Bottomland hunters, need your advice

[colic]

So I'm a green horn to these bottomlands and I've come across some thick sign. I didn't get out early enough to hunt and I'm still trying to put together a resume, so I decided to do a quick scout. I've never seen trails like this. It's got me second guessing that it's hogs doing this. But the big scrape (the larger of the blue dots in the setup picture) is obviously deer as the branches have been nipped. The creek is pretty deep (6+ft in some spots) but I believe they can get across without having to swim.

So here is the setup:



Here are the beaten trails that lead to the creek. I found fresh scat on the first one, which is the south western most trail:



This next picture should be tilted a little, as you can't tell that these creek entrances are around 75 degrees, sharp. I can't see a deer doing this every day, cause I sure as frig wouldn't. But that's why I'm asking you guys what you think.



This is the bigger of the scrapes (quite large, in my experience). It's beat down real good, fresh sign, nipped branches, etc.


Here is the western most trail on the smaller CRP field.


So, is some of this hogs? Do hogs swim? I've seen hogs further up on the main river, on WMA, but not down here before. I noticed quite a number of stalks of corn were dragged over to where the trail meets the creek. Do deer do this?
How should I best approach this?
My thought it is there is no way I'm getting a mature deer in this set up. I can't get to his bed (unless he is on the other side of the creek?) and there is no way he is stepping foot down there during shooting hours, barring maybe some hormonal influence. Plus it's starting to get cold here (Tennessee) and I don't think they'll be using the creek very much longer.
I've scouted a quite a bit of this bottomland and I can't find beds, ever. I have to come off it and get into some type of elevation to find beds.

Is this just a freezer filler location?

[Ghost Hunter]

Can you post a picture of some tracks. That looks hog sign to me. But, you might have a mixture there too.

[jbone23]

What did the scat look like? Hogs def will swim look for mud on the trees going along the trails def will tell you its hogs.

[colic]

Sadly I didn't get pictures of the tracks. I think you are probably right that it's a mix. Maybe the deer are coming off the north ridge across the road and the hogs are coming from the creek.

The scat was pellets, still green. Looked more like deer; round, ovate.

[Jonny]

All the bottoms I hunt have trails like that from beavers. Deer tend to roam a bit more but really concentrate on crossings. Specifically where they are short and shallow.

[hunter10]

Maybe a stupid question but is there cattle in the area? Those look uncommon for common deer trails if that makes sense. Also by the looks of the trails you have found, I'm not sure mature bucks would be traveling those field edge trails during daylight unless the fields are standing corn

[colic]

There are no cattle that should have access to these fields. I don't think a cow could climb that embankment anyway. The entrances are really sharp, high, and skinny.

I thought they didn't look like deer trails either. The corn is still standing, it was never harvested.
The embankment entrances look like cloven feet have been climbing them. Maybe it's beaver and deer AND hog

[Wannabelikedan]

If you know you have hogs , I would definitely lean towards them. A small group (around a half dozen) can beat down a path like that in a short amount of time if they’re using an area routinely. Hogs are more water dependent than a deer. If you’re in the lowest of the low elevations and you have water, that’s where your hogs will be. Look for wallows in the creek and mud at the base of trees nearby.

[pewpewpew]

That skinny path looks like beaver. It can throw you off when you find deer tracks in the beaver trail.

[colic]

I think you guys saying beaver are right. Look at this link:
https://cropwatch.unl.edu/identifying-wildlife-damage-corn-unl-cropwatch-sept-7-2012

They say specifically that beaver pull the corn to the water. I was pretty sure deer weren't dragging it, but beavers never even entered my mind!

Learn something every day, I love it. This is my first year hunting near water like this. It's fun getting to know it. Thanks for you guys help

[Redman232]

The trails are definitely from beavers, doesn't mean deer wont use them. If there were enough hogs on the property to beat in a trail like that, you definitely see other sign from them.