deep south swamps

[BTaylor]

Trail heading into one of the pinch points.


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[BTaylor]

View from the ditch towards the slough


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[BTaylor]

In the slough


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[BTaylor]

Opposite side of the big slough where it pinches with a little ridge and a second smaller slough. Different deer but still pretty good track for down here.


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[BTaylor]

A different pinch spot. Mix of deer and hogs going through this spot but pretty easy to know when you at where they like to walk.


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[mschultz373]

Thanks for these tips and pics!

we went back out yesterday and were unable to get out into the cypress area (in OP, far area C) due to it being so wet. We were miserable without waders! We did find a couple little higher (inches higher) dry spots on the way out though that had beds. Unfortunately the GIS data for Louisiana contours to 2’ so these areas still don’t get captured… you’d simply have to wander and look for them.

In a different area, we found a tall, slender ridge in between two canals that we accessed by canoe that seems promising. Water oaks and live oaks grow on it and it’s dense.The surrounding terrain is almost all marsh for 300 yards. I put a cam up and am waiting.

The only open question would be if deer will cross the narrower canal to the east - the canal to the west would be impassable for them. Otherwise they could simply walk down the mile strip between the canals. Given the oaks, I’m patiently waiting: there’s no telling how different the terrain will be and how the deer will move once the weather cools off!

 

[Weldabeast]

Where I'm at a majority of the wma have coastal creeks and canals....the banks will be high on either side from the tides and it is a really overlooked area that can be real good. Cedars grow up on the tops of the dunes and bucks like to bed in the shade of the tree up on elevated up on top of the dunes

Maybe @Capttickle will elaborate more but he found an area that sounds almost exactly the same kinda scenario u describing. I haven't seen in person but he shared topo/aerial photos and his descriptions and u can't tell there is an edge there at all but he said there was a 20-30 wide strip of high ground on either bank that was full of deer and turkey sign.

It's a gamble with the hurricanes to count on spots like that but if the storms haven't been bad that year it's good to know those areas to revisit during season to see if it's flooded or not. I've been burned focusing on low areas only to not be able to hunt them at all because of water level

 

[dalton916]

Thanks for these tips and pics!

we went back out yesterday and were unable to get out into the cypress area (in OP, far area C) due to it being so wet. We were miserable without waders! We did find a couple little higher (inches higher) dry spots on the way out though that had beds. Unfortunately the GIS data for Louisiana contours to 2’ so these areas still don’t get captured… you’d simply have to wander and look for them.

In a different area, we found a tall, slender ridge in between two canals that we accessed by canoe that seems promising. Water oaks and live oaks grow on it and it’s dense.The surrounding terrain is almost all marsh for 300 yards. I put a cam up and am waiting.

The only open question would be if deer will cross the narrower canal to the east - the canal to the west would be impassable for them. Otherwise they could simply walk down the mile strip between the canals. Given the oaks, I’m patiently waiting: there’s no telling how different the terrain will be and how the deer will move once the weather cools off!

That water is the best contour line there is, get back in there and map it. Walk the edge and lay a track. It’s influenced by a body of water that has a nearby gage save it to favorites and make a note of the level.

If not, track an edge of the water to a place that easily visible from the road and take a picture. Note that the level in the picture correlates to the lines you laid down. Now you have a reference.

Eventually you’ll get it mapped at various levels and you’ll know what the water is doing at any given time in there. Trust me, the deer know.

 

[dalton916]

The spot below is a perfect example. If you pull up any available topo maps for this area you won’t find a single contour line in any of the screenshots or pics, I know, I’ve looked. It’s also a perfect example of you don’t always have to go a long ways in. This spot sits at the intersection of two roads, but it’s overlooked because of that and it has everything you want.

Zooming in to the money spot….

This is a rifle hunt so I can set up on small lanes that let me see the travel route from a distance…..

My rappel line being used for extraction across a drain….

I don’t hang cameras in there and I only went in to scout to verify what I was seeing on the maps you see above. In fact I haven’t been in there other than to hunt in years. I know the deer want to be there and I know how they’re going to use it because of all the scouting and mapping I’ve done in other areas like it.

