SWAMP BUCKS ARE DIFFERENT
Southern
Swamps
Editor’s Note: Although outdoorsmen mainly think
about hunting deer in southern swamps, swamps, bogs
and flooded timber exist across most of the U.S. The
deer that live along flood plains throughout the nation
often have different movements and behavioral patterns
than deer holding away from the water. These swamp bucks
often defy reason and usually will be bagged by the
men who understand why these deer do what they do. Let's
look at the men who hunt swamp bucks across the country
and the tactics they employ to take these animals.
Eddie
Salter, longtime Hunter’s Specialties’ Pro
Hunt Team Member lives in Evergreen, Alabama and has
spent his entire life hunting the flood plain along
the Alabama River. "Swamps are my favorite places
to hunt -- especially late in the season in areas that
have experienced great hunting pressure," Salter
commented. "When most hunters look at a wet marsh
and flooded timber, they'll decide the terrain is just
too hard to hunt. Instead they'll hunt an area that
doesn't take as much effort and where they most likely
will find as many or maybe even more deer. But the older-age-
class bucks that have survived several seasons have
learned the water provides sanctuary for them during
daylight hours."
To take trophy bucks in wet areas, Salter begins his
scouting early in the season. He uses a small, lightweight
canoe to paddle around the backwaters and not only look
for trails entering the
flooded timber but also for islands and high spots out
in the water. "Many times I'll discover little
islands and sometimes even big islands out in the middle
of vast areas of flooded timber. I've found islands
200 to 300 yards from shore and 5 to 10 acres in size.
You can't reach these islands except by boat. Most hunters
won't carry a boat or a canoe through the woods, put
it in the water and paddle out to hunt only 10 acres.
The deer understand that if they stay on those islands
during daylight hours they generally won't have any
hunting pressure." When Salter finds an island
in flooded timber, he knows he has a late-season honey
hole for a large buck. A trophy deer soon learns if
he remains in sanctuaries like islands out in a swamp,
he can avoid hunters and survive. The hunters who go
to the trouble to take a boat through the woods to hunt
these sanctuaries often will encounter some of the largest
deer in a region. "I also have learned that the
less human odor swamp bucks encounter the more likely
you are to take them," Salter advised. "That's
why I like to paddle into my tree stand about 9 or 10
o'clock a.m. and plan to hunt until dark."
Salter
believes that deer in flooded timber tend to move more
frequently during the middle of the day and the afternoon
with their peak movement tending to occur during the
last two hours of daylight. "I like to get into
my stand in the morning to give the woods plenty of
time to settle before the deer start moving," Salter
explained. Also by using a canoe, when Salter does take
a nice deer, he can float the buck out of the woods
without having to make a long drag through the mud.
If you've been negative about hunting swamps like many
outdoorsmen and said, "I'm sure big bucks live
in there, but I'm not going to fight mosquitoes, snakes,
redbugs, ticks and gorillas to go get them," then
you have missed some of the best trophy-buck hunting
in the nation. The tactics of the swamp hunters in this
article have proven successful and will aid you in bagging
that swamp buck of a lifetime.
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