Deer hunting in a swamp?

DOEKILLER

Eight Pointer
I've always been partial to hunting swamps.. lots of cover good hardwoods with acorns... but is there anything in particular you look for when hanging a stand in the swamps? High ground? Up along the creek? I've always bumped deer when walking in... went into a stand I hung up a few weeks ago and bumped quite a few bedded down. Just wondering yalls take on hunting in swamp bottoms round here and how y'all do it!! Happy huntin!
 
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Downeast

Twelve Pointer
I like to do a slow stalk and spot hunt in the swamp near my home. It's a closed canopy with an open understory, with runs and ridges (highground) and scattered small thickets and blow downs. A day after a good rain during the rut is perfect. You can move quietly. The secret is "slow". I pick a tree about 50 yards away and slowly ease my way to it. If you think you are going slow, then slow down some more. Then I either lean against it or sit down for 10-20 minutes. Then I pick another tree and repeat the process. You are looking for movement. About half the time the deer will bust you but many times they will slowly move away or even try to circle downwind. Look out and focus at the furthest distance you can. Your eyes will naturally pick up any movement between you and your focal point. I look for does. If you see them moving then look as far behind them as you can for any movement. That is usually a buck. Bucks will follow the does. I've killed some nice deer that way and it is down right fun. Wear a face mask and camo gloves too. Sometimes I will put on my hip boots and slowly walk the shallow runs. Try not to make to many ripples (slow down!) and you can move very quietly in water. For some strange reason deer don't seem to consider you as much of a threat if you are in the water. Maybe they think you are a big wood duck or a big tree? You can only do this my yourself and in a swamp where there are few or no hunters.
 

ScottyB

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I just wish we had some swamp to hunt......that was good stuff when I was a kid....Dad would haul me in on his shoulders and set me on a stump.....froze my balls off back then, but nothing like watching the ripples come by before a deer creeps through
 

Blackwater

Twelve Pointer
They tend to bed down in reed beds along a creek or the slope leading down to the water. In areas where there's a lot of dog hunting they'll seek out a tussock surrounded by flatwater to bed down on. Every area will differ dependent on the food and cover available and the amount of pressure. When drifting for ducks I've found them bedded so close to the river that you could poke them in the butt with the paddle. My Dad did that once. We had come around a tight crook and surprised a doe bedded close to the water. Instead of running she laid her head down as low as possible, flattened her ears and tried to hide from us so Dad poked her with his paddle out of meanness.

Since most swamps that I hunt have little browse to speak of and most of the desirable food is found on higher ground the deer don't do much moving around, just mostly bedding down where it's cooler and they have a good escape route.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I love swamp hunting, grew up hunting the swamps of Florida with all the bugs, snakes and plants that attacked you at every turn.
I always tried to locate a pinchpoint of any kind, transition areas are best and most often the place where you can find daytime movement.
A lot of movement in the swamps more open areas are nighttime only, and you will waste a lot of time sitting on a major trail only to find that you never see anything. I hunted swamps before trail cameras, so they may be a great source of information seeing that they can be there 24 hours a day, and patterning animals in a swamp is a time consuming thing.
 

Familyman

Twelve Pointer
If rinkleroot is still frequenting the forum, you might ask for his input to supplement the other sage advice you've already received from these other members. That guy seemed to be able to kill big deer consistently and most all his stories began "I took my climber and headed into the swamp..." Anybody know if rinkleroot is still coming around? I haven't seen anything from him in quite a while.
 

DRS

Old Mossy Horns
I like to hunt the higher ground(shallower water) between ridges(hammocks). The deer usually cross the shallower spots when moving ridge to ridge.
 

