The area I hunt is farm field and plenty of bush along a river and creeks that branch off the main river.

Can I capitalize on the river? Do deer bed down near? Can I find trails nearby?

Yes you can hunt deer by a river a friend of mine hunt just down the road from me and he and his friends always take some nice bucks.H e tells me there are trails running along the river and has some trail crossing the river .T he woods he hunts in is about 30 acers .When the guns start going off they head there .

Absolutely. A river is always good. The river usually always provides good cover, water, and food.

i hear islands that are in the river are great places to look.

My brother and I have hunted along the river that runs through our county. We would drop off a vehicle several miles down stream, return to the canoe, and hunt the islands and brush lots as we floated down. One man would drop off at the head of an island, other proceed to downstream end with the canoe, waiting as the first did slow still hunt toward him.

Through the years, have had great success, especially late in the seasom.

Yes rivers are very good hunting areas, but be concientious of the landowner. Around here the islands are owned by someone so it is trespassing if you get out of your floating device and step on the bank of the river (even on the island) The only way for someone to legally take a deer here is to shoot it in the water. I actually equate river floaters in my area with road hunters. If you are floating a stetch of river that goes through public property or you hve permission to hunt all of the surrounding properties I am fine with it. We just have too many people that float the river, shoot at everything and leave wounded and dead animals because they won't follow up a bad shot because they will be trespassing. I could go on as this subject really has me and my neighbors really riled up!!

Well we own land along a river and since it is frozen over in rifle season, I wanted to try hunting it during early season with bow. By this either using a canoe or using the river's edge to find deer in general.

I'm more than willing to come up there next year and help out.

I hunt the river anytime that I can. Largest Bucks that I have ever taken were taken within 100yds of the river.

So do you guys recommend I hunt by canoe, or should I walk the river's edge looking for trails? Do they bed down near the rivers or just come there to drink at a certain time of day?