hunting over water

[Ron 1]

in the past two years i have noticed that the bigger bucks tend to move in to the big swamp during the firearm season. i have moved a tree stand into the swamp  and i have seen more deer walking around in all of that water than i could ever believe. now i have been thinking about deer season already and im getting a few things to think about.  the blood trail. there wont be one in the water. ok  if im quick i might be able to follow the muddy foot prints in the water or splashed leaves or maybe even blood on the leaves or branches. i will be watching were the deer runs but was wondering if anyone has any tips that will help me recover a deer i have shot. we only get to use shot guns so the bang flop is not the normal out come. any help or advise would be very helpful  thanks in advance.
    rw

[buck460XVR]

The long/tall vegetation that grows in swamps is as much as a hindrance as the water. The blood may drop to the ground  below the long stems of the swamp grass, be down low on it, or on the underside. One must part the grass with their hands and look. One method I use is to look for water splashed up on the vegetation. Walking deer don't splash water and badly wounded deer splash a lot. Many times this splashed water will be tinted slightly red. Water splashed high up on vegetation meas a wildly running deer. Tall swamp vegetation is hard to see thru when you are on the ground, but it is noisy.  Trail quietly and stop and listen often. Wounded deer will many times head for deeper water.

[Mohawk]

If you using a slug in the boiler room a blood trail really shouldn't be necessary. Shouldn't run very far. If buckshot, it may pose a problem.

[Ron 1]

i will be using my mossberg 20 ga. with hornady sst slugs
i think the swamp is only about 4 foot deep now so in the fall the water level goes down some
i have hunted in the river bottoms for the last 8-10 years  so i do have some experience in and around the water when it comes to trailing shot  deer.
 i was hopping someone might have  some tips or tricks i have not tried or heard of
from my tree stand i can see about 60-70 yrds at the most and i do know how fast a wounded deer can cover 100 yrds so being able to watch it run and fall is not always possible for me here
  rw

[shot1]

The best advice in your situation that I might pass on to you is to use a high front shoulder shot. They don't run most of the time after taking that one. If you are shooting a rifled barrel you should have the accuracy to use this shot with confidence. Waaaaay back many years ago I used a Rem 1100 shotgun with a smooth bore slug barrel and the old Brenneke slug in the swamps of NC and it was accurate enough for pin point accuracy out to 50 or so yards and I could keep them in a coffee cup at 100 yards. So if your gun will not shoot the slugs you chose in a tight grouping try some others you may find super accuracy. But the Hornady SST slug as been a very accurate one in about everything I have seen them shot in and the 20 gage seems more accurate than the 12.  One thing I have noticed about the swamp is the water is not moving and just a little blood on the water looks like a whole bunch. You will be surprised how much blood you can see on the water if you don't wait too long to start trailing.