Am I too deep in the woods?

Garelval said:

I found a swamp, deeeeeeep in the woods. It's a good 1.5 mile hike getting back there.
It's far away from easy public access. People with adjacent private property are pretty much the only guys I've seen out there. They still aren't putting much pressure on the deer.
So I thought it would be a little honey hole.

I figured the deer would come out of the swamp, from bedding. But after 2 years of scouting (without trail cams) I've only seen one doe walking out of the swampish part.

First question. Do deer bed in swamps? Do they mind a little mud and water? (Picture of the swamp I wanna drag a trophy from)

Second part, is that I'm also far from most cornfields. So I'm wondering if I'm too deep in the woods. Too far from the easy pickings of the agriculture. View attachment 855391

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Are you calling this big open area in This picture the swamp.

Garelval said:

I found a swamp, deeeeeeep in the woods. It's a good 1.5 mile hike getting back there.
It's far away from easy public access. People with adjacent private property are pretty much the only guys I've seen out there. They still aren't putting much pressure on the deer.
So I thought it would be a little honey hole.

I figured the deer would come out of the swamp, from bedding. But after 2 years of scouting (without trail cams) I've only seen one doe walking out of the swampish part.

First question. Do deer bed in swamps? Do they mind a little mud and water? (Picture of the swamp I wanna drag a trophy from)

Second part, is that I'm also far from most cornfields. So I'm wondering if I'm too deep in the woods. Too far from the easy pickings of the agriculture. View attachment 855391

Click to expand...

I see a hint of a bog.
And scant security cover.

Regardless of a given site , deer use it how they use it.
For hunting season , tell where deer used the site in your photo last year. And how?

wild guess is there are multiple runs across the bog looking terrain.
One near the woodline. (Depending on what deer encountered or consider avoiding it could involve another run a few jumps toward your foreground.)
One back inside the woodline.
Your scouting can confirm or deny.
But deer will skirt the open bog eventually. Somewhere.
Being deer , there's tracks across the bog too , somewhere sometime.

Some deer will use a swamp. Others are content to work the edge.
I watched one young buck last year with muck on one shoulder where it must have crashed struggling.
Most deer don't keep fighting the muck I have.

Another older buck elsewhere used to enter the hardwood swamp I hunted at daylight and splashed out to a bed(s).
one time I went through in waders and found deer hair on a big rotted topped pine stump just above water. Surrounded by water for many yards. Good luck putting the sneak on that bed's user.
Too watch deer there , watch the edge. Not an uncommon pattern. That buck crossed the edge other deer used. To security. If it wanted to seek out other deer it would have worked along the edge.

Deer leaving a swamp do so (given the choice) by having a vantage. Shade. Air movement. Destination after leaving. Primary and secondary. With secondary first at times if it's not dark yet.

If your site is unpressured(and it's perimeter too) you can keep scouting it.
If deer are pressured , I'd look for cover no one is bothering them in , and be sure it is cover they are using.
Finding where they enter and exit should be easy enough if more than a couple deer. Not that just one deer is bad if it is a deer you want to encounter.

Keep an eye out for multigenerational deer routes. Things change. But those old routes adapt with change often enough to still exist. When and why is for you to figure out.
That use may not be during your hunting time.

Along the better cover routes you should see old rubs. Made from a general direction deer approached from. Does left or right of the route matter?
Take a guess , evening or morning? Midday? When are bucks staging the most?
do pressured deer leave more , or less deliberate sign?
Is a buck using the route this year? When?

What is downwind of what you think are the best stand sites?
A buck can check that picture from downwind without entering it.
If so , where is the vantage spot for him to do that? And what is there? When? why?

Garelval said:

I found a swamp, deeeeeeep in the woods. It's a good 1.5 mile hike getting back there.
It's far away from easy public access. People with adjacent private property are pretty much the only guys I've seen out there. They still aren't putting much pressure on the deer.
So I thought it would be a little honey hole.

I figured the deer would come out of the swamp, from bedding. But after 2 years of scouting (without trail cams) I've only seen one doe walking out of the swampish part.

First question. Do deer bed in swamps? Do they mind a little mud and water? (Picture of the swamp I wanna drag a trophy from)

Second part, is that I'm also far from most cornfields. So I'm wondering if I'm too deep in the woods. Too far from the easy pickings of the agriculture. View attachment 855391

Click to expand...

