

[HuntingParadise]

My first year hunting a marsh during the rut...was pumped. Now I see up to 2 inches of rain for the area tonight.....will this ruin the area? I'm in the Pipe area in Fond du Lac...the water levels have been down since August since we've been in a decent drought since then. Any experienced marsh hunters have any thoughts? Would this rain even bother you or worry you? Should mention that the south branch of the Manitowoc river snakes along the border of my property....

This was last Thursday...
https://youtu.be/G_1L3yjt5Rw

Im in the same area. Roughly 15 minute drive from you. Water levels are way down compared to the past two years when it was mainly flooded. I think you are good to go yet. Its looking a lot closer to usual levels than the past two years.

[HEINEN86]

My first year hunting a marsh during the rut...was pumped. Now I see up to 2 inches of rain for the area tonight.....will this ruin the area? I'm in the Pipe area in Fond du Lac...the water levels have been down since August since we've been in a decent drought since then. Any experienced marsh hunters have any thoughts? Would this rain even bother you or worry you? Should mention that the south branch of the Manitowoc river snakes along the border of my property....

This was last Thursday...
https://youtu.be/G_1L3yjt5Rw

Im in the same area. Roughly 15 minute drive from you. Water levels are way down compared to the past two years when it was mainly flooded. I think you are good to go yet. Its looking a lot closer to usual levels than the past two years.

Thanks man! Feeling good about it. And the rain isn't as bad as predicted so far

[mbone1327]

I walk through a swamp to get to one of my spots. Theres a creek that drains into a pond and you rarely can walk near it without going through... last two years I haven't been able to cross the creek without making some type of bridge. This year I can get across it. We got some decent rain last week and the swamp filled a bit but I still walked through it fine.

[Autiger]

I for one am glad there is going to be rain. The marshes are too accessible at the moment for people and predators. I need to get on and kill a big one here in SE WI before the BBSK returns.

[Dewey]

I for one am glad there is going to be rain. The marshes are too accessible at the moment for people and predators. I need to get on and kill a big one here in SE WI before the BBSK returns.

I agree. Seeing human tracks in places I haven’t seen them for years. Another problem is dry marshes create so many more bedding opportunities for bucks. I’m finding beds in the middle of large expanses of cattails that were under at least 18” of water at this time last year. Real common in very dry years. High water is so much more predictable.

[greenhorndave]

Yeah, it’s actually better IMHO for stuff that was scouted in the winter/spring of the last couple of years when there was a lot of water. Puts those areas back into play when they might not have been with tons of other dry options. Even stuff from up to April/May because the water was a lot higher then than just prior to this rain. Some stuff I scouted took hip boots to reach this spring, but was beat down with boots about three weeks ago because there was only a couple inches of water.