Scouting Marsh Ground and Dealing with Water Changes

[phade]

I'm really reaching out to new hunting methods and areas for me. I'm a decidely ag land/broken woodlot hunter based on experience. I hunted marshes as a teen in Virginia, but haven't done that in many years. This is the only private marsh ground I have access to, so I'm trying to use it as the learning curve.

How do you effectively scout with water levels that rise somewhat at this time of year as compared to early hunting season (mid October here)? I found a ton of sign this weekend based on feedback from a previous thread, but it does appear that the deer are not using the immediate area in recent times - I'm assuming they've moved to a wintering food source in the area as I didn't find tracks or fresh sign on the property that is not marsh ground, and that includes a picked cornfield with plenty of spillage.

I came across this and pondered for a bit if this was in fact a buck bed:


I found no pellets, etc. in there and no staining of snow (from pee, glands, etc.), but the reeds do seem to be laid down. It was not much above the water line, but then again, that's all relevant to the season, correct? I think it might be a tad lower during hunting time.

Within 15 feet of this spot were multiple rubs (I saw 5):



I then followed for about 30 yards on what appeared to be a light run of sorts that merged with another coming out of high reeds and was marked with rubs:


At that point, I found what to me would be a suitable killing tree giving me a 30 yard shot and covering both runs with the typical wind direction in my favor. It wouldn't be easy, but I think I could get in there. The tree has some background cover about 10 yards behind it, but it's isolated in the marsh otherwise.

I covered about 50% of the ground in about 3 hours...and it's only maybe about 20 acres of marsh...tough going this time of year. The ice wouldn't hold my weight (no fat jokes). I would estimate I found about 50-60 rubs from this season and several that were aged and scarred over. I did not find any new scrapes outside of the 3 that I know of on the ground ringing the marsh. Some legit high ground was found - some good sign showing movement through the area, but no real beds that I could see. I did see some smaller tracks indicating does/fawns on that ground and some very small rubs.

So, is it a bed? And, what can I do to spot a bed that may be less noticeable now because of water level increases?

[Dewey]

That doesn't look big enough to be a buck bed to me.

Since the marsh is only 20 acres it really limits where they could bed especially if the water is high.

What I would do is find the highest spots within the marsh and concentrate on those especially if they are out of the water most of the year. This is where the most consistant bedding will be. It doesn't take much, even a 1 foot rise in elevation will make a huge difference. Water in marshes can fluctuate quite a bit during the year and deer will move out if it is too high. They don't like to bed right in the water.

With all of the rubs you found there has to be a buck bedding nearby. Maybe he is bedding further away and staging in the marsh. Hard to say without actually seeing the land.

Keep looking and I'm sure you will eventually find a good bed.

There are quite a few marsh hunters here so hopefully a few chime in with more ideas.

I can't say I have ever hunted a marsh that small. All of the ones I hunt are 1,000's of acres.

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[Czabs]

A good way you can confirm a bed is finding the deers actual hairs laying in the bed itself. Not always, but most of my beds I found are near bigger trees, ones that can support a big deer. Also with the snow it's tough to find old sign this time of year. In some of the marshes I scout thy are almost completely vacant of deer tracks in the winter months but are loaded come September. Scouting with lack of snow or no snow for that matter has helped me 100 times more finding actual beds.

[Dewey]

Found this old thread that may help you........... viewtopic.php?f=5&t=658

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[phade]

Thanks Dewey, that really helped.

Heading back out there tomorrow to cover the remainder of the marsh. I'll hold out hope for locating a bed. The high ground, once I found it, I thought for sure would have a bed, but no dice.

I certainly have an increased knowledge of how the bucks are working through the area based on this site my on the ground observations from this past weekend.