Day 5: Equipment That Can Make Recovery of Your Flood Plain Deer Easier
Editor’s Note: Trying to take deer on a flood plain is a problem deer hunters who hunt around major river systems across the nation face.
Another advantage to using the flagging tape is that if you fail to make the recovery at night, you’ll have a good trail to begin your search the next morning that will eliminate much guesswork. Usually remembering the exact direction that the deer has taken the following day when the sun is out isn’t easy when you’ve been in the woods late in the afternoon and at night. Even by using your GPS, recovering a deer that’s escaping through water or that falls into water is difficult at best. But there is some equipment that can make this recovery easier and faster for the bowhunter who hunts flooded timber and/or swamps.
1) Take your GPS with you, and use it.
2) Carry, and use flagging tape. Remember to remove the flagging tape from the timber after you’ve made your recovery, so the woods aren’t littered.
3) Keep a compass with you at all times as well as a map of the area. Unless you know landmarks, a compass will be of no help. So, know which way you are from roads, streams and other landmarks to navigate successfully with your compass.
4) Have a flashlight on hand at all times, even on a morning hunt. Then if you decide to hunt in the afternoon, you’ll be prepared.
5) Use a pair of quality binoculars. If the woods are open, you often can see your deer fall through the binoculars. Or, even if you don’t spot the deer falling, if the buck’s running through water, you can locate the disturbed water at greater distances and pick-up a landmark to begin your search maybe 50- to 75-yards from your stand.
6) Wear boots that you don’t mind getting wet. The type of boots you wear in flooded areas for recovering deer really doesn’t matter, because most often you’ll have not only your feet but often your knees and thighs underwater.
Swamps and flooded timber often provide some of the best hunting for deer, because there’s usually plenty of food for the deer and many deer in these regions. However, taking a white-tailed deer in these areas often is much easier than recovering the animal. But by using these suggestions, your foray into watery whitetail territory should be much easier and more successful.
Today's Video Clip:
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