Late Season Marsh bedding

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First Sit
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Late Season Marsh bedding

Unread postby First Sit » Fri Jan 05, 2018 1:20 pm

First post! I will start by introducing myself I'm 29yrs old been hunting deer for 15 yrs and I've never owned, leased, and have only had a couple of private spots in that time frame that I gained access to however I no longer hunt those private areas. My last 5 yrs have been entirely public land which is where the bulk of my hunting has been anyways. With that said I hunt beast style as in put tons of time in scouting and I either hunt outa a pimped out gorilla climber or LW with sticks. Simply put I hunt heavily hunted public land that is in excess of 30 hunters per sq mi.

With that said scouting season is upon us! This is a fun time to dig into the areas we either couldnt go to learn more about how mature bucks use that area or search for that completely new area.

I'm starting to look for some late season spots for next season but waiting until just after season ends so I'm doing aerial scouting. None of us want to have a buck tag in late season but when you target heavily pressure mature bucks its gonna happen so spots need to be scouting for it. Of course I have late season spots but always looking for more or better ones. I always enjoy talking with other hunters about techniques it gives me insight to things I might have overlooked or just a new perspective. I think once we think we know everything the whitetails will prove you wrong.

For you other beast hunters that pursue whitetails in marsh areas how do you target bucks in marshes in late season. Typically snow pack will sometimes flatten some brush down, with water now frozen more hunters might traffic into the marsh. Some bucks have either moved off of located early season beds or possibly been killed. What do you look for to hold mature bucks. I know deer can find browse on some cover in the marsh I've had mixed results hunting marshes in late season some areas seem to almost become void by mid dec others actually get better as deer get pushed into it from gun pressure. I got a couple areas I'm looking at I'm going to drive by the fields surrounding it at night with my binos deer should be easy to spot on a clear night with some moonlight thanks to the snow on the ground. Spot looks promising on the map! Once season ends I'm going to back track tracks from feeding areas. I filled the buck tag in Nov and don't want to bump any potential bucks outa safe areas during season mostly because I don't want them to get shot by someone else because I moved em! Do you guys feel that marshes tend to get better or worse later in season and what do you focus on cover types for late season areas. Do you find bucks still use the same beds all throughout the season in marsh areas?

One of my highest late season deer sightings area I hunt is tough because its not uncommon to have 20-30 does in a area the size of half a football field and maybe 1 or 2 bucks in it. They bed in buck brush/marsh grass where it has open water on the other side and feed in a strip of oaks right outside the bedding and the wind can be tricky. This spot is good all season though but seems to get more deer in it as season progresses especially after first few days of gun season. This area is also a primary scrape area. I've only seen two bucks in 2 years of hunting it over about 6 sits as I don't over hunt areas one was a solid 140" 10pt that I had a arrow deflect on a limb the other a mainframe 12pt that didn't offer a good shot and stayed about 50 yds out. I see tons of does but seems the little bucks avoid the area but does flock to it! Buck sightings in this area go way down though late in season latest buck I saw in this area was around end of Nov although I only have 2 sits in it later than that but I have 4 sits in end of oct to than and encountered 2 good bucks.


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Rob loper
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Re: Late Season Marsh bedding

Unread postby Rob loper » Tue Jan 09, 2018 12:55 am

Little bucks are very intimidated by large bucks and the little bucks are chased out of the best areas
From what dan has said on his dvds. The best bedding areas and beds are always for the best bucks and the subordinates will filter out into ghe other beds
Remember a mature buck is another animal compared to does and subordinate bucks good luck
Remember. Might not be much sign either in this area
But big boys use it if its the best bedding
First Sit
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Re: Late Season Marsh bedding

Unread postby First Sit » Tue Jan 09, 2018 2:20 am

I was thinking from my observations of the sign that little bucks avoid this area as most the sign posting seems to be mature bucks. Our season just ended yesterday so I'm going to get in there and scout and see if I see any big buck sign in the snow and try and see where they bed in late season. I'm wondering if they are only in this area in pre rut and rut but my hunch tells me they are still in there early and late in season as well it is the best cover around by far and one of the few areas that doesn't get a lot of hunting pressure in this area.

