Looking for help in the marsh

[bowjunky39]

Need advice on this public land marsh that I have located. I hunt in the southeastern United States and this area is not hunted a lot. Hoping that Dan or some of you other marsh hunters could help me out with picking a starting point. I have scouted this place twice due to my workload but will have a lot of time in November and December to hunt. If you need different views let me know.

[Lockdown]

Omg bedding galore. Sweet property. What are your prevailing winds?

[bowjunky39]

The majority of the win here is south or northwest. I hope I answered that question correctly. After last season I found this property and put up a couple of cans that is how I know where the deer are crossing. I assume they are bedding somewhere on the east by that mswamp.

[Ragingun]

The more info the better. What type of foliage is there in general? To me being from WI it looks like the dark green would be cedars but I don't know that those grow there to begin with. Do you know what kind of crops are in the field or if the deer use it?

You have your obvious pinch point or natural travels ways marked which helps. I would look at that map and circle areas they won't be, to me that's just as important as finding where you think they could be since you don't waste your time. On topo/areal maps of swamps it's generally hard to tell where bucks would bed based entirely on that. You need to know that area. If there are blow downs I would start there. Without the variation in elevation it's hard to say. I would check out the saddles and look for any bucks that may desire the top 1/3 bedding style. If there is good cover in that swamp where it is dry my experience is that may not turn out too productive as bucks tend to use the thickest cover they can.

I can say that the deer beds in my area swamp a lot of times are near a channel of water or the main river. I really can't tell you why they are located there but the ones I've found are generally within 100 yards of that type of water. This may be assuming but I think it acts to a certain degree as an alarm system and deer can hear splashing. It also provides some type of natural barrier however minimal it may be. Lastly the deer may desire to use it to loose it's scent if being pursued by a predator since the scent will wash down stream.

Zooming in and posting a few individual pics may help. Here is one that I zoomed in on and allows to see the blow downs and also the relation to the channel.

[bowjunky39]

Last two years they cleave planted beans in those fields. As for foliage there is open river bottom timber then that works its way into the cattails. The deer crossing to the east is where I see deer cross No in the morning right before daylight. The other deer crossing is where they cross in afternoon. So it seems like to me they make a bad g circle and bed somewhere in the bottom right of pic. But I am new to this so I am looking for any help and information I can.