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Live from the tree!

What I'm learning is that deer don't mind water WHATSOEVER.

I used to think they would avoid it, and maybe so when there's just a little bit around. But in the swamp, it doesn't bother them at all. I've found rubs like the one @Swampfox posted standing in water and I'm thinking "what in the world". Then you find a rub line that is all in knee high water and it leads to a tiny little spot of "high ground", which is really just a clump of sticks or the roots of a tree surrounded by water...just enough for a buck to curl up on.

I'm finding that they like to bed with their backs to the river or creek and the wind coming from "dry land". They can hear and smell anything coming from land and they can escape into the river/creek. I think the deer view water as a safe place because their natural predators don't come from that way.

I've yet to come face to face with one of these swamp donkeys, but I've only been doing it for a few weeks. Just give me some time...
 
Chasing the deer after the shot is hardcore

Needs to be filmed. Be sure to have a gopro chesty or something like that
 
That whole scenario sounds ridiculous! I can't even imagine scouting without seeing the ground. How far from your tree do you park your boat? I bet you can hear them coming for miles.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Erniepower said:
That whole scenario sounds ridiculous! I can't even imagine scouting without seeing the ground. How far from your tree do you park your boat? I bet you can hear them coming for miles.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Often I step from my pirogue onto the tree I climb. Sometimes, like yesterday I never leave my pirogue from 30 minutes before daylight till and hour after dark i remained in it. I think I pushed over 6 miles yesterday between scouting and hunting. Truthfully, I shoot just as many while pushing the pirogue around as I do from the stand. Its pretty crazy how close you can get to deer before they jump. I slipped up on a small buck yesterday to about 30 yards while he was laid up on a log.
Listening to deer in the water is what has me hooked on this style of hunting. Especially during the rut, the adrenaline rush I get when I hear deer chasing is addictive and second to none.
 
The point of accessing from the water, at least from my perspective, is to keep from blowing everything out of the woods. I try to stay within 100 yards of the river.
 
Erniepower said:
That whole scenario sounds ridiculous! I can't even imagine scouting without seeing the ground. How far from your tree do you park your boat? I bet you can hear them coming for miles.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I might also add that setting up over water adds a whole new dimension to the hunt. Not being able to set down your bag or gun on the ground requires that you wear your bag and sling your gun while ascending and descending the tree unless the pirogue is left under the tree.
 
what are they eating? Lack of floor space seems like it would greatly reduce food sources

wonder why they don't just find "greener pastures"
 
sb220 said:
what are they eating? Lack of floor space seems like it would greatly reduce food sources

wonder why they don't just find "greener pastures"
Click to expand...
This is the greatest difficulty in hunting here, the food source is everywhere. Unlike many places where acorn or crop fields are primary food sources, here they browse on anything green such as bulltongue, dollar weed, alligator weed, I have even seen them eat the moss off the trees.
 
A friend of mine sent this to me last year. I dug it up to post here in order to help y'all understand how they'll bed on anything.
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