Late muzzleloader season deer question

[The Big Game Hunter]

I'm relatively new to Western Washington and this is the first season I've ever hunted Blacktail Deer. I found a parcel of public land relatively close to where I live that seems to have moderate to low hunting pressure. That piece of land is at a relatively low elevation and is fairly wet. When scouting the area, I've found a marsh surrounded by lots of oak trees that looks very promising and contains lots of deer tracks, well used trails, and lots of deer & bear scat. During both the early and late muzzleloader season I've hunted along the edge of the marsh and I haven't seen a single deer (though I did see a bear). However, I have heard lots of activity in the marsh early in the morning (6:30-8:00am). It may be my imagination, but it really sounds to me like large animals entering and /or exiting the water in the marsh. After my hunt this morning, I investigated in the direction of where I heard the sounds and discovered several well used trails leading right into the marsh with lots of tracks and fresh deer scat on them. I set up this afternoon overlooking those trails, but saw and heard nothing. My guess is that the deer are spending most of the night in the marsh and leaving right at the beginning of the day, but returning well after dark. My thought is to hunt those trails again first thing in the morning and if that fails, to follow them away from the marsh and try to find another spot to set up and catch the deer returning for the evening when they are further away to have a chance of catching them during the day.

Am I off base here? What are your thoughts?

[janttihunter]

Good plan  maybe set up a trail cam too?

[Runamuck]

I would think it would be the opposite....bedding in swamp during day and leaving to feed around dark?

[The Big Game Hunter]

I would think it would be the opposite....bedding in swamp during day and leaving to feed around dark?

That is indeed the question. I have a trail camera set up, and so far I have one photo of a 3x3 heading back to the swamp at 7pm. I'm going to check it again at the end of the week and see what it captures with a few days of minimal human activity in the area. The reason I think they are leaving in the morning is because of that trail camera photo combined with the significantly greater amount of activity I heard in the morning vs the afternoon.

That being said, you may well be right. I'm very interested to see what the camera says when I go check it again.

[scottcrb]

keep after it . the more time in the woods the  better your chances but seems like your in the right spot your luck will turn. toss on some waders and explore that marsh a bit better, see if you can find some bedding areas or jump that buck out of there during the day.

[The Big Game Hunter]

keep after it . the more time in the woods the  better your chances but seems like your in the right spot your luck will turn. toss on some waders and explore that marsh a bit better, see if you can find some bedding areas or jump that buck out of there during the day.

Good idea with the waders. I may give that a shot if I haven't gotten a deer in there at the end of the season. If they won't come to me during daylight, I might just come to them.

[Heredoggydoggy]

Deer are primarily nocturnal critters.  They don't do too much during the day.  Better to stake out the trails going into the swamp, and catch them going in to bed down. 

[The Big Game Hunter]

Deer are primarily nocturnal critters.  They don't do too much during the day.  Better to stake out the trails going into the swamp, and catch them going in to bed down. 

I'm checking my camera on Friday, so I'll make my decision on exactly when and where to hunt based off of what those photos say. I'm afraid that you're right though. However, if it were easy, deer hunting wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

[Alpinegus]

However, I have heard lots of activity in the marsh early in the morning (6:30-8:00am). It may be my imagination, but it really sounds to me like large animals entering and /or exiting the water in the marsh.

It is Big Foot country. Careful in there! 

[The Big Game Hunter]

I checked the trail camera last week and got a few photos of deer. While there were not as many photos as I thought there would be, I did get several more of deer heading back to the swamp around 7:00pm, unfortunately well after last light and legal shooting hours. We did have unusual weather last week and it was significantly colder (20-30 degrees colder at times) than it usually is here this time of year. It snowed the morning I went to check the camera and the swamp was nearly frozen over. I did not see a single deer track or other sign of any recent animal activity. Do you think that the weather had that significant of an affect on their movement?

Luckily, the weather is starting to return to normal and the temperatures for the rest of the week and this weekend will be much closer to average than they have been lately. My plan is to still hit that area up Saturday morning like I originally planned. Does anyone have any better ideas?

[Heredoggydoggy]

It is now the rutting season.  They will be out looking for love, and throwing caution to the wind!  (The weather isn't the only thing that changes their habits.  Where I have my camera, the critters stop using the crossing as soon as the wheat fields above the crossing are harvested.)