Scouting trip 12/29 and 12/30

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Jackson Marsh
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Scouting trip 12/29 and 12/30

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:01 pm

Saturday I strapped on the snowshoes and did some walking in a local cattail marsh. Fresh snow is good for recent intel, but does little for establishing patterns IMO. Covered about 4 miles, a mile or so was transition line between cattails and woods. The heavy snow really beat down the redbrush in the transition line, some parts appearred to have little cover, but having walked part of this area in the fall I knew it does have great cover (something to keep in mind if you are scouting now). I jumped two does that were bedded 40 yards into the cattails off of a point. They jumped up and looked at me, didn't seem too concerned. My camera skills with an Android phone leave much to be desired, I ended up taking a picture of where the does were a second before the picture was taken..........you'll have to use your imagination :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Did find a few rubs and some large tracks.


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I did scout a brushy point that doesn't appear real well on google earth. Looked good, but I will have to do more investigation in the spring. I'm sure there will be buck bedding in this brush, but was unable to find any in the fresh snow.

Wasn't a super productive scout, but it was a great day to be in the woods.




Today I decided to bring my bow in hopes of jumping a doe. I hunted/scouted a cedar swamp that the deer like to bed in when the temps drop (it is always warmer and great wind block for the deer). About an hour into the hunt I caught movement of a coyote. I drew my bow when he was behind a cedar and shot when he stepped out. I guessed it about 20 yards and here is the result.


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Must have just grazed him, small amount of hair and sparse blood.

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I got on the trail immediately hoping it would bleed out. Coyotes are smart, he would hit every nasty tangle of downed cedar, and then usually head in a different direction. I followed the sparse blood trail for three hours. Found two beds with some blood. After the second bedding the blood stopped, but I continued to follow his track until dark. No coyote. I'll probably get out again tomorrow.

It felt good to get back into the woods again, haven't been out since muzzleloader season closed.


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Re: Scouting trip 12/29 and 12/30

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:23 pm

Sounds like a gr8 time! 8-)
Expect the Unexpected when you least Expect it...
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Dewey
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Re: Scouting trip 12/29 and 12/30

Unread postby Dewey » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:25 pm

Looks like you had a good time! 8-)

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Darin
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Re: Scouting trip 12/29 and 12/30

Unread postby Darin » Mon Dec 31, 2012 3:12 pm

Sounds like it was a good trip.
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Re: Scouting trip 12/29 and 12/30

Unread postby Stanley » Mon Dec 31, 2012 4:48 pm

Cool. Snow blood looks more than it is.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Scouting trip 12/29 and 12/30

Unread postby Czabs » Thu Jan 03, 2013 1:16 pm

I agree its hard for patterning but It's better than sitting on the couch! Sounds like a good time. I need some snowshoes 8-)
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Re: Scouting trip 12/29 and 12/30

Unread postby JAB » Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:02 am

Sounds like a fun time, much better than sitting around.

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