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Swamp hunt, mature bachelor group.

Last fall I was fortunate enough to have a customer clue me in to a hell of a hunting location on some public land. He is an avid duck hunter and does deer hunt, but only gun season on his property further north. He showed me a video that made my jaw drop. He was duck hunting the 2nd weekend of October on a peninsula (his location is red dot) and filmed with his phone across a the swamp about 80 yards, a group of at least 4 bucks moving around on an island (red x), all of which were a minimum of 140", one of which I will say was close to 170".

I hunted the spot one time in December last year just to see what it was about (blue dot was my location) behind a one sided ground blind. Obviously my expectations were not high as it is obvious that these deer used this island as a early season bachelor pad. This swamp can be very wet, and is EXTREMELY thick. on both the peninsula (2) and the island (1) there are no trees big enough for any sort of stand, so it would need to be from the ground. I have a ghost blind that I purchased this year with hopes it may offer a better alternative given that it is public and I do not want to leave any stands out.

He has duck hunted this location numerous times, and states that he has never seen a bow hunter in the area. It is a 30,000 acre wildlife management area, that offers tons of hunting potential and wooded areas. This location is on the very edge, the dirt road to the east being the boundary. I have a feeling that the lack of woods and usable trees has caused many hunters to look past its potential.

I know he is being honest about the video, I stood in his exact location that he stated and saw all of the same scenery that he recorded. Using google earth I marked out the vast spiderweb of trail activity coming from this island, as well as trailing through some smaller islands. I have little idea about how I could do this. Island 1 is roughly only 150 yards across, making me think accessing it without bumping deer would be difficult. Also given that it is extremely thick surrounding it.

Everyone's thoughts?

This is the exact stuff I look for. This area looks freakin awesome and It's rather simple and very predictable. I'm gonna send you a pm

No matter what, play the wind. As a matter of fact, I'd only hunt it on an extremely windy day, which would cover your sound as well as scent in your approach. I'd likely make two blinds. One for each wind playing an East or West wind.

Another option would be to be in a spot long before the duck hunter, and hope he pushes deer to you. That means a GPS and night travel, which I believe alarms deer much less. Again, play the wind!

There are so many opportunities just like yours that takes much effort to hunt, but certainly has its just rewards!

Good luck!

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