Scouted marsh this weekend

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Bigburner
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Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby Bigburner » Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:27 am

Was going stir crazy on Sat. afternoon and made it out to The WMA across the road from my house. I hunted this area for the first time this year and killed a doe for meat. had some good buck sighting in the during the rut though ,but due to thick cover I couldn't find a hole to slip an arrow in. Recently I got a hold of the marsh bucks video and other than it giving me the impression that it was one of the best hunting videos ever made, it made me realize that I was missing a big chunk of the huntable land in my area. So off to work. I found a lot of beds. This area is pretty crazy in the fact that there are set permant box stands that are first come first serve for the public ,but you can set up mobile as long as you are 100 yards away from the permanants. I instantly realized that the does and the bucks situate themselves to these static locations. Based on the caliber of hunter that utilizes these areas due to their trash at the base of the stands (to my advantage) I'm going to give it a shot on my observations. A couple things stuck out right away. There was alot of ice on the transiton area between the phragmities and the woods so it was difucult to get around . It was the kind of ice that barely supports your wieght and then it breaks and you drop down a foot before hitting bottom. There were stands of small trees between the timber and the expanse of the marsh and I was under the impression in a lot of this situations there wasn't adaquate root mass to harbour a sizeable bed. so the beds I found were mostly right on the edge of the timber on little points with perfect escape routes. I figure they see/hear/smell the hunters going to the box stands and quitetly split.
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What surprised me was is that I came to an area that was not within site of one of the stands and saw that the tree cover in the phrag had slightly larger trees in it and I got a tingly feeling about it but still had some doubts. There were also some persimmon trees in the wooded buffer as well. No sooner did I take a closer look and it sounded like a trash truck was smashing through the ice. I felt the wind on the back of my neck and realized that whatever was in there didn't have line of site but it had a nose that worked really well and it had to big based on the conditions of the ice. I thought at first no way was there a buck it there. I proceeded to head toward the racket but I made a rookie move and forgot the hip waders. There was too much sign around though not to indicate otherwise.
The crashing came form about 50-75yards straight ahead in this picture
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I continued to cover some more ground before I left the area and found this guy. Rather would have found him at the end of a blood trail but Regardless if he was the buck with the good bedding preference maybe something just as good or better will be in that area next year.
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One thing I noticed is that I was in pretty close proximaty to Ag. Cut been field mostly and when I left the are I counted 30 or so does out feeding and one shed 1.5 yro buck. The stomach contents of this buck though was all grass from the small mowed meadows in the WMA. He wasn't traveling far in the late season. If he was camped out on the frozen marsh maybe he was conserving as much energy as possible?


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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby dan » Tue Feb 11, 2014 5:34 am

great day in the marsh!
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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby purebowhunting » Tue Feb 11, 2014 6:21 am

Heck of a day, thanks for sharing.

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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Tue Feb 11, 2014 6:37 am

That was an excellent scout... days like that will have you wanting to get right back out there and get after it again. Sounds like you found some valuable pieces of the puzzle... 8-)
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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby Dewey » Tue Feb 11, 2014 6:40 am

Great scout but finding the dead buck really sucks. Always hard seeing a good buck go to waste like that.

Good luck hunting that spot and hopefully another nice buck moves in.

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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Tue Feb 11, 2014 6:50 am

Great job BigB!

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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby Bigburner » Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:40 am

I'm a little unsure about hunting the spot in the second picture where I heard all the crashing. you have thick saplings then a mowed trail, a narrow timberline and then marsh and bedding all within 100-150yards of one another. I know I'll have more cover with the leaves on the trees early season. Do I risk going higher than the height of the prag and back off or hunt the edge just to the right or left of the main trail. I hunt with a saddle so I can use a tree for cover so it may help a little. We've had way above normal precip. and there is a possibilty that when its dry it might provide more of a stagging area in the bedding. The funny thing is that closer to the big water the marsh is tidal but its not in these spots. There is no way I could get in those small trees were the bed is. so I'd had to stick to the transition. Slow and quiet is the obvious choice getting in and setting up, but I don't want to risk being in the line of site. I guess I would answer my own question if I get the hip boots and find the exact spot of the bed and sit in it, but opinions and experience from some of you would be valuable.
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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby DEERSLAYER » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:46 am

Bigburner wrote:I'm a little unsure about hunting the spot in the second picture where I heard all the crashing. you have thick saplings then a mowed trail, a narrow timberline and then marsh and bedding all within 100-150yards of one another. I know I'll have more cover with the leaves on the trees early season. Do I risk going higher than the height of the prag and back off or hunt the edge just to the right or left of the main trail. I hunt with a saddle so I can use a tree for cover so it may help a little. We've had way above normal precip. and there is a possibilty that when its dry it might provide more of a stagging area in the bedding. The funny thing is that closer to the big water the marsh is tidal but its not in these spots. There is no way I could get in those small trees were the bed is. so I'd had to stick to the transition. Slow and quiet is the obvious choice getting in and setting up, but I don't want to risk being in the line of site. I guess I would answer my own question if I get the hip boots and find the exact spot of the bed and sit in it, but opinions and experience from some of you would be valuable.

Yes, you just answered your own question. When the water goes down to hunting season levels you may also find beds that are covered with water now.

Looks like an awesome day in the marsh to me!
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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby BigHunt » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:54 am

8-)
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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby PK_ » Tue Feb 11, 2014 1:03 pm

lovin' this…

Cannot wait to scout!
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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby Wlog » Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:03 pm

Great job. Those state built stands are nice because probably 9 out of 10 guys go right to those stands for the convenience, so it limits having to scout for hunter sign to an extent and helps you determine what the deer do to avoid them.

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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:24 am

Wlog wrote:Great job. Those state built stands are nice because probably 9 out of 10 guys go right to those stands for the convenience, so it limits having to scout for hunter sign to an extent and helps you determine what the deer do to avoid them.

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Good post. Everyone around my hunting area uses bait... and while it can influence deer travel, it sure points out to me where the other guys are hunting / accessing the area (during offseason scouting, there are bare spots on the ground where the bait piles were located near a stand tree or ground blind). They hunt the same stands over and over, which allows me to pattern the hunters very well. The locations and access / egress trails I hunt are planned around these obvious hunting stations.
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Re: Scouted marsh this weekend

Unread postby oldrank » Wed Feb 12, 2014 1:01 pm

Sounds like a great day in the woods to me !!

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