atothec

First post, First year deer hunting!
I own a bit of forest land that turns to swamp at the back.
I have read about monster bucks coming to these swamps under pressure. Anybody got any tips?
I just bought a climber stand, perfect for getting high in the few tall pines at the border of the swamp.
What I don't know is whether I should face the swamp, forest edge, or setup in one of the transition points. I have some pics in my gallery:

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/memb...ama-swamp.html

Please tell me which one you would set up on and why.
Thanks for any help,
Andrew

DeppedyDogg

I'd be very interested in Tree Island and what moves in and out of there.

Anything that provides cover like that is bound to produce some good deer.

Get your stand out away from the open areas. Get into some cover of your own. Deer look up!

Place your stand to look over ingress/egress routes into and out of heavy cover.

atothec

Thanks. Tree island is where I took the higher up shots.
Managed to climb the largest tree but didn't see anything except some ducks that day.
Should I be aiming to get them in the cat tails or do they try to stay dry in the pines and oaks?
I've read that they will come out of the swamp and walk the "treelines" on the edge looking for funnels going into the woods.
I've also spooked some and heard the deer splash though the swamp. Seems like if I was high enough and covered multiple funnels eventually one something would come out under pressure..
I'll be out there again tomorrow morning around 3 and sit until I'm sore.

Thanks for any info

bookfire1238

thanks dude. I have Everrit now

Mojotex

Looks like a promising place, especially if there are acorn bearing hard woods along the edges of that bottom.

I'd take the time to make a thorough scouting of the entire area, looking specifically for trails ... old and new. The new trails, obviously, will be tracked up. The older ones may as well ...but the older ones will show up as depressions more or less, sort of like grassed over cow trails through pastures. The older trails usually will have 1-2-3 year old rubs. These are good places to keep an eye on for sure.

Hopefully you can find some fresh scrapes and rubs, though through out most of north Alabama the peak of the does' estrus is about gone now.

For sure you need to play the wind in your set up. Just because you can get up 20-30 feet does not mean that deer cannot pick up your scent. The direction that you go into and out of your stand can be just as important. You can have the perfect set-up, and then by choosing the wrong route in you can blow out anything bedded or feeding close by as you ease in.

I suspect that the deer will be cruising the edge of that wet area rather than crossing it as a rule. However they will definitly use it as an escape route. If not too deep or have too mushy a bottom ( if there are dry areas in there), there could be a bedding spots in there.

Preaching time now .... You may already have this as a habit. Hope so. If not, always use a quality safety harness when you climb. I have personally dealt with the results of both a brother and a good friend not using one and believe me I do not want to go through that again. Neither were killed or permanently paralyzed, but both suffered serious and life threatening injuries that required months and months ot get over. And personally, I'd avoid that "wooden" stand that is in the group of trees like the plague. Even if new and sturdy, these sort of stands take a structural beating during windy conditions because the trees twist and sway ... and nails/screws can pull out of a green tree in heart beat.

Good luck. Heck if you don't have any luck on deer, this looks like a heck of a wood duck hole !

atothec

Thanks for the replies guys!

Here's how my Saturday morning went..
I woke up, got dressed, and headed to the swamp. My stand was already at the tree from the night before. I borrowed a seat harness and some climbing gear from work, I didn't really think I needed it.. but we'll get to that later..
I walk the familiar woods, then get to the swamp. It was about 25 degrees so the water had a layer of ice. I get to my stand and set everything up, things are a little different in the dark. I get situated, strapped in, and start climbing. I figure I got about 30ft up or so, with "tree island" to the far left of my peripheral and the treeline to the right as my main shooting area.
I've only "hunted" this year maybe 3 or 4 times sitting in those ghetto treehouse treestands made of 2x4s. I've seen about 10 deer this year, and a friend shot a young 5pt buck from that stand. I had a giant doe in front of me but it was too dark for my scope, and I let a spotted doe walk out of my sights.
I sat up high and got situated for a day long hunt. I had a coke and a sandwich packed up for later, and tried to get adjusted before I needed to stay quiet. Somehow I moved wrong and dropped the coke can, I'm not scared of heights but it was a little discouraging watching it fall. I decided to adjust my foot platform for a little more stability. I hooked my feet in the straps tight and tried to bring the platform up closer to the seat platform. The thing acted like it wanted to drop as easily as the can did. I recomposed but my adrenaline was pumping. I had a lanyard on the bottom platform and a safety strap, but the thought of actually getting down using just the top platform and safety lanyard was a real wake-up call.
Anyway I managed to regain composure and set in for the hunt.
The sun rose, birds and squirrels kept moving the cat tails, and then I started hearing some deer in the woods moving around. Finally I saw a decent size doe come out and drink from the "pond", about 50 yards or so off. I sighted her in and pulled. Guess where she took off to? Tree island of course! I had an opportunity and took another shot while she was running. I decided to end the hunt and track because I didn't hear any splashing after she got to the island.
I -safely- descended my tree, took off through the cat tails, and found the doe. I thought her to be a bit small and was a little disappointed for my first kill, until we got to the processor and it was the largest of 7 deer there.
I can say that dragging the deer out of the swamp was one of the hardest workouts I've had in awhile. the shot was through the lung/ heart, and it bloated up, so the knee-high water was easy enough, but the cat tails and thick was pretty difficult.
What I did notice was that every time a shot was fired from within the woods, there was a little activity toward my end of the swamp.
It is an ordeal but the swamp seems to be like a great place for end of the season high pressure hunting.
I do kick myself for not waiting longer for the monster swamp buck, but I do anticipate the food on my table when it gets back from the processor.

Here's the doe dressed and loaded up, you can see the killshot around the lung.

atothec

Oh and for the wood ducks- I saw probably 5 V's that morning, and heard plenty of calls. I plan to try my hand at duck hunting, also a first for me.

Mojotex

Nice doe ! Good table fare.

bubbinator

The "edges" are good producers. A young teen hunter on a lease I had yrs ago bagged a 150 class 12pt walking the treeline edge of a tall pine stand(he was high in a pine 5 yds inside) and a marshy cutover during the rut mid day. +1 on the tree stand safety-I had a climber bottom drop under me (thank God I followd directions and put the safety rope from top to bottom. This was before all the fancy stuff in stores today. I had a hank of MilSpec Rappeling rope 50' long on my climber. Once on tree it was looped like lineman's rig, once settled in, it was secured between the top and bottom of the stand, tied to tree and excess was wrapped around tree several times for a very good back rest! Those "ghetto" stands you mentioned were my last time up a tree-16" 2x4 ladder w/12" wide steps too far apart, seat on top was 12"x12"! Sad thing was area was so good I went up anyway, got to top and with a sigle cut of limb stub as a hold, hooked my car seatbelt safety strap around the tree. As I attempted to rotate my fat but onto the "seat" I overbalanced and if not for the seatbelt would have fallen onto a cleared area of 8" brush "Punji Stakes " all around the tree base where small trees were cleared. It took me 3 hrs to recover and gather the courage to descend. Call me Ground Blind Hunter-Kemosabi!

atothec

Finally got my phone back.
Here's some pics of my first kill-






Is processing really worth $60?
My mouths waterin..