I hunted a property that was mostly tag alder swamp this weekend. It has some great sign on it but it is very thick.
Has anyone ever experimented with cutting different sized shooting lanes in cover like this? Is less cutting generally better? my only experience with bushwhacking wider paths has resulted in paths that deer seem to avoid like the plague during day light.
Tag alder swamps
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- Swamp_donkey
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Re: Tag alder swamps
Interesting topic, I found myself around alder thickets and creek bottoms more often this year than previously. I didn't cut much for shooting lanes but attempted to target areas where the alder canopy would open up for shooting opportunities naturally. Say along a creek bank, or edge of a forested ridge, where the tree cover would change. I have previously cut lanes at a couple of locations over the years but find the alder fills back in quickly. If you cut lanes large enough to have decent views and shooting through it may have opened things up enough to change the security they felt in there. I would think if I had to cut lanes in alder thickets it's likely best done in winter or spring so the deer can adjust. Maybe a quick light pruning pre season or first hunt in. Personally I like to hunt the edges of these thickets where they meet some other features.
- Ragingun
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Re: Tag alder swamps
Most of the swamp I hunt has tags. You could sit nearly anywhere and have luck seeing deer but it’s very random. The trails may generally go from one place to the next but there’s 20 different trails to get to the same spot and one isn’t any better than another. For this reason I don’t hunt much of it with 2 exceptions. First is the edge and second is a large tree in the middle or some kind of a focus point. The deer tend to use these to get from one area to the next.
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- uncleron
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Re: Tag alder swamps
Our family property has about 35 continuous acres of tags. My best results have been hunting the edges and transition zones with cover. During the early season I stay on the outside and as the pre-rut rolls around, I work my way into the deeper edges.
Our main food source is to the SE. Once morning hunting heats up later in Oct, I hunt the back (north) side of the alders and catch bucks sneaking in/out late morning/midday. There’s another large bedding area further north. It’s been the most predictable buck pattern I’ve come up with on our place. If I try to get between food and bedding in the morning, I bump deer or have deer walk past me in the dark and rarely see older bucks.
Our main food source is to the SE. Once morning hunting heats up later in Oct, I hunt the back (north) side of the alders and catch bucks sneaking in/out late morning/midday. There’s another large bedding area further north. It’s been the most predictable buck pattern I’ve come up with on our place. If I try to get between food and bedding in the morning, I bump deer or have deer walk past me in the dark and rarely see older bucks.
- nor' easter
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Re: Tag alder swamps
I hunt alot of alder swamp areas. I typically treat the alders like the marsh guys treat cattails. I like points or fingers leading out into alders, and islands of timber out in the alders. I have found buck beds up against lone maple trees here or there out in the middle of a thick patch, but they appear go be rut beds monitoring doe bedding near the islands of trees. These beds don't look very confortable for a mature buck. As far as multiple trails in or out, I like to stage hunt them. Deer in my area seem to be pretty sensitive to ground scent and will abandon trails where I have been.
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Re: Tag alder swamps
Appreciate the feedback.
There are obvious edges where the tags meat grass. There are also small pockets that are open that also have slightly larger trees in them. These spots are tops on my list to investigate for next year.
There are obvious edges where the tags meat grass. There are also small pockets that are open that also have slightly larger trees in them. These spots are tops on my list to investigate for next year.
- JAK
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Re: Tag alder swamps
I have one spot in a tag alder swamp that's a old dike with pond on one side and tags it's hard to see 10 yards in on really wet years that dike is pounded scrapes and rubs.. I made the mistake of cutting a shooting lane and had a good buck hit the lane and look right up at me I think it goes back to Dan's method in cattails cut ur lane at a 45 might work better..
- JAK
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Re: Tag alder swamps
fishlips wrote:Appreciate the feedback.
There are obvious edges where the tags meat grass. There are also small pockets that are open that also have slightly larger trees in them. These spots are tops on my list to investigate for next year.
I'd agree with ragingun no trail through the tags is really any better then the rest unless u can find a feature that makes it better.. I've had really good luck in old over grown clear-cuts and a old overgrown logging road running through it. But my opinion is these are more rut spots.
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