Hotburn76

Posted this in the Bowhunting forum but that place has so much action stuff gets burried to easy, so you guys give me your scoop on it!

Sorry if this ends up long but hope you guys can help! I need some advise on this property. I have never hunted thick stuff or a swamp for that matter, all my hunting has been on the edge of a woods by a field and walk in out with no problems. I posted some pics below of what it looks like along with an aerial photo of it marked up with what I know. The front half is all swamp with some sign but not much. The "swamp pic" is were the main trail starts and goes around the little ponds and then to the left over to the ditch and out to a tree line. This is thirty five acres and I can only hunt from the RR tracks to the ditch and then all the way to the bottom where it ends in another field. Over on the "ditch pic" is where the main trail comes in and starts. But you can not tell in the pic but on the other side of that ditch pic is thick stuff, like a high wall of thorns and briar's, the only way I went in was hunched up and made all kinds of noise on the deer trail. The swamp pic is kinda clear, but no good trees to set up a stand in and plus its all wet and I get wet or start to sink in when I try to walk in it! I set up a ground blind by the RR tracks and used a machete to make a path from the RR tracks to the blind. This whole area is just thick and impossible to get into with out sounding like a freight train coming in and I know the deer would hear me.

My main question is I want to hunt were the main trail pic is. The pic does not do it justice, but on the other side of that ditch is a trial that looks like a highway a foot wide and solid tracks, rubs every were. Have any of you guys used a tripod stand and does it work setting out in the open high up? I was thinking about setting up one or a ground blind but to do it I would have to cut a trail into the thick stuff so I can get in with out a lot of noise. If I do cut a trail in the thick stuff will deer see it and think somethings up and stay away for a while? Also if I cut a trail and set up a ground blind in the thick stuff would this be a mistake since it is to late in the season? I did not find this property until a week or so ago so I may be to late to do to much this year. Any advise is appreciated, thanks!



Swamp pic



Small trail pic



Main entry trail pic where I would like to set up!



EDIT: Left out a pic and mixed them up, sorry!

BuddyBo

Your map doesn't show where north is, but I hope your ground blind is upwind of the trail and you can cut a walk in path from upwind and behind blind. I think it's too late in the season for a tripod this yearbut next year, lookout! Also for next year, plant a very small food plot in the middle of a cleared out area and have a stand there. It will be a golden honey hole full of deer. This year, hunt that ground blind and just enjoy a new location that has some different scenery and keep saying, "I won't see a buck. I won't see a buck." And then he'll step out into your view just for spite. LOL.
BBO

Dnk

Jason, donno what to tell you but when they are under pressure they will make the swamp home, if they get wouded they probably will hide there as well. I am guessing that they travel the edges as well. I would set up at the lower left corner on the other side of the fence row assuming you're wind doesn't give you away. The prevailing wind is ususally from the NW. How is your aerial photo oriented? Where is the food? Their basic needs are food and water so you can use this for your primary assumptions of where to hunt.
I really try to say out of the deer's bed room for fear of them looking for another home. Its like goose hunting, if you shoot at the pond they sleep in they're gone in a few days.
Can or do you bait Jason?

swamp rooster

Love those swamps it looks really good,you need to be able to see out across the swamp ,even if you have to take hip boots and wade out and climb any tree that offers a good vantage point,it may not be a perfect tree but you can find one.The deer usually bed in swamps on high spots during the day [big bucks] about dark thirty start heading out to the fields to feed.Atleast thats been my oppinion all my days huntin swamps.As far as cutting trails and getting in there tight ,right now you might bust a good buck out and he want mess around with that stuff ..Just need to hunt the edges and slip in easy without much noise and maybe about dark youll here that big paw paw coming through the water and thats awsome,but hunting around water make sure to take a good killing shot dont want to lose one. good luck.

Rebel Hog

Jason my friend, what you are showing us is a Marsh. This is a FL swamp!





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Hotburn76

Don, the pic is set with the top being north. On the east is the RR tracks and along the whole edge I could not find any trails coming out going to the RR tracks, the area is low and the tracks sit up really high so I assume the deer do not like crossing them. On the south is a field and you can see it in the pic, but there is only a few tracks in it and no real obvious trails either. Now on the ditch side is were the to major trails come out with the one in the bottom corner being the main one with the most use. Directly to the west is a nice tree line and I think that is where the deer are heading to when they use that trail. But the whole west side of the ditch is full of deer tracks between the two entry trails, The feild beside the ditch is a potato field and when I first seen the potatos I thought jackpot! but looked and looked with out finding a potato that looked like it had been chewed on. The feild is full of small potatos that must of fell out of the harvester when they were collecting them. But here is the problem, the land owner owns the ditch, but no land past it at all. I have never been one to tresspass so I am not interested in hunting out side the ditch, but I couldn't because there is no cover at all past the ditch. I just would like to set up a blind or maybe a tripod but felt its to late and like you say if I set up in there bedroom they would be sure to notice. I have no problem with baiting. I have a stump feeder at my other spot by the game cam and it was hit hard in the spring but now that the crops are coming off they have all the food they want.

Reb, sorry for the wrong name, but marsh does sound more correct. Another thing that makes it worse is it's been raing alot around here lately so the little ground I can walk on is dissapearing. Thanks for the replys so far guys and any more thoughts Don?

Dnk

Check out the map, the circles represent the area's I would be interested in. I would enter in the direction of the lines going to them. The aerial photos are good but need better resolution to say these things to be 100% sure. Can you get over lapping photos and use stereo scopes? They give you 3d vision. We used to use them in foresty and you can even estimate tree height pretty accurately. With overlapping photos and stereo scopes we could predict the furture board feet produced buy a stand of trees.

Hotburn76

I like your ideas Don and that is the spots I like also I really like the bottom corner and the swamp pic one. The pics don't do it justice but you can see alot of the small trees in the pic but where there is not small trees is some of the nastiest brush Ihave ever seen. If I was to hunt the top two spots It will require a machete or walking on the deer trail and making alot of noise. The spot were I have my ground blind is about the clearest spot on the whole area, and is why I set up there. I can walk down the tracks and then only had to cut a path in the thicket a short ways to get to blind. You asked about size and the owner told me it is 35 acres I think and I would say it is a half to three quarters of a mile long and maybe 200 yards wide total at the back. One thing that makes this spot great too is that there is a 200 acer preserve to the north west that from what I hear is chucked clear full of deer and ducks so I think this is the tip of the iceberg if ya know what I mean. When I go back out I am going to try and examine the corner spot again and see if I cant find something that I can set up, but again I know its late so I don't want to push them away. I like what you said about snow. I have never hunted the snow but have always wanted to. Around here there is not much until late Dec or Jan and by then I am always done, but this year plan on holding out for this spot so maybe I will get to use it this year. Thanks to the both of ya for your advise on this spot.