I typically save this area for the rut phases as well as several others near there and hunt other areas all together until then. Actually another guy hunts this area now too and I've noticed an impact in the movement since he over hunts it but he is predictable and I think I can use that to my advatage as the deer are most likely skirting through this narrow strip of cover just out of sight of where he hunts.
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Re: Late Season Marsh bedding

Unread postby UofLbowhunter » Thu Jan 11, 2018 5:20 am

Messing up a spot is one thing but you can never scout enough in or out of season( if you need the intel get it). It sounds like you are in a night time spot hunting the scrape, if its pressured the big bucks will not leave that bedding area far at all in day light. If you seen some buck in day light at those scrapes,consider it a fluke more than likely, i would be more to think they are bedded somewhere where they can smell that area from bedding a 100 yards or more than them hitting that scrape regularly in day light consistantly.

As far as the marsh bedding in late season if its froze chance are there they are not in there. Coyotes and other preditors can get in there on the frozen ice, but there are times they will bed in there too, especiallyif there not bothered and can access it with alot of problems. Its a kinda a crap shoot there in season scouting is about the only way to know details.

The guy you know hunting an area thats over hunting-Knowing hunting pressure is a big plus. The more more you scout the more you will see how deer react to hunters that hunt the same spot, on a piece of public i hunt, the locals hang ladder stands, when i scout i can follow trails that stay in the right spots, transitions, thickest cover, and such, you you see the deer veer off from normal routes to dodge these places. Its a advantage for you to know this it will help knowing exit trails from bedding.

One of the best thing you can do, if you want to hunt beast style, is forget what you know and learned before or what you thought you knew and rely on beast tactics only I noticed when i first try this i was trying to mix to much stuff i thought i knew with beast tactics it will kind of blurr your thinking. Its alot better to let the old way of thinking go. Good luck scouting!
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Re: Late Season Marsh bedding

Unread postby First Sit » Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:24 am

The scrapes in this area where my orignial spots were set up are in an already good area positioned between two bedding areas in a small strip of whiteoaks separating them about 5 yds wide. They had good security cover throughout the transition was on the outer edges of all three bedding areas, before the other guy hunted there seeing a mature buck if hunted right was good during rut phases actually 50% sits to opportunity rate. Once he showed up the bucks used that area at night.

I didn't really hunt it past two seasons because of that as I've got other public areas too that are good and was scouting out other sections and looking for new areas and didn't get around to this one until now.

Within the last 2 years I've learned more about why bucks bed where they do and started hunting just off winds. I have not done that in this spot yet! I really need to get in there and find all the beds bucks and does so I know my exact entrance and exit and exactly what wind I need to hunt.

This area holds a couple big bucks every year due to several issues making this spot hard to hunt, one the does bed scattered all around outside the prime buck bedding areas making it hard to get in tight to the bucks. Two, the deer at night are feeding litterally right outside the bedding on the whiteoaks they are not traveling far and bumping them is really easy with good escape in all directions. All 3 of the primary bedding areas in this spot have a small pond/lake boarding them on at least one side and access through those areas are the only route on just off winds but some areas are close to chest deep and its a mile just to the ponds no biggie just pack my waders I have 4 pairs! but thats not the biggest issue its the waterfowl hunters that commonly hunt on the edges near there.

Theres a blind litterally 50 yds from one of the bucks beds. I hunted a morning in 2013 in another area where some duck hunters ended up setting up about 150 yds away 100 yds of that was open water and I watched them shoot several ducks. I actually ended up shooting a mature buck that morning. That really showed me high pressure deer are smart and know how to move through areas people are and they are closer to hunters than hunters realize. The bucks in these 3 bedding areas have waterfowl hunters during season even in sept teal a couple times a week under 100 yds I think its hilarious but annoying at the same time for safety and worrying about other hunters seeing me there. Luckily they only hunt mornings so midday and on they are gone.


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