Tamarack Swamp Habitat Improvement Idea
Wisconsin
Contributors to this thread:
I've got 60 acres of Tamarack Swamp in Waushara County and interested on your thoughts on how to improve the habitat for bowhunting. The swamp is a combination of areas of Tamaracks, open areas with Canary Grass and various brushes/weeds, i.e., tag alders, red dosier dogwood, poison sumac, etc. The 60 acres is very thick and currently very wet. In most years it dries out, but the last couple years have been wetter than normal. The soil is a very heavy black peat with 50% organic matter.
Each year (August) a system of paths are made with a 6 wheeler (tracks) to navigate the 60 acres and to get to the 15 plus treeestands. Once the paths are created (one time) we walk in and out of the swamp to hunt. We try to be careful about our entrance and exit into the swamp and in addition 25 acres of the 60 are treated as a sanctuary. The 15 treestand locations are based on past deer sightings, deer sign and edge/funnel locations.
We do get some very nice bucks on camera, but there appears to be no real pattern to when and where they appear. By habitat improvements I really mean what can we do to improve the pattern and frequency of when and where these nice bucks appear.
We've tried food plots in the past and they are a viable option in years when dry enough. Should we try planting more natural browse? Should we trim some of the brush that is perhaps overgrown? Should we trim paths through the tag alders or brush to try to encourage deer movement on these paths? Should we try and and help create bedding areas?
Lots of stuff written on habitat improvement, but not much on swamps. Interested in any ideas you might have. Thanks!!!
All of the things you listed are good. Trimming paths that make good shooting opportunities from your stands are always a good thing to do. Positioning stands where paths intersect for good shots are always good too. Above all, chose stand locations so for any given wind direction you have a stand setup somewhere in a location that works. I have sometimes setup multiple stands as little as 20 yards apart to presumably make the best use of the current wind conditions. Sometimes a buck will bust you and if you have another stand nearby that covers the same trail you can likely get a good shot the next day.
Plus, very important. Choose portable tree stands, ladder stands, chairs in a ground blind, and so on that don't make any any noise when you turn your body and get into shooting position.
Burn it like the Menomonee Falls swamp burned last week. It is already greening up and will be amazing in a few weeks. This was a wildfire. Could the dnr do a controlled burn on your property? It would eliminate all the dead grass and cattails and would be all fresh young growth. It would be a deer magnet.
Red Osier Dogwood. A staple food source especially with snow cover. You have some propigate more by planting. Dr. Ken Norberg has a piece on it in one of his videos. See what you can improve to have robust Red Osier.
Thanks for the suggestions. The only one I'm reluctant to do is the burn due the high organic matter in the soil. I've been told about burns that get started and spread under ground and are very difficult to put out. With the water being high that might not be an issue.
Lots of stands for different winds and seem to be adding more. Agree that quiet stands are extremely important!!!!
Wasn't there a peat bog in WI somewhere that started on fire and burned (or is still burning) for years?
The DNR can't do rX burns on private land. Tamarack is not resistant to fire and likely to die as a result of fire.