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Scouting river bottoms

HvilleSaddle

HvilleSaddle

New Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2019
Messages
15
Location
Hudsonville Michigan
Hey all,
I wanted to get my thoughts out so there could see them :fearscream:. I am familiar with scouting swamp areas, small creek bottoms, big woods and farm country. But when it comes to larger river bottoms that flood every spring and wipe the woods clean of tracks, scrapes and sometimes trails I imagine.

I have looked at satellite images of the bottoms and located some well used trails and spots that I would expect deer to bed and move. I plan on looking for the same sign as any other spot, rubs, browsing/licking branches and if I’m lucky trails and beds. If I don’t get there before the spring flooding I think that is my best bet outside of actually looking if it’s “Deery”.
Thanks
 
What is the area like bordering the river bottom? Big river bottom surrounded by big woods or big river bottom surrounded by mostly agriculture?
 
One side is ag, that drops down about 30 feet to a wide flat that has groups of trees on it, a few fingers reach down into it and a creek that feeds in that is maybe 10yards wide when it joins the river.

The other side is wooded with houses spotted along that are on 5-10 acre parcels and on that edge specifically is a large peninsula with a few groups of trees.
 
On that ag side there is a buffer of about 70-100 yards of trees on the ridge that drops down to the river flat. Essentially only below the flood line is public. So maybe 10-20 yards of the wood edge is public.
 
I hunt a farm very similar to what you’ve described. Best time to find out anything is right now. Get to walking because what you see after the spring floods and Aug. will not be the same come October. They change travel pattern overnight it seems.
 
I’ve been archery hunting a very similar area for the past 10 years. My best advice is to find the hot sign and stay on it. I know that sounds too simple, but I’ve learned the hard way not overthink it for those types of areas. As @RippinLips mentioned, it seems like they change patterns overnight. They don’t have to travel far in those type of areas and often won’t. If I don’t have much time to scout, I’ll usually pack a lunch, and plan to hunt all day. If my morning spot is cold, walk around until I find hot sign and set up for the evening hunt. Also be prepared for deer to come from any direction.
 
Alright, I would like to slip in there before the rivers rise but with how high all our rivers were this fall there might not be much to find.

My best option to find hot sign during season based on the map would be to walk the private/public edge to see what routes off those islands of trees (assuming they are not flooded) are the hottest and work my way in from there.

I would prefer to see what type of historical sign there is this spring or now. Pick a tree and paddle in off the river in the morning and climb up a tree. Figuring they will come off those fields and bed in the flats or the edge of the wooded ridge where it meets the flood plain. But if I were careful enough I might be able to do the same in the afternoon.

Like I started with, kayaking into a spot is something new for me. What I have hunted before was suited for a climber and flood plains don’t have a lot of straight limbless trees
 
If I’m internet scouting a new river bottom, I tend to focus on any terrain feature that will help to funnel movement through an area, more so than looking for classic bedding to staging to feeding areas. Seems like they mill around more in the bottoms and don’t always follow particular patterns, so try to find areas that will concentrate movement or get that movement in bow range. Some things I look for...
1) areas adjacent to where steep banks or rock outcrops drop straight down to the water, they don’t want to go through those so they have to go by you
2) small drainages (guts) leading up from main river. more so than other types of areas, seems like they like to walk up and down the guts more than tops of the fingers.
3) areas where the meander of the stream narrows the bottom and funnels deer movement through a narrower area (ideally in bow range)
 
So on what you said the creek I mentioned is in my plans and how I will access the main river, there are some great trails through the cattails there. And I intended on hanging a sit in a few spots of that creek.

The elevation isn’t too drastic so there isn’t much for steep edges that funnel movement. There is dry land strips(3 of them) that are rather beaten down leading into those standing pockets of trees I mentioned and into openings between the pockets.

with the fingers and cuts that makes sense and you would know without looking a the map I have but those are on private so the best I can do without gaining permission would be to position myself inline with it.
 
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