Is it my location or the wind?

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Backwoodsbeards
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Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby Backwoodsbeards » Mon Oct 05, 2015 1:42 pm

Never hunted here before the wind has been out of the north east every day since the 1st. Seen doe moving parallel to the swamp but no antlers. The markers are where ive sat. Im thinking is time to move on but have been thinking if bucks bed here they may only do it when the wind is out of the east. This is my first year hunting beds and i have 0 experience in finding them. Any help is appreciated.
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Ryan
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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby Ryan » Mon Oct 05, 2015 2:39 pm

When you go into those spots you suspect bedding try to find tracks/buck sign that will tell you there bedded there otherwise you might be wasting your time and not be setting up on their trails out of the beds..mix that with where you suspect there traveling to for food and you could narrow it down better, i wasted alot of hunts hunting areas that look like a buck would be bedded there but i never took the time to search for more evidence, now if i dont see the evidence too i move onto the next spot i suspect till i find it
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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby Backwoodsbeards » Mon Oct 05, 2015 3:28 pm

There are tons of tracks everwhere. The spots im in were flooded in the summer so its soft. Ive seen as wide as my hand down to 2 fingers. The thing us they're all running parallel to the swamp, none coming out of it. Not sure what or where they're eating, these are really big woods. The last spot i have marked is almost 1.5 miles in. There arent any ridges or anything its all pretty flat so i was hoping they're bedding in the fingers pushing into the swamp or dry patches in the swamp.

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Buckfever
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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby Buckfever » Mon Oct 05, 2015 4:08 pm

Why not run a camera on the runs with the 4 finger tracks and take some inventory and get a sense of when they're running and how far from the bedding you might be. Cuz if they're all coming through in the middle of the night even if the quality is good, yeah definitely move.
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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby PK_ » Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:33 am

You need to penetrate that swamp, I have seen dan mark tons of maps like that and his dots will almost all be back inside that swamp where the secondary transitions are back on those little islands and such. That is where the bucks are most likely bedding and they are not making it to the main transition before dark. If they are not running the edge during daylight you either have to go in after them, or just back off and wait until rut. Jut my .02 without stepping foot in the area. Sounds and looks like a good spot, good luck!

Also, welcome to the forum!

PS, that yellow waypoint looks like a killer rut set IMO.
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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Tue Oct 06, 2015 1:01 am

PK_ wrote:You need to penetrate that swamp, I have seen dan mark tons of maps like that and his dots will almost all be back inside that swamp where the secondary transitions are back on those little islands and such. That is where the bucks are most likely bedding and they are not making it to the main transition before dark. If they are not running the edge during daylight you either have to go in after them, or just back off and wait until rut. Jut my .02 without stepping foot in the area. Sounds and looks like a good spot, good luck!

Also, welcome to the forum!

PS, that yellow waypoint looks like a killer rut set IMO.



I would do this ^

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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby Backwoodsbeards » Tue Oct 06, 2015 7:46 am

I knew i should be IN the swamp... from looking at the trees from the edge none look very decent for hanging a stand in though... lots of low branches and stuff in the way. Also how do you guys move quietly through the thick stuff? It takes me an hour to move 100 yards through some of that. I know its only 5 days into the season but this type of hunting has my confidence pretty low. Ive always been a meat hunter and i know i can fall back into my old places to get doe but id like to start tagging mature bucks. Its definitely a lot more work and unfortunately i found out about this land just a month ago. Thank you for the welcome i found out about dan and then here from the wired 2 hunt pod cast.

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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby Country » Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:26 am

PK_ wrote:You need to penetrate that swamp, I have seen dan mark tons of maps like that and his dots will almost all be back inside that swamp where the secondary transitions are back on those little islands and such. That is where the bucks are most likely bedding and they are not making it to the main transition before dark. If they are not running the edge during daylight you either have to go in after them, or just back off and wait until rut. Jut my .02 without stepping foot in the area. Sounds and looks like a good spot, good luck!

Also, welcome to the forum!

PS, that yellow waypoint looks like a killer rut set IMO.


