Post season scouting, How's it going?

[mschultz373]

scouted some swamps today with my hunting buddy. pretty late in the year to be out in them, but it was a cooler day and we didn't run into any snakes or gators.

it was tough terrain to navigate being that the marsh is basically "too thin to plow, too thick to drink" as the locals say; you're walking on floatilla-mud-whatever. surprisingly, the deer are very good at navigating it and finding the hardest ground to stand on: we followed some of their trails through the marsh grass to check boat access. Unsure what they’d be eating or moving thru there for?

seems like the name of the game is: find a suitable tall enough cypress tree and that's your setup. There’s not much other option… luckily the cypress tends to grow right near or on-top-of their bedding areas. the sparse stands of trees there are - stands wax myrtle, dogwood, red maple, cypress - establish the few spots of land that are a foot higher than the marsh floor and are actually solid ground.

lots of fresh deer poo and beds found today. feel confident about it.

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[BTaylor]

scouted some swamps today with my hunting buddy. pretty late in the year to be out in them, but it was a cooler day and we didn't run into any snakes or gators.

it was tough terrain to navigate being that the marsh is basically "too thin to plow, too thick to drink" as the locals say; you're walking on floatilla-mud-whatever. surprisingly, the deer are very good at navigating it and finding the hardest ground to stand on: we followed some of their trails through the marsh grass to check boat access. Unsure what they’d be eating or moving thru there for?

seems like the name of the game is: find a suitable tall enough cypress tree and that's your setup. There’s not much other option… luckily the cypress tends to grow right near or on-top-of their bedding areas. the sparse stands of trees there are - stands wax myrtle, dogwood, red maple, cypress - establish the few spots of land that are a foot higher than the marsh floor and are actually solid ground.

lots of fresh deer poo and beds found today. feel confident about it.

IMG-1349 hosted at ImgBB

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ibb.co

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ibb.co

A ghille suit and hang about 4' high in one of those shrubby trees might work pretty well.

 

[mschultz373]

anyone have experience with hardy orange trees? they are green, with large thorns, and produce a citrus fruit in the fall. I found a couple of these days and imagine the deer like them, but I read at home that they are deer resistant? they look like this.

 

[MattMan81]

Went to the farm to pick up my blind, maybe look for some sheds and beds. All the rain and melt off flooded everything. More than I anticipated. I couldn't cross the drainage area or creek from the other side. probably 3' deep in the center there. Needed a canoe or chest waders. But the boys had fun tossing sticks in the water and sending them down way. Could see my blind. It has collapsed and sitting in water. Maybe by next weekend the water will re treat some and I can get there.

 

[Dmathews87]

told my wife i was going this weekend to start my post season scouting and was told no you're not, kids have events all weekend...so thats my start lol

 

[BTaylor]

told my wife i was going this weekend to start my post season scouting and was told no you're not, kids have events all weekend...so thats my start lol

My wife asked me yesterday where I was hunting this weekend and it threw me so bad I said I wasnt hunting before I could catch myself. It is supposed to rain all day saturday and sunday anyway thus my plan to not hunt. I just need to do better about not saying that out loud before I think it through.

 

[1simplemann]

How's it going? Last weekend, I had an expensive day to say the least. It could of been worse though. During the season, I found a great tree on an island w/ a really nice primary scrape on it surrounded by thick willows. Thick bedding cover for 100's yds in 3 directions. The Kind of spot that a big buck will be IMO. I went back and prepped that tree. It was so thick I had to cut in an access trail. I got all my gear and went back to the boat. Then I realized that I did not put a pullup cord in the tree. I took a different path to the tree and on the way back for some reason I took the path I cut. In the middle of the path was my wallet! I thought that was odd but I chalked it up to my backpack pocket must not have been zipped. I did NOT check my backpack when I got back the boat. I should've. More on this later. I got to the boat and went off the to next island. During the season, On the main land I saw a REALLY nice 8pt in the headlights about 200 yds from this island. Next year he'll be a shooter. There was river ice on the bank so I parked the boat next to a log the beavers had chewed down that fell out into the river. I tied off to it. . I walked the log up to the bank. This island is about 1/2 mile long and 100 yds wide. It has 3 long parallel trails run the whole length of it. The main trail was on a long ridge maybe 2' higher than the rest of it. All along it were scrapes. This particular island didn't have a lot of huntable trees but I found a good one that had great cover, good height and near good bedding cover. I could shoot to all 3 paths. That path on the ridge ran on the west side of the ridge for most of the island. However where my tree was, for 100 yds there were a bunch of blown over dead trees that diverted the deer to the east side and just out of range. My idea was to just chainsaw a clear path on my side of the ridge and throw brush in the old section the trail to force them back onto my man made trail. Then I take a rake and make a new "path". Deer will often take the path of least resistance. I done this before in the past and usually it's takes them no time to start using it instead. I like to do it early for them get used to it. It's a bunch of work but usually brings them in range. I got the trail done, prepped the tree and went back to the boat. All the effort made my glasses steam immediately so I couldn't see at all. I lifted them up on my head. Blurry is better than nothing. Also It had started to snow. Wet snow. I get to the log. I'm trying not to slip cause everything is now covered in snow and I can't see good. I set the chainsaw down on the log. As I'm stepping in, I slip, bump the chainsaw, it's going in the water, I try to save it, knock my glasses off in the process, then I try to save the glasses instead and both the chainsaw and the glasses go in the drink! Somehow I stayed on the log. I get in the boat and survey the situation. Glasses are gone but I can see the Chainsaw 2-3' down there. Somehow I fished it out. I'm cold, wet, tired. It's time to go home! I get home, my wife thinks I'm Nuts. I tell her the whole story including the wallet part. Then I realize my cell phone was in there as well. I go get my backpack. It not there. There was hole in the bottom of that pocket! She's like let go back and find it. I tell that the odds of that happening are extremely low. Everything is covered in snow and I'm not running a jet boat in the dark. New phone $500. Luckily got all my contact list back and the pics. Glasses not covered by insurance. Didn't get the bill yet but the frames were $186. I've been wearing my prescription sunglasses all week. The silver lining? I walked that other path back to the boat instead of the one I originally took. My wallet would've been under 8" of snow and I would've had no idea where it fell out. Replacing DL and CC's is a PIA!

