Lets talk river bottom tactics, share stories and pics. Im looking for some good info on hunting these thick river areas where big bucks call home.
if hunting right by river,like to find if possible where river makes a ""u" usually on inside of"u" will be willow thicket and usually pretty dense undergrowth. they seem to like to bed in them areas around here. set up outside of thickets, maybe get lucky!
On my hunting property I try to locate the heavily used crossings and set up on them accordingly. I visited my hunting property yesterday and found several places like this and plan to hunt them next season. Not sure where you are but here the undergrowth is very thick in these bottoms so I would agree with wags that the best place to set up would be just outside the thickets as close to the trails as possible. I found several places like this at my hunting property yesterday and the buck sign is everywhere.
i hunt some land on the platte river here in Nebraska. Very hard to hunt. There are too many places to hide and it makes them very hard to pattern. Ive seen some 200 in + bucks in there, but never had a chance at one. The river has been up the last 2 years and since its been up I havent seen a mature deer on the property in those 2 years. Its a 2 hour drive for me and dont have much time to scout it. Id say your best bet is to put some trail cams up and start getting to know the deer there.
Learn to recognize when and were the river is really a factor. In some smaller bottoms that are easily crossed at many locations, the cover on both sides of the river is a more important factor then are easy fording places. If the deer dont view the river as barrier then you shouldn't either and adjust accordingly.
I grew up gun hunting some river bottoms. We would set-up on natural funnels that occurred from backwaters, downed-trees, thick undergrowth, etc.. For some reason where we hunted the mornings were always the most productive. Now that I think back at those set-ups it was 'cause we would not disturb the deer where they fed in the fields, but we would be waiting in ambush on their way back to the bedding grounds. I truly do not remember a single deer taken in the evening by our group.
I LOVE hunting river bottoms! Can be frustrating at times but if it's thick and nasty you never know what may come along. Like to look for scape lines back in the cover/brush... Right before the bucks start rutting hard, they are working those scrapes back in cover pretty aggressively. Also like hunting little bends in the river - I call them tear drops. Here's a nice river bottom buck I shot a couple of years ago - I loved the bladed tines on him... Was a memorable hunt because he was only a few yards away - was at full draw and he locked up as hard as I've ever seen a deer do - all of a sudden the old warrior knew something wasn't right and was trying to figure out what to do next. Too late - Checkmate....
Back in my younger days when i could hunt in KY with a youth license, i would hunt with my uncle on his place on the Ky river in madison county. One stand i always hunted was at the top of the hill from the river overlooking a gas line clearing. When i was 14, i watched a group of about 10 does come down the hill on the other side of the river and swim across the river. I shot the biggest doe once she stepped out of the water. That was the first instance, after that we shot several deer coming up out of the water. They swam it like it was no big deal.
I killed the buck in my avatar on a river bottom. For me and my spot, the seeking phase of the rut is best. The woods "hourglass" along the river creating tight funnels. I've seen several bucks here. The patch I have to hunt isn't very big and there's not a lot of wooded area along the river. But on a north wind at the right time of year it's a deadly spot.
Very nice buck and thanks for posting mobow. I found a few good spots today but most were actually more away from the river than I was hoping. Its public land and there were lots of people fishing and camping right off the river. I found some good spots up on some ridges and near creek bottoms. Looking forward to learning more.
I hunt along the Platte River here in Nebraska. We like to try and find rub lines and heavy commuted trails. Really thick in some places... to the point where it's hard to walk through. My advice is try to set up a few camera's through the property to get an idea of where they're hanging out. We also use some feeders and keep camera's on them. BB2 in the feeders and some Monster Raxx on the ground. They definitely help you get an idea of what kind of deer you have to work with especially this time of year, they just hammer on it everyday. Another thing, I don't know your situation but for us some areas that are a little more open we took a brush mower and cleared some areas for food plots, just an idea.
The area Im looking into is public land so I cant put anything out. Just good old whitetail detective work and some blessing from God to put down a shooter!
man you kill some hawgs! very nice SDH as far as river bottoms go, I have minimal hunting experience in this habitat compared to a lot of you guys, so I am gonna just keep watching this and listening..
In back of my house where I grew up there's 300 acres of prime river bottom. We had permission to hunt It. As a youngster this Is where I learned my woodsmanship. Did lots of duck hunting and deer hunting In this river bottom till I was 15 years old. It's where I shot my 1st deer and 1st duck. It then got sold to someone else and we no longer were able to hunt It. I so wish I knew then what I know now when It comes to deer hunting. Like any other deer hunting terrain you have to get an Idea where the big boys bed. I can tell you right now where these bucks bed but I didn't know this years ago as a youngster. I'd give allot of cash to buy this place. Best of luck!