 

[mschultz373]

yeah that spot looks excellent. looks a lot like some public swamps we have nearby!

this is an aerial of the two canal area. the forested ridge is about 30 yards across and several feet higher than the marsh ground on its eastern flank.
my hesitation is that we did not see tons of deer sign on the small area we scouted. i intend to go back, though, to get a fuller measure of it.

 

[mschultz373]

I hate to come back and report - after a month up, nothings come across the camera. I think I made a big mistake leaving too much scent, and lesson learned. Either that, or the deer simply aren’t in that area when it’s 100F….

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I hate to come back and report - after a month up, nothings come across the camera. I think I made a big mistake leaving too much scent, and lesson learned. Either that, or the deer simply aren’t in that area when it’s 100F….

Well, if it is a ridge of water oaks and live oaks, they probably don't have a reason to be in there yet since the trees won't be dropping acorns yet and if they are not getting pressured, they might not be back in there. If you have a regular camera you might think about just dropping it in there and letting it run all year to gather some intel of the fall, or go back in when the acorns are dropping, chance a hunt in there and retrieve the card and put out another.

 

[Cbigbear]

I hate to come back and report - after a month up, nothings come across the camera. I think I made a big mistake leaving too much scent, and lesson learned. Either that, or the deer simply aren’t in that area when it’s 100F….

The cams have to be exact this time of year around here. The deer don’t move much. We get a considerable up tick in movement in August when they hit the summer stress period. They are on the move for food.

 

[mschultz373]

Meaning: just because a cam isn't picking anything up in June/july, doesn't mean the deer won't use that area later in the year

I guess if I were a deer, I wouldn’t be moving much when it is consistently 90+F for months on end.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I have been seeing the deer bed in the low areas in thickets where there is running water. I jumped a couple does out of this little pocket last summer around the middle of July. It was basically a little oxbow about 30 feet in diameter surrounded on 3 sides by a shallow running creek. When I went down about 4 feet lower into the oxbow to see where they were laying the temperature dropped 10 degrees. I thought, well that is why they were in there. That's where I would be too.

I went into that spot about a week ago, and though I did not spook any out (that I know of), there were fresh dropping everywhere in that little thicket. They are in there again this summer.

 

[Cbigbear]

Meaning: just because a cam isn't picking anything up in June/july, doesn't mean the deer won't use that area later in the year

I guess if I were a deer, I wouldn’t be moving much when it is consistently 90+F for months on end.

Yes it’s extremely difficult to locate deer in that terrain when they’re on low movement patterns.

 

[mschultz373]

this is all helpful to know. i'll shift my summer focus in these areas more to getting a lay of terrain than seeking sign - any elevation changes, oaks, sloughs.

if i may ask, though, how do y'all make sense of aerials of marshes and such, like below? I would naturally gravitate towards the river to the E, but I know there are camps and lots of boating/human presence on it. BTW, this is with topo lines shown, OnX.... The edge of the drier brown marsh in the middle and surrounding green would be worth looking at, too.

 

[BTaylor]

I would pull that same spot up on caltopo and start zooming in to find any elevation changes I can. Then compare the elevation changes to edges and water ways or other transition spots. If there are no discernable elevation changes on caltopo, I would focus the outer bends in the edges to start looking for sign.

 

[Cbigbear]

I would pull that same spot up on caltopo and start zooming in to find any elevation changes I can. Then compare the elevation changes to edges and water ways or other transition spots. If there are no discernable elevation changes on caltopo, I would focus the outer bends in the edges to start looking for sign.

100% shaded relief & 10’ contour on. Mshultz373 you pumping out some of the hardest properties to whitetail hunt know to man.

 

[Cbigbear]

this is all helpful to know. i'll shift my summer focus in these areas more to getting a lay of terrain than seeking sign - any elevation changes, oaks, sloughs.

if i may ask, though, how do y'all make sense of aerials of marshes and such, like below? I would naturally gravitate towards the river to the E, but I know there are camps and lots of boating/human presence on it. BTW, this is with topo lines shown, OnX.... The edge of the drier brown marsh in the middle and surrounding green would be worth looking at, too.View attachment 86989

I live 10 minutes from the launch on the N creek boundary. Shoot me a pm.