If I don't kill a buck there, I'm gonna be mad! LOL

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I did a focused scout Tuesday in some spots on an entirely new chunk of land I have been eyeing since last season. One spot in dense cover looks great with lots of buck sign form last season. Another spot looked decent, like a spot to pick up a doe but I found old hunter sign. It was a short ladder stand welded up out of pipe with a plywood seat. The tube was grown into the tree and the seat was almost rotted out so it may be an old setup no longer in use. The deer sign in there was less than in the thicker spot I scouted first.

I had business near my main hunting area Wednesday, so I decided that this was going to be the day I go pull the remaining three cameras I had out. One of them had been in a remote spot almost a year. I had to put on the chest waders to go get it. The other two were way out but no extra gear was needed to get to them, just along walk. One spot where I had a camera showed sign had gotten better in there this year over last year. Another big scrape had opened up next to the old two. This spot, as well as the spot I hunted on the last day of the season need to get hunted at the right time, prerut. The pictures from the cameras were a waste. The cameras were dead before the action started this past season. If I do put those cams back out they will go out in September and run all season.

Following all that running around I did drive back over to the new area and slip in and slap up a camera over that scrape in the thick spot. There were huge poops in that scrape, and they did not look too old, maybe a few days. Hopefully I can get a glimpse of the buck using that spot before his horns drop. Regardless, I plan to go retrieve that camera before turkey season starts.


I plan to be out several days next week tromping around some spots that I stayed out of during the season. It's time to learn them inside out.

 

[Center Punch]

How's it going? Last weekend, I had an expensive day to say the least. It could of been worse though. During the season, I found a great tree on an island w/ a really nice primary scrape on it surrounded by thick willows. Thick bedding cover for 100's yds in 3 directions. The Kind of spot that a big buck will be IMO. I went back and prepped that tree. It was so thick I had to cut in an access trail. I got all my gear and went back to the boat. Then I realized that I did not put a pullup cord in the tree. I took a different path to the tree and on the way back for some reason I took the path I cut. In the middle of the path was my wallet! I thought that was odd but I chalked it up to my backpack pocket must not have been zipped. I did NOT check my backpack when I got back the boat. I should've. More on this later. I got to the boat and went off the to next island. During the season, On the main land I saw a REALLY nice 8pt in the headlights about 200 yds from this island. Next year he'll be a shooter. There was river ice on the bank so I parked the boat next to a log the beavers had chewed down that fell out into the river. I tied off to it. . I walked the log up to the bank. This island is about 1/2 mile long and 100 yds wide. It has 3 long parallel trails run the whole length of it. The main trail was on a long ridge maybe 2' higher than the rest of it. All along it were scrapes. This particular island didn't have a lot of huntable trees but I found a good one that had great cover, good height and near good bedding cover. I could shoot to all 3 paths. That path on the ridge ran on the west side of the ridge for most of the island. However where my tree was, for 100 yds there were a bunch of blown over dead trees that diverted the deer to the east side and just out of range. My idea was to just chainsaw a clear path on my side of the ridge and throw brush in the old section the trail to force them back onto my man made trail. Then I take a rake and make a new "path". Deer will often take the path of least resistance. I done this before in the past and usually it's takes them no time to start using it instead. I like to do it early for them get used to it. It's a bunch of work but usually brings them in range. I got the trail done, prepped the tree and went back to the boat. All the effort made my glasses steam immediately so I couldn't see at all. I lifted them up on my head. Blurry is better than nothing. Also It had started to snow. Wet snow. I get to the log. I'm trying not to slip cause everything is now covered in snow and I can't see good. I set the chainsaw down on the log. As I'm stepping in, I slip, bump the chainsaw, it's going in the water, I try to save it, knock my glasses off in the process, then I try to save the glasses instead and both the chainsaw and the glasses go in the drink! Somehow I stayed on the log. I get in the boat and survey the situation. Glasses are gone but I can see the Chainsaw 2-3' down there. Somehow I fished it out. I'm cold, wet, tired. It's time to go home! I get home, my wife thinks I'm Nuts. I tell her the whole story including the wallet part. Then I realize my cell phone was in there as well. I go get my backpack. It not there. There was hole in the bottom of that pocket! She's like let go back and find it. I tell that the odds of that happening are extremely low. Everything is covered in snow and I'm not running a jet boat in the dark. New phone $500. Luckily got all my contact list back and the pics. Glasses not covered by insurance. Didn't get the bill yet but the frames were $186. I've been wearing my prescription sunglasses all week. The silver lining? I walked that other path back to the boat instead of the one I originally took. My wallet would've been under 8" of snow and I would've had no idea where it fell out. Replacing DL and CC's is a PIA!

