Advice on where 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.

[NorthStar]

Was that aerial taken when water was high? It looks like pretty much all water arounds those hardwoods to me. Is there any elevation change in those woods? If so you might have some bedding based on elevation. Otherwise I would be looking in all spots where 2 or more diverse terrains meet and walk those transitions. Could be something as simple as where thick brush meets open timber. I would also check what looks like a gravel road coming in the property. You can cut tracks in those gravel roads and get a good idea of how deer use the property doing that. It look like there might be a small creek or waterway in the south part of the woods. I would walk both sides of that looking for beds. I hope this helps!

[Chaseman]

Yes, that aerial was taken when the water was high however the swamps typically always hold water around those hardwoods. It’s very rare for the swamps to be dry like it is currently. Although it makes it nice for scouting as you can easily see full of deer tracks all into the swampland. I wanted to follow the tracks to see where they would lead to but was hesitant to push deer out with it being so close to opening season so I went ahead and put a trail camera on one of the trails and caught a pic of a couple deer including that mature buck. Haven’t seen him since though.

Elevation is pretty flat here. There are mounds that stick out of the water at the base of some of those cypress trees in the swamp. Sounds like I do need to walk all those transitions to see if I can locate bedding.

Thank you for the reply, it’s appreciated! Very helpful.