TravisLH

Old Mossy Horns
Bucks love the swamps and despite the hurdles of getting in there your doing yourself a disservice if you dont


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Weekender

Twelve Pointer
I like to do a slow stalk and spot hunt in the swamp near my home. It's a closed canopy with an open understory, with runs and ridges (highground) and scattered small thickets and blow downs. A day after a good rain during the rut is perfect. You can move quietly. The secret is "slow". I pick a tree about 50 yards away and slowly ease my way to it. If you think you are going slow, then slow down some more. Then I either lean against it or sit down for 10-20 minutes. Then I pick another tree and repeat the process. You are looking for movement. About half the time the deer will bust you but many times they will slowly move away or even try to circle downwind. Look out and focus at the furthest distance you can. Your eyes will naturally pick up any movement between you and your focal point. I look for does. If you see them moving then look as far behind them as you can for any movement. That is usually a buck. Bucks will follow the does. I've killed some nice deer that way and it is down right fun. Wear a face mask and camo gloves too. Sometimes I will put on my hip boots and slowly walk the shallow runs. Try not to make to many ripples (slow down!) and you can move very quietly in water. For some strange reason deer don't seem to consider you as much of a threat if you are in the water. Maybe they think you are a big wood duck or a big tree? You can only do this my yourself and in a swamp where there are few or no hunters.

Fantastic advice right here.
 

Weekender

Twelve Pointer
I love swamp hunting, grew up hunting the swamps of Florida with all the bugs, snakes and plants that attacked you at every turn.
I always tried to locate a pinchpoint of any kind, transition areas are best and most often the place where you can find daytime movement.
A lot of movement in the swamps more open areas are nighttime only, and you will waste a lot of time sitting on a major trail only to find that you never see anything. I hunted swamps before trail cameras, so they may be a great source of information seeing that they can be there 24 hours a day, and patterning animals in a swamp is a time consuming thing.

Great advice here. Only thing I'd add is choose the tightest chokepoint between as many different edges as possible. The deer will indeed travel there. Tight, tight, tight.

"My" honeyhole for public land in SC has a "ridge" of white oaks, huge palm stands in a ridge only 20 yards away, a regrowing and lush cutover on another side and young pines all a bit behind the palm stands in a humongous horseshoe shaped pine plantation.

If the wind is right for your set up along the drainage lowpoints, its just a matter of sitting tight AND moving slower than a turtle when you relocate.

That white oak ridge goes on for 100 yards in the woods and the same habitat continues. It's a deer and pig travel zone the entire season. Slow movements could easily put game in view before they ever know you're there, if the wind's in your favor.
 
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DOEKILLER

Eight Pointer
I love swamp hunting, grew up hunting the swamps of Florida with all the bugs, snakes and plants that attacked you at every turn.
I always tried to locate a pinchpoint of any kind, transition areas are best and most often the place where you can find daytime movement.
A lot of movement in the swamps more open areas are nighttime only, and you will waste a lot of time sitting on a major trail only to find that you never see anything. I hunted swamps before trail cameras, so they may be a great source of information seeing that they can be there 24 hours a day, and patterning animals in a swamp is a time consuming thing.

Only problem I have with finding a choke point in the swamp I hunt is it's almost impenetrable here in eastern nc. The location that I set my stand is about 50 yards in the hardwood bottom in a little clearing that's maybe 60 yards or so in diameter where you can actually achieve a shot. The rest of the undergrowth throughout the swamp is extremely tough to move through. I've only seen one deer here in early bow season about 2 years ago... granted I've hunted it only about 10 times or so in the last two years so that could be an issue. I'm just having trouble finding any sort of trails choke points etc because it's extremely thick... so deer tend to stray away from open areas in a swamp ?
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Only problem I have with finding a choke point in the swamp I hunt is it's almost impenetrable here in eastern nc. The location that I set my stand is about 50 yards in the hardwood bottom in a little clearing that's maybe 60 yards or so in diameter where you can actually achieve a shot. The rest of the undergrowth throughout the swamp is extremely tough to move through. I've only seen one deer here in early bow season about 2 years ago... granted I've hunted it only about 10 times or so in the last two years so that could be an issue. I'm just having trouble finding any sort of trails choke points etc because it's extremely thick... so deer tend to stray away from open areas in a swamp ?
Absolutely. They will feed around thr edges of small clearings because it gets enough sun to grow browse.
If I wasn't seeing deer regularly, I'd move to somewhere else. That's where a game camera could really help with your choices.
 

