do deer like thick swamps
#12
There's a guy on here, I'm not sure what his screen name is that made a DVD about hunting swamp, public land swamps just as well. I've heard from numerous people that the DVD helped them kill some big swamp bucks. Hopefully he'll chime in here, Dan is his name.
The best thing to do is find the thickest area with a little bit of highland in it and set up there. I've never hunted swamps but have a pair of waders just in case I need them to hunt. You'd be surprised how many people won't cross a creek to hunt and those are the spots the deer know they are safe.
The best thing to do is find the thickest area with a little bit of highland in it and set up there. I've never hunted swamps but have a pair of waders just in case I need them to hunt. You'd be surprised how many people won't cross a creek to hunt and those are the spots the deer know they are safe.
Check out huntingbeast.com they have a "marsh bucks" DVD that will help greatly in scouting these types of areas. I credit Dan Infalt and his hunting DVD's with this buck I killed in a public marsh last year, using his tactics.
Good luck! Infalt is the real deal when it comes to hunting pressured whitetails on public or private land.
#13
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 320
I love swamps. The great thing about them is that if you find a bit of high ground in the middle, there are often deer there because most hunters seem to be too lazy to work there way into the swamp...means the deer use it as a sanctuary when they're getting pressured elsewhere. The trick is finding a good way in (or hunt a trail leading into/out of it).
#14
Deer love thick swamps, the thicker the better for them. I had a good hunting stand down in a swamp and it was great, until a flood destroyed all the thick cover and cane thickets. Now it's thickened back up the last several years and they're back in there again.
#15
Ask my youngest son (now 12) how much our swamp bothers the deer!
Sunset in my swamp one afternoon in November.
The 2 bucks my youngest son took lastyear in our west TN swamp.
For 20+ years I hunted LARGE ag-fields and open woods in several states. Then 2 years ago I bought a 625acre place in west TN of which 550acres of that is a hardwood swamp that lies along a river and usually floods in late winter/spring. It was select cut the previous 2 years before I bought it and is THICK THICK THICK but boy is it eat up with deer! With the exception of the river proper/bottom itself, the area is surrounded with large, open ag-fields with very thin strips of woods. I'm not kidding when I say that as the season goes on, the food supply gets shorter in the area and the guns go off more frequent our swamp gets MORE deer in it with each passing day. That 2nd 8pt my son killed was killed the last weekend of season (1st wknd in January).
Updated arial maps and good bottlenecks are your friend!!!
HL
ps
Ditch the 4wheelers and get a good canoe or a small boat with a trolling motor to go in "super silent" and they usually don't expect trouble via water!
Sunset in my swamp one afternoon in November.
The 2 bucks my youngest son took lastyear in our west TN swamp.
For 20+ years I hunted LARGE ag-fields and open woods in several states. Then 2 years ago I bought a 625acre place in west TN of which 550acres of that is a hardwood swamp that lies along a river and usually floods in late winter/spring. It was select cut the previous 2 years before I bought it and is THICK THICK THICK but boy is it eat up with deer! With the exception of the river proper/bottom itself, the area is surrounded with large, open ag-fields with very thin strips of woods. I'm not kidding when I say that as the season goes on, the food supply gets shorter in the area and the guns go off more frequent our swamp gets MORE deer in it with each passing day. That 2nd 8pt my son killed was killed the last weekend of season (1st wknd in January).
Updated arial maps and good bottlenecks are your friend!!!
HL
ps
Ditch the 4wheelers and get a good canoe or a small boat with a trolling motor to go in "super silent" and they usually don't expect trouble via water!