DS19 Part 27: The Marsh

I scouted a spot this spring that looked pretty promising. Finally got the right wind for it today and scouted my way in. This spot is the southern edge of a large stand of hardwood hills where they transition into pines, then into a tag alder marsh, a creek, then pines and aspen. Stiff south breeze gave me good sound cover going in. Stayed about 40yds off the transition line and was looking for either heavily used trails or fresh buck sign coming out of the bedding.

Love this time of year 

Came across a nice rub and a small, fresh scrape without a licking branch over it. Didnt feel right so I kept moving. Got on a better runway and almost stepped on a monster clump of buck poop on a lightly used runway coming out of the tags. I slowed down and 40yds east of it was a heavier used runway coming out. The best tree I could find was centered in between them, but with all the pine branches everywhere, my best option was to only be about 6' up. I hung my stand and was settled in by 4pm. Sat till 5pm and just wasnt feeling like I made the right call so I jumped down, packed up and followed the runways into the tags. I felt like I was close to bedding but not close enough. I also felt like I needed to bump a deer to confirm I was in the ballpark. Next thing you know other heavier runs converged, and converged, and converged and just before the creek it was basically a very well worn run skirting the edge of a bog the deer didnt want to walk through.

About 40yds before the creek I j-hooked off the runway and set up so I could shoot anything coming by before it got my ground scent. To do that, I had to walk across the super spongy, wet bog the deer were skirting around, and I found out why they were avoiding it.  I had to do the sideways step thing to catch grass under my feet to keep me from sinking. There was about three to five inches of standing water where I needed to set up to use the creek as a shooting lane so I laid my stand under my pack and used my pack to sit on. Worked pretty good, though my feet were in about an inch of water. Was expecting them to start sleeping in water but the goretex liner kept my feet dry.

The stand kept my pack mostly out of the water and the lumbar pad on my pack made for a nice seat cushion.

Heard deer moving just out of sight upwind but never saw them. Also pretty sure I heard a buck grunt about 50yds west of me. But that was it. It was dark around 7 and I hiked out. Really enjoyed this hunt

My view of the creek crossing