An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

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crackehelmet
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An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby crackehelmet » Sun Jan 07, 2018 3:51 pm

I am new to this (I've never set foot in the woods to hunt a deer. Killed my first ducks this year.). I've been watching a ton of hunting beast and DIY sportsman on youtube and I've ordered the Marsh, Swamp and Hill country DvD's. I've Decided to start with Marshlands and I've found a piece of land that I think is interesting and would love to hear thoughts on my beginning assessment of it.

The area is small. 435 yards North to South and 170 yards east to west. I believe that due to its size the area is being overlooked for Deer. I believe Deer live in this mash due to the trails in the cattails linking the islands and the fields to the west.

The September prevailing wind for this area is SSE.

The yellow border around the marsh is the limit of public ground.

I've marked in red the transitions and features that I think I should check for beds given a SSE wind.

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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Sun Jan 07, 2018 7:31 pm

I just noticed your the guy who just got his first bow! Looks like u got the fire in your belly and going all in... Good stuff I'm not a cyber scouter but if I could offer u any advice starting off it would be to set REALISTIC goals for yourself. You can read and watch all the videos u want, which is good, smart and will shave huge amounts of time off the learning curve. But there is somethings u are gonna fail miserably at, don't get down just learn from em and press on. Good luck, look forward to following your journey.
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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby Jonny » Sun Jan 07, 2018 10:33 pm

If access is on the north, don’t ignore the islands in the center. Wouldn’t be surprised to see bedding on the northern tip watching people walk in.

Best bet is get out and scout it with no snow on the ground, but ice in the cattails is really nice :D
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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby tgreeno » Mon Jan 08, 2018 1:57 am

Not all marsh bedding is wind based. I would check the whole perimeter of those islands. I could see buck bedding there in any wind, possibly on different ends of the islands. You can see in the photos exactly where the trails come to the island and trails between the islands are. I gives you a good idea already how they are moving out there. The south end of the big island to the NE also has a couple good looking trails coming into it.
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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby Jeff G » Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:16 am

tgreeno wrote:Not all marsh bedding is wind based. I would check the whole perimeter of those islands. I could see buck bedding there in any wind, possibly on different ends of the islands. You can see in the photos exactly where the trails come to the island and trails between the islands are. I gives you a good idea already how they are moving out there. The south end of the big island to the NE also has a couple good looking trails coming into it.


I agree 100% with this!
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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby Rob loper » Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:34 am

This is a great attempt
Good luck brotha and keep us posted
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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby PK_ » Mon Jan 08, 2018 2:48 am

Make sure you check any large bushes or small lone trees that are just off the edges of those islands.

Good luck.
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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby crackehelmet » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:05 am

Boogieman, that is me! Going to the archery range for some coaching later today in fact. I really appreciate the advice about taking it slow and setting realistic goals. My goal for 2018 is to learn how to find and see deer (and hopefully shoot one). That is what has attracted me to the beast method of hunting. I'm sure eventually I'll feel the allure of Big Bucks, but for now what I really want to do is be able to break a map down into high % areas, scout the land to zero in and have it pay off in season by seeing deer there and confirming I was right.

tgreeno wrote:Not all marsh bedding is wind based. I would check the whole perimeter of those islands. I could see buck bedding there in any wind, possibly on different ends of the islands. You can see in the photos exactly where the trails come to the island and trails between the islands are. I gives you a good idea already how they are moving out there. The south end of the big island to the NE also has a couple good looking trails coming into it.


Thank you! When checking the perimeter of the islands, what should I look for to determine if the bedding is wind based, and if it is not, what other factor might have caused them to bed there.

I sure appreciate all the responses. I aim to get out and scout these islands next weekend. I'll bring back some pictures then. Thoughts on if the public parts of tree line to the west is worth scouting or if I should just focus on the islands?

I noticed for some reason I kept cropping the northern boundary off, so this is what's up there. Access will have to be from the north.

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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby stash59 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 11:43 am

Don't forget to look for other hunter sign. In this spot shells and garbage from waterfowl hunters. In an area this small even duck hunting may move the deer away from spots near the open water.
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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby riverrat bbq » Tue Jan 09, 2018 12:37 pm

One of the big things for me is looking at different maps of the same area. County gis maps can give a lot of detail. I don't think that they gun hunt this piece but there may be some people using it. It is small enough that you should be able to look at most of it in an afternoon. good luck
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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby MN_DeerHunter » Tue Jan 09, 2018 1:06 pm

Looks like between your own observations and others chiming in you’ve got the primo spots pretty well covered. It’s hard to tell the scale from the map but you might be able to access via kayak in the middle there and set up on one of those islands maybe. Of course depends on where they are bedding.
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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby crackehelmet » Tue Jan 09, 2018 5:54 pm

I'll definitely be on the look out for hunter sign as well. My first read on it was that this is such a small plot nobody is going to want to bother with it for deer. But, if I do, then somebody else probably does too.

Slightly off the topic of that particular marsh, but I've noticed in a few other places very pronounced trails along the edge of the transition line between the cattails and trees. These are much longer and deeper/heavier looking than the trails that cut through the marsh. Are these still deer trails? Does the elevation change leading into the transition cause this kind of particularly heavy track?

Again, thank you to everyone who's chimed in on this thread. you guys are great. It's eating me up having to wait until next weekend to get out there.

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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby Ragingun » Wed Jan 10, 2018 12:58 am

crackehelmet wrote:I'll definitely be on the look out for hunter sign as well. My first read on it was that this is such a small plot nobody is going to want to bother with it for deer. But, if I do, then somebody else probably does too.

Slightly off the topic of that particular marsh, but I've noticed in a few other places very pronounced trails along the edge of the transition line between the cattails and trees. These are much longer and deeper/heavier looking than the trails that cut through the marsh. Are these still deer trails? Does the elevation change leading into the transition cause this kind of particularly heavy track?

Again, thank you to everyone who's chimed in on this thread. you guys are great. It's eating me up having to wait until next weekend to get out there.


These look like waterways, not trails. Too wide to be trails and appear to be filled with water.
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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby Rob loper » Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:46 am

Ragingun wrote:
crackehelmet wrote:I'll definitely be on the look out for hunter sign as well. My first read on it was that this is such a small plot nobody is going to want to bother with it for deer. But, if I do, then somebody else probably does too.

Slightly off the topic of that particular marsh, but I've noticed in a few other places very pronounced trails along the edge of the transition line between the cattails and trees. These are much longer and deeper/heavier looking than the trails that cut through the marsh. Are these still deer trails? Does the elevation change leading into the transition cause this kind of particularly heavy track?

Again, thank you to everyone who's chimed in on this thread. you guys are great. It's eating me up having to wait until next weekend to get out there.


These look like waterways, not trails. Too wide to be trails and appear to be filled with water.


I agree ragin
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Re: An attempt at cyber scouting a marsh

Unread postby ghoasthunter » Wed Jan 10, 2018 2:00 pm

I like the canoe access down the middle could be real good
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