Setting up in River Bottoms

[515Raven]

This is a constructive thread. I started hunting maybe a year and a half ago; resources like this help augment and affirm things observed in the field.

 

[neonomad]

I have used beaver dams to cross from ag ground into timber at my hunt location in the past and I also set up a zip line on one property to cross a large creek from an ag field into a draw below a very brushy bedding ground. The zip line was also a great way to move my kills into a field I could drive right up to them. The air movement is your primary consideration. I killed hundreds of deer on a 15 acre patch next to creek for over 40 years but could only hunt it with a West or NW wind.

I’ve daydreamed about a zipline at certain spots, crazy u did it!

 

[515Raven]

I’ve daydreamed about a zipline at certain spots, crazy u did it!

 

[Still Kicking]

View attachment 60542

You can't see the water here because of very hot dry period but it is still over hip waders and maybe over chest waders. You can see my custom made riding seat and my pull back rope and if you look close above th pulley you can see my zip cable. When riding across I would clip the biner into a short bridge I made for my tree harness side loops and also clip the harness tether into it.

 

[Still Kicking]

You can't see the water here because of very hot dry period but it is still over hip waders and maybe over chest waders. You can see my custom made riding seat and my pull back rope and if you look close above th pulley you can see my zip cable. When riding across I would clip the biner into a short bridge I made for my tree harness side loops and also clip the harness tether into it.
View attachment 60543

It looks a lot closer in the picture but it's about 75 feet across there. I used 100 feet of 3/16" stainless cable and the excess is circled around the tree several wraps with cable clamps securing it. I made some clamps with strap iron to clamp onto the cable and used a come along to tension the cable. I kept the come along in a waterproof bag by the tree on the far bank to hoist my deer with. It served me well for at least 10 years and 3 to 4 deer a year.

 

[515Raven]

That’s awesome!

 

[515Raven]

I’ve been scouting a stretch of land this past week along a river now that we’re in the off-season; I wanted to catch all the sign I could since we had some snow on the ground still and the season just ended.

Tons of tracks, scat, beds, old rubs, briars, berries, an oak or two, other browse, to the point now I need to figure out how to make sense of it all. The tracks clearly extended parallel the length of the river. The river has extremely high walls and has hardly a place I’ve seen where I think a deer could cross, but I guess you never know.

Need to figure which of the many beds moving up a point to cedar cover are doe beds, which may be buck beds…maybe didn’t go far enough to complete the puzzle. Might need to go back.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Generally speaking, doe beds will be where they can bed in a circle with each facing a different direction. I usually find these in top of points and ridges. Buck beds are generally solitary and usually have good back cover and a sight line out the front. They will use these based on wind so a buck will have several beds and use them based on the current conditions. They want the wind to their back and be able to see what is approaching to their front. These are broad generalities but give you a base line to decide what you might be looking at.

 

[515Raven]

I’ve noticed that for the most part. The last bed I found along the trail of sign and further set up the hill near a transition of thick cedar had a ton of big but older rubs all around it. May have been an older buck bed, but scats and tracks around and in it were fresh.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I’ve noticed that for the most part. The last bed I found along the trail of sign and further set up the hill near a transition of thick cedar had a ton of big but older rubs all around it. May have been an older buck bed, but scats and tracks around and in it were fresh.

That is very likely a buck bed. Did the tracks look big, like a big animal made them? My thought is that this would be a morning spot to get too well before daylight and plan to be there a while, through midday at least, on a day when the wind would be blowing over the cedars down that hill. Maybe set up to one side or the other with a just off wind.

 

[515Raven]

They weren’t huge but they were definitely deer tracks. I’m guessing the thermals from the river would pull my scent down away from the beds and line of travel. Getting into that area is the puzzle just because it’s littered with briars and thick vegetation until you can get back into there where there are some deer trails and etc.

 

[wyearby]

What do you guys find is the best way to setup around river bottom bedding areas? Found a hotspot this off-season of bedding and deer activity in an area near the river that’s overrun by briars and other thick brush.

I’m having trouble identifying the best way to tackle the area without making a ton of noise trying to get through to it.

I personally LOVE creek and river bottoms. I usually scout around to find the where you have the most trails converging, or a river/creek crossing, and try to setup. I dont have much experience on public land so I don't know the do's and donts, but I would go in and thin the underbrush in the area

 

[515Raven]

We don’t have that option but I’ll probably plan to get in extremely early. If I bump anything it should be really enough to not affect the rest of the hunt.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

If they are bedding there an early morning entry should beat them back well before daylight. If the deer are a couple of hundred yards off feeding on an oak flat, say, they might not hear you enter and set up. The key is early. I believe mature bucks are the first to return to bedding. The buck may pass you in the dark and bed up. Then he may get up midday and move around a little, giving you a shot.

 

[515Raven]

Yeah there are a lot of food options (browse/berries and occasional oaks) throughout the thick stuff, but I think the predominant thing in the early season is going to be the cornfield to the East of the area that passes doe bedding along the deer trails and crosses several terrain changes.

I’m guessing the doe beds along that same tract will continue drawing them in that corridor during the rut. River flows West to East along that area and has significantly high drop offs along the whole edge.

 

[katiesmom]

Sounds good, although it’s public land so I won’t be doing any cutting. Just have to spend some more time around there finding the best way to navigate it, accounting for wind/thermals/etc. like some of the other guys said. Thanks!

I have been known to tie back branches and bushes with twine or paracord to make a clear spot or shooting lane.

 

[arrowchukker]

I hunt a very similar situation. It’s definitely a “wind direction/thermal” game. But you have multiple factors to deal with. You want the wind and the thermals to line up together, if possible. I’ve been sitting in the tree an hour before daylight with the air still cooling and can feel the air sinking into the river bottom. Then, about an hour after sunrise, things start to warm up and you can then feel the air rising back up the hill towards the ridges. It’s very similar to the tide on the water.

 

[Still Kicking]

I hunt a very similar situation. It’s definitely a “wind direction/thermal” game. But you have multiple factors to deal with. You want the wind and the thermals to line up together, if possible. I’ve been sitting in the tree an hour before daylight with the air still cooling and can feel the air sinking into the river bottom. Then, about an hour after sunrise, things start to warm up and you can then feel the air rising back up the hill towards the ridges. It’s very similar to the tide on the water.

Yes, I often waited until 7:30 a.m. to choose my stand site in the bottom, for this very reason. The deer were fairly punctual and came through from 8:15 to 10:00 a.m. in this bottom. By 7:30 the thermals were rising and the wind direction was stable (usually).