If I don't kill a buck there, I'm gonna be mad! LOL

Thanks for sharing that story! Reminds me to pay attention to details. Always!

 

[GCTerpfan]

Did about 3 miles around my house this afternoon. Found a couple good rubs which showed a buck was doing something a little different then they typically do on this property. Definitely a spot worth hanging a camera on next year.

I also picked 39 ticks off my pants in that 3 miles. Only had one on my body(elbow) when I got back, stripped down and made my wife begrudgingly do a tick check on me.

 

[1simplemann]

Thanks for sharing that story! Reminds me to pay attention to details. Always!

Your welcome. I feel like I have a million stories where I missed something because I wasn't paying attention to details. A friend once said "If you your going to pay anything, pay attention!" New back pack is probably less than $50. I would have been money ahead if I had bought one!

 

[1simplemann]

As far as scouting goes. Yesterday trimmed out a N wind tree in a pile of brush that does like to bed in and bucks cruise through it during the rut. I've seen some big ones in there. However, here is only one tree. It's a big cottonwood that almost too big to hunt out of. 6' at the base. About 25' up it splits into 4 trunks and a guy can actually just stand in the crotch. Great cover. It's awkward for saddle but a little bench seat makes it quite comfy. I spiked it last year but never got around to trimming lanes or the seat It's been on my to do list. Now I just have to wait for big one to show up there.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Did about 3 miles around my house this afternoon. Found a couple good rubs which showed a buck was doing something a little different then they typically do on this property. Definitely a spot worth hanging a camera on next year.

I also picked 39 ticks off my pants in that 3 miles. Only had one on my body(elbow) when I got back, stripped down and made my wife begrudgingly do a tick check on me.

This is a good reminder to get all my warm season scouting and turkey hunting clothes out and treat them with permethrin.

 

[Center Punch]

This is a good reminder to get all my warm season scouting and turkey hunting clothes out and treat them with permethrin.

Too soon for me. We don't start until third week of April.

Not to worry though... I have a new-to-me CVA muzzle loading 12GA. to work on so it will be easy for me to stay on top of all things Turkey Season '24!

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Turkey season doesn't start until the Middle of March, but tick season can start anytime.

 

[Dmathews87]

WMA close to my house added approx 200 acres to it. There arent any roads that cut back there and access isnt very easy....i got around to scouting some of it yesterday and it looks promising. not alot of people know this property was added....im hoping that,along with the hard access makes this parcel very productive for me.

 

[BackSpasm]

WMA close to my house added approx 200 acres to it. There arent any roads that cut back there and access isnt very easy....i got around to scouting some of it yesterday and it looks promising. not alot of people know this property was added....im hoping that,along with the hard access makes this parcel very productive for me.

Im sorry what did you say your address was again?

 

[Dmathews87]

Im sorry what did you say your address was again?

im the house at the end of my drive way down that road.

 

[Dmathews87]

WMA close to my house added approx 200 acres to it. There arent any roads that cut back there and access isnt very easy....i got around to scouting some of it yesterday and it looks promising. not alot of people know this property was added....im hoping that,along with the hard access makes this parcel very productive for me.

i went back and scouted this property pretty extensively....ton of buck sign and some of the biggest rubs i have ever seen...needless to say im pretty excited about it. I hung a camera to get some more intel!

 

[HuskerInIowa]

I think I’m figuring out where to focus my attention a bit. One area I really like early season into rut I didn’t see much late either of the last two years. Thought maybe it was just attributed to less days hunting late or maybe I got lazy with entrance or scent control. Walked it twice after fresh snows this year and nary a track other than bunnies, squirrels, and yotes.

Maybe it’s not much but boots on the ground helping me direct my attention to different areas is something in my book.