A mud-caked buck appears out of nowhere, his legs stained from the bog. The deer scans its surroundings. He’s an old deer that knows just how perilous life can be outside the security of his swamp. This kind of buck is hesitant to leave his bedding area during daylight.
Fortunately, he won’t have to. You get aggressive and set up just right for an afternoon hunt — a stand about 80 yards from his bed. When he appears broadside at 30 yards, you draw back, settle in, and send a good arrow straight through the vitals. The buck kicks his feet, churns mud, and slings debris skyward. He barrels through the swamp, but only makes it 50 yards.
Hunting old swamp bucks can be thrilling and effective — if you know how to do it.
Why Old Bucks Love Swamps (and Other Wetlands)
Mature bucks gravitate to swamps for the security they offer. When bucks reach 4.5 years and older, they find places to avoid hunters. In many instances, swamps are the best of these hideouts.
Hunters can’t access swamps easily, though. In order to hunt swamps properly, you’ll need good access points and often a small boat. At a minimum, you’ll need a pair of waders and a lot of grit.
Therein lies the reason why old deer love these areas: difficult access. When tough access keeps most hunters out, old bucks find homes where they can live in relative peace.
In the event hunters do attempt hunting these areas, bucks have great advantages. Often bucks choose spots where they are surrounded, or nearly surrounded, by water. Bucks use water as a barrier, think deep drainage ditches, creeks, streams, and rivers. These are waterways that hunters and other predators must cross to reach a buck bedding area. Accomplishing that without making noise (or getting upwind of bedded deer) can be nearly impossible.
Scout Ahead of Time
The nature of swamps makes it difficult (but not impossible) to scout your way into an area for a same-day hunt. Therefore, it’s best to scout ahead of time. Scouting in advance helps formulate game plans for targeting older deer. Use the post-season to find deer sign in these places. Focus on bedding cover, rubs, scrapes, and trails leading back into cover. Cattail marshes, flooded timber, creek bottoms, and river bottoms are all good places to investigate.
The ideal spots will have difficult access (which will keep other hunters out) but not impossible access. If you can’t access it at all without alerting deer, that spot might not be worth it. Spend your energy on the areas that appear to hold mature bucks but that also offer good enough access to slip into position.
Find the High Ground
Bucks will bed in high ground in and around swamps.
Photo by Honeycutt Creative
When hunting swamplands, it’s crucial to find high ground within wet areas — little islands of dry cover surrounded by water. Deer will travel through water, but they don’t live or bed in water. So dry spots within a marsh are where deer will bed and find sanctuary.
Use digital aerial and topo maps to find swamps. These tools can help you establish a high-odds game plan before even visiting the property. It’s even possible to pick out isolated bedding pockets and food sources that deer rely on. For example, in a sea of cattails, an island dry spot will likely have some tree cover around it.
Of course, whitetails are edge animals. They love edges, or transition lines, where different habitat types meet. In swamp country, that might be where swampy cattails butt up to high ground with timber on it. Regardless, they need higher ground to bed on and feed along.
Use Their Advantage Against Them
Whitetails are savvy. They know how to use the terrain to their advantage. Challenging terrain, such as swamps, help keep deer alive.
The good news is, a seasoned and well-prepared deer hunter can use these very strengths against old bucks. The concept is similar to using a just-off or fringe wind direction. The wind is mostly in the buck’s favor, giving the buck confidence to be there and move during daylight. Even so, it’s just off enough for hunters to capitalize on the buck’s movements.
Likewise, buck bedding areas in swamps are usually predictable since their dry-land options are limited. This allows you to know with a high degree of certainty where a deer might be on a given day. Furthermore, it allows you to walk into the hunt knowing what trails the buck is likely to take, what food source it will probably target, and more.
Hunting Mornings vs. Afternoons in Swamps
Use a boat to access the heart of a swamp.
Photo by Honeycutt Creative
With a plan prepped and ready, it’s time to hunt. With favorable weather and wind conditions, slip within striking distance of that deer and set up shop. But plan your morning and evening hunts differently.
For example, for morning hunts, set up along the primary travel route leading back to the swampland bed. Pick your spot based on the location of the bed, available dry ground, the buck’s expected line of travel, wind direction, and available access. Get into position two to three hours before daylight.
Remember, as bucks near their bedroom, they often circle downwind to check for danger. If the terrain doesn’t allow for this, the odds of them using the area are less likely. Then, catch the buck slipping back to bed as the new day dawns.
For afternoon hunts, back off slightly farther and set up shop along a route that exits the buck’s bedding spot and leads to a staging area or destination food source. Get as close as you can to the bedding area without spooking your target deer. If this is 50 to 75 yards, that’s great; your odds of seeing that deer skyrocket. If it’s 100 to 150 yards away, you might see the buck, but not necessarily kill him. As the stand-location-to-bedding-area distance increases, your odds begin declining.
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Hunting swamp bucks is fun and challenging. It requires hunters to be clever about their approaches and ultra stealthy. It takes scouting and patience, but when played properly, the swamp hunting game can result in the buck of a lifetime.
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