How to scout property

[Chaseman]

I joined my family hunting lease in south Louisiana which is made up mostly of cypress swamps with hardwood ridges in between swampy areas. I'm looking to start scouting the swamps in hopes of locating some decent bucks. I placed a trail camera in a small area that I started scouting this year in the swamp which had a lot of deer tracks (swamp is currently dry in most places right now due to low water) and got an image of a nice buck, haven't seen him since though. Just looking for some advice on where you think the best places to start scouting on this lease would be as these swamps can be overwhelming.

We have box stands with feeders located at some of the transitions between swamp and hardwood ridges but haven't had much success out of them in regards to nice bucks. I'm trying a new strategy of scouting in the swamps and bouncing around with a tree climber. Any advice would be appreciated.

[ConnorH97]

What’s up man! I hunt the the other side of the lake from where your at.
This is my first year hunting this lease. Mostly all cypress with exception of a well pad and old road. More less a ridge through the swamp the deer travel at night.
Have you figured anything out with hunting the cypress swamps?

[Boogieman1]

I admire the fact you are getting outside of “standard” area hunting practices. Box blinds and corn feeders are the staple in my state of Texas. Drives me nutz.

I will mention a basic run down of what I do. Take all of it, some of it, or none of it. Don’t matter to me. I ALWAYS start my scouting along the perimeter fences on both private and public. I wanna figure out how they are coming/going. Usually I can locate several preferred crossings points. So then I deploy cams to determine what is actually crossing. Sometimes only night action but not always. I like these type spots cause they offer easy in/ easy out. Not bumping deer all over the place just trying to slide in.

Next I look for water or topography that a deer in it’s right mind cannot go through. I find where that restriction stops and take a look around.

If I don’t have either of previous things mentioned playing into my favor. Then I will walk every deer trail on the entire place looking for a spot where multiple trails get pushed together. Then I circle that area searching for lots of buck sign. Sometimes right at the convergence others times outward of 100 yards. But based on landscape can tell they still travel through. If you happen to notice various years of old sign that’s even better.

If none of this is found I put up cams on food sources and thick edges and try to catch a lucky break meanwhile searching for happier hunting grounds that play into my strengths.

[Dpoole90]

I admire the fact you are getting outside of “standard” area hunting practices. Box blinds and corn feeders are the staple in my state of Texas. Drives me nutz.

I will mention a basic run down of what I do. Take all of it, some of it, or none of it. Don’t matter to me. I ALWAYS start my scouting along the perimeter fences on both private and public. I wanna figure out how they are coming/going. Usually I can locate several preferred crossings points. So then I deploy cams to determine what is actually crossing. Sometimes only night action but not always. I like these type spots cause they offer easy in/ easy out. Not bumping deer all over the place just trying to slide in.

Next I look for water or topography that a deer in it’s right mind cannot go through. I find where that restriction stops and take a look around.

If I don’t have either of previous things mentioned playing into my favor. Then I will walk every deer trail on the entire place looking for a spot where multiple trails get pushed together. Then I circle that area searching for lots of buck sign. Sometimes right at the convergence others times outward of 100 yards. But based on landscape can tell they still travel through. If you happen to notice various years of old sign that’s even better.

If none of this is found I put up cams on food sources and thick edges and try to catch a lucky break meanwhile searching for happier hunting grounds that play into my strengths.

This is spot on with what I try to do. I find some really good spots in the corners and near property lines.

[Chaseman]

What’s up man! I hunt the the other side of the lake from where your at.
This is my first year hunting this lease. Mostly all cypress with exception of a well pad and old road. More less a ridge through the swamp the deer travel at night.
Have you figured anything out with hunting the cypress swamps?

Hey man! Pretty cool to find find someone local on here. Still a work in progress. The swamps are so large on our property that it can get overwhelming. I’ve sectioned off areas of swamps to scout to try to locate deer trails and signs and plan to cover as much ground as possible. I was fortunate to kill my personal best buck earlier this season although I believe a lot of luck was involved. I was hunting a good deer trail but am pretty certain a hunter arriving late pushed him on me. Still scouting and trying to gather intel for the remainder of the season and for next season.

[Chaseman]

I admire the fact you are getting outside of “standard” area hunting practices. Box blinds and corn feeders are the staple in my state of Texas. Drives me nutz.

I will mention a basic run down of what I do. Take all of it, some of it, or none of it. Don’t matter to me. I ALWAYS start my scouting along the perimeter fences on both private and public. I wanna figure out how they are coming/going. Usually I can locate several preferred crossings points. So then I deploy cams to determine what is actually crossing. Sometimes only night action but not always. I like these type spots cause they offer easy in/ easy out. Not bumping deer all over the place just trying to slide in.

Next I look for water or topography that a deer in it’s right mind cannot go through. I find where that restriction stops and take a look around.

If I don’t have either of previous things mentioned playing into my favor. Then I will walk every deer trail on the entire place looking for a spot where multiple trails get pushed together. Then I circle that area searching for lots of buck sign. Sometimes right at the convergence others times outward of 100 yards. But based on landscape can tell they still travel through. If you happen to notice various years of old sign that’s even better.

If none of this is found I put up cams on food sources and thick edges and try to catch a lucky break meanwhile searching for happier hunting grounds that play into my strengths.

Appreciate the advice, definitely some tips that I can use myself. One thing that came to mind is that there’s a beaver pond within the swamp that historically the deer would travel the perimeter of and made for a good spot. Haven’t hunted it in years due to it being over hunted and also being a good hike to get to. I decided to go place a trail camera there a couple days ago and found a deer bed and caught a nice buck on camera at night. Just need to figure out how to approach that spot.