PK, could you elaborate on that a little? Curious. Thanks.
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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby Backwoodsbeards » Tue Oct 06, 2015 9:17 am

Another question is what do deer eat in the big woods?

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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby johndeere506 » Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:38 pm

I assumed PK meant a good rut funnel due to the funnel/curve in the woodland and being near that bridge sw of yellow marker. I'd try setting on fresh sigh coming from that string of islands, or hit just south of yellow marker during rut, at the start of the islands.

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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:58 pm

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I didn't mark them all, but you should get an idea of what to look for. I'd be surprised if you didn't find good sign and some beds in some of these areas. Are the lighter colored areas cattails?
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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby Backwoodsbeards » Tue Oct 06, 2015 2:08 pm

Yes its all cattails. I zoomed in so you could see what i thought might be game trails. The mixture of swamp, islands and those "trails" are what made that yellow marker my most hopeful sit. The outlines you made are exactly what i was looking at i just thought the bucks would move in closer during daylight


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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby PK_ » Tue Oct 06, 2015 2:42 pm

CountryJoe wrote:
PK_ wrote:You need to penetrate that swamp, I have seen dan mark tons of maps like that and his dots will almost all be back inside that swamp where the secondary transitions are back on those little islands and such. That is where the bucks are most likely bedding and they are not making it to the main transition before dark. If they are not running the edge during daylight you either have to go in after them, or just back off and wait until rut. Jut my .02 without stepping foot in the area. Sounds and looks like a good spot, good luck!

Also, welcome to the forum!

PS, that yellow waypoint looks like a killer rut set IMO.


PK, could you elaborate on that a little? Curious. Thanks.


If you look at that pic the swamp transition running N to S, where that yellow WP is, is where the swamp comes furthers to the East, so any deer moving N to S or S to N on that side of the swamp is likely to walk by that waypoint. It certainly isn't a 'hard' funnel as deer could simply walk inside the swamp or out in the woods, but it is a type of setup I have had success with in the past.
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PK_
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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby PK_ » Tue Oct 06, 2015 3:26 pm

Backwoodsbeards wrote:I knew i should be IN the swamp... from looking at the trees from the edge none look very decent for hanging a stand in though... lots of low branches and stuff in the way. Also how do you guys move quietly through the thick stuff? It takes me an hour to move 100 yards through some of that. I know its only 5 days into the season but this type of hunting has my confidence pretty low. Ive always been a meat hunter and i know i can fall back into my old places to get doe but id like to start tagging mature bucks. Its definitely a lot more work and unfortunately i found out about this land just a month ago. Thank you for the welcome i found out about dan and then here from the wired 2 hunt pod cast.

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Few things;

1) Don't get discouraged, this type of hunting generally takes a few years to get a handle on. It definitely isn't easy but the challenge is half the fun.

2) If you haven't purchased Marsh Bucks and Hill country bucks DVDs from the store on this site, do so immediately, worth every penny.

3) Deer eat everything in big woods, don't need to worry about what they eat if you know where they sleep. Of course they will gravitate to acorns.

4) What is this?
Image[/URL]

Is this a dyke running across the swamp? Does it get human traffic? This could be a mega rut funnel. If that is indeed a dyke cutting across that entire swamp I would put a cam up over it for the rest of season without checking it until after season or in pouring rain only, and hunt near the ends of it a couple times during the rut. Oh and I would remove these aerials from the internet. Unless it is a trail used by humans??
No Shortcuts. No Excuses. No Regrets.
Everybody's selling dreams. I'm too cheap to buy one.
Rich M wrote:Typically, hunting FL has been like getting a root canal
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Re: Is it my location or the wind?

Unread postby whitetail_addict » Tue Oct 06, 2015 3:29 pm

What has you hunting in those particular spots?... Did you locate specific beds in there before hunting there? Are you sitting those spots based on any buck sign going in or out from the transition?

If you're attempting to guess bedding but are only seeing does it's possible it may be a better pre-rut area in which bucks simply might not be there yet but could move in in the coming weeks to monitor the does bedded in the area.

Just a thought...


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