That is terrible deer bedding. Along the perimeter and fringes and transitions from swamp to hardwoods, hardwoods to meadow are where the deer most likely are bedding. I see no real cover and if it’s literally wet, with no high ground anywhere unlikely any deer are bedding in there. Scenic it is, and thoughts of dragging a trophy buck from there are tempting, but I feel you need to give up the view and first and foremost look for active deer sign, second, hunt that active deer sign . Food sources, secure bedding, and not necessarily long ways a way from humans and human traffic, but areas overlooked closer to that traffic.

I’ve hunted tag alder, cedar and spruce/fir bogs and swamps for years and done well in them and near them. Each of those most importantly provided cover that was often more secure than surrounding lands, and bucks will use that cover to bed and does being pushed will also sometimes head for similar cover to either avoid or breed rutting bucks. Each of those also had some degree of food in the form of browse but cover was the main draw.

A key thing in the areas I hunt is difficulty of access by people because it’s too wet, too thick or both and that makes it secure and also lowers visibility to where shots greater than about 25 yards are rare without shooting lanes cut. The spot your showing looks more like a cranberry or similar bog, and I’d listen to the guys telling you how use it by hunting around it, or scout more for other spots.

In seriously thick & wet cover distance is not so important.

Garelval said:

I found a swamp, deeeeeeep in the woods. It's a good 1.5 mile hike getting back there.
It's far away from easy public access. People with adjacent private property are pretty much the only guys I've seen out there. They still aren't putting much pressure on the deer.
So I thought it would be a little honey hole.

I figured the deer would come out of the swamp, from bedding. But after 2 years of scouting (without trail cams) I've only seen one doe walking out of the swampish part.

First question. Do deer bed in swamps? Do they mind a little mud and water? (Picture of the swamp I wanna drag a trophy from)

Second part, is that I'm also far from most cornfields. So I'm wondering if I'm too deep in the woods. Too far from the easy pickings of the agriculture. View attachment 855391

Click to expand...

They probably don't have much reason to get back in that far right now but when the hunter numbers go up and pressure increases, that 1.5 miles isn't far enough for them to hide.

Dish7 said:

If they use the area to escape pressure, there still should be some old sign.

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Maybe or as in the case where I hunt, I only find deer tracks and beds. They travel during night and some places are so thick that finding sign is near impossible. Beds are hard to find from previous years as are tracks. My comment was for pressured deer during only those times not the remaining months of the year. I had a place 40 years ago in Chelsea where the cranberry marshes are where they laid low during daytime and moved at night. During later October we'd catch bucks moving at first light back to refuge from pressure. Occasionally killing one.

Without Cams you need to scout harder. As others suggest look for sign and hunt the freshest. Again deer are where they are if you want to be successful you have to find those spots. I would think that may be a excellent spot during gun season when the pressure really ramps up. When the bullets start to fly deer will head to areas with as little human presence as possible. If I were bow hunting I’d be hunting food sources in the evenings early season and as the rut begins to kick in near the end of October start hunting bedding cover in the morning ( your swamp). Opening day of gun season I’d pack a lunch and sit your swamp all day and wait for deer that are escaping gunfire to filter into your spot.

LGB said:

Maybe or as in the case where I hunt, I only find deer tracks and beds.

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I consider tracks and beds to be sign.

LGB said:

Beds are hard to find from previous years

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I disagree. Old beds, especially buck beds, are usually noticeable in my opinion.

Its worth a look. If your intentions are hunting the area this season you can do a quick walk around the the transition line and look for old rubs\new rubs and Large tracks going in and out of the swampy area. If you find trails or tracks ,then look for any trees ,points or high looking areas. Pick out a tree along the transition and throw a sit at it. You have nothing to lose. Worse case is you learn.
IMO the best time to check it out would be in the late winter or early spring. Then it doesn't matter if you go into it and blow deer out. Look for beds ,large tracks . Then you can plan your "attack".
I never rely on cameras for scouting ,but do use them for inventory of what maybe in an area.
They might be bedding close to or in the corn early season and only head to other areas of security cover after the corn has been cut or because of pressure.

First off a mile plus is not big deal for pressured deer to walk to feeding areas. They may choose to not move until after dark.

Deer will not bed in water but will bed in spots surrounded by water. Most swamps provide that kind of opportunity.

Does tend to bed closer to food sources than bucks.

Pressure will determine how far back deer bed from your food sources.

Entry and exit routes have to be carefully chosen to not alert deer via sound or scent.

Scouting will give you a idea of patterns. Try sitting in an observation stand that does not alert a deer to your presence.

Good luck.