Gilly

Ten Pointer
Order Dan Infalts Swamp Bedding DVD! Go on youtube and watch his videos. He has opened my eyes to a whole different perspective on hunting. Im heading up to hunt some cedar swamps in Northern Wisconsin from the 5th through the 12th of November. Looking forward to implementing some of the tactics Ive learned from him.
 

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
I hunted the cedar swamps in northern Wisconsin for 6 years

Miss those woods but what I get for marrying a southern girl!
 

Longrifle

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
For most of the 35 years I hunted Florida if my feet weren't wet I wasn't hunting. I really like slipping through standing water about 20-30 yards off the high ground, deer rarely pay attention if you're stealthy and slow. And too, keep an eye on small tussocks sticking out of the water away from dry land, I've seen quite a few deer slip out of cover onto one and curl around a small brushy tree....
 

jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I always looked for water that was too deep for dogs to go thru. Rinkle root hunted up there in the same area of Northampton that I did. Swamp country . If there is dog hunting going on nearby the biggest bucks will go to the deep water. My brothers 12 was killed along the edge of the swamp in the same place that Doc Glover killed his which is in the NC record book.
 
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Order Dan Infalts Swamp Bedding DVD! Go on youtube and watch his videos. He has opened my eyes to a whole different perspective on hunting. Im heading up to hunt some cedar swamps in Northern Wisconsin from the 5th through the 12th of November. Looking forward to implementing some of the tactics Ive learned from him.
He's the killer of all killers

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Familyman

Twelve Pointer
Where's WrinkleRoot?

I asked about rinkleroot too...but nobody has commented on his whereabouts so far. I guess nobody knows. I did a search to see when he had last posted but it didn't recognize his handle. Seems it has been inactivated or something.
 

bmpiland

Button Buck
I asked about rinkleroot too...but nobody has commented on his whereabouts so far. I guess nobody knows. I did a search to see when he had last posted but it didn't recognize his handle. Seems it has been inactivated or something.
That's my dad! I'm trying to find people he spoke with up here. He has been battling pancreatic cancer for the past two years. His login to the site is not working so I created an account to find them for him!
 

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
That's my dad! I'm trying to find people he spoke with up here. He has been battling pancreatic cancer for the past two years. His login to the site is not working so I created an account to find them for him!

Sorry to hear it....tell him we will be praying for him.

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Familyman

Twelve Pointer
That's my dad! I'm trying to find people he spoke with up here. He has been battling pancreatic cancer for the past two years. His login to the site is not working so I created an account to find them for him!
Great to hear from you regarding your dad. I hate to hear of his health challenge, but I appreciate getting the update. "rinkleroot" had become somewhat famous on this forum for his big buck successes, the stories about which usually began "I took my climber and went into the swamp....". His collection of mounts was impressive, to say the least. I always enjoyed reading his stories.

A while back he just up and disappeared from the forum, and nobody seemed to know what became of him. I honestly can't say that I actually know your dad...but I definitely followed him on this forum, and very much enjoyed reading his input. If you would, please pass along my sentiments about him, and keep us posted on his condition. Best wishes for him.
 

ABBD

Ten Pointer
Contributor
That's my dad! I'm trying to find people he spoke with up here. He has been battling pancreatic cancer for the past two years. His login to the site is not working so I created an account to find them for him!

Never spoke with him.. or otherwise knew him. I did follow his post back in the day and appreciated his insight. He has killed some brutes over the years! Prayers sent for you and the family.
 

bmpiland

Button Buck
Thank you! He is unable to log in on the site and so he asked me to reach out. His deer room is my old bedroom and it has deer heads mounted one above another all around the walls! I'm going to see if I can get him to post this weekend when I go by there to take them some things. I can't wait to show him all of the people that have replied already.
 

calhoon

Six Pointer
Sorry to hear about rinkleroot. Enjoyed his deer stories and seeing his trophy's. He will be in my prayers. Hoping the best for him and the family as y'all go thru these difficult times.
 
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