Author Topic: Waterlogged...  (Read 594 times)

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Offline daddywpb

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Waterlogged...
« on: August 06, 2003, 11:39:33 AM »
We set up our tree stand about a week ago. I went out last weekend to finish up, and the whole area is under about 8 - 10 inches of water. It's been raining every afternoon here. There was good sign around when we set it up. It's dry around the ladder and there was hog sign under the stand. Does the water mean that we need to move it?

Offline huntsman

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Waterlogged...
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2003, 04:34:01 PM »
Whether the water around your stand is a good or bad thing depends on a lot of factors. First of all, is the amount of rainfall you've had in the last few weeks extraordinarily high, or more like average for your location? You may need to do a little climate/weather research to know for sure. Secondly, you need to try to find out what this area should typically look like during the hunting season. If your hunting season is drier than your summer months, then the water will likely not be so high during the hunting season. (This is not always true; in my neck of the woods I watched deer wade through swampy areas where they normally graze on dry ground through most of the season last year because we had record rainfall in October.)

Deer can change their behavior patterns drastically and suddenly according to prevailing conditions and food supply. This is especially true in the fall when food sources tend to change from summer forage and grain crops to mast and cool-season forage. If you are getting plenty of rain now, chances are you will probably have a decent to good crop of acorns in the fall, a deer delicacy. Check the oak trees (both red and white oaks, but especially the white oaks) in the area near your stand for small (@pea-sized) developing acorns. If you see plenty of acorns, you can pretty well bet that the deer will be visiting these areas come late October and November. However, too good of an acorn crop can be counter-productive; when acorns are very plentiful, deer need only feed for short periods to fill up, and they spend much more time resting and chewing cud than foraging. Thus you may not see many deer moving about if you are a stand hunter under these conditions.

Note also the types and distribution of woody browse plants in the area (wild berries, young trees, vines, etc.). If the rains stay plentiful deer will stay primarily browsers on these sources as long and they are green and growing. Check for tender tips of branches that have been roughly clipped (looks like they were torn rather than cut). This is most likely deer feeding activity. Once again, the types of food sources deer use will change as the weather gets gradually cooler, so stay in tune with the changing conditions.

The standing water may temporarily change the deer movement patterns, but if it is part of the normal seasonal cycle in your area, then it probably won't impact their presence much. Deer sometimes actually prefer to feed in very wet, almost swampy areas because the browse is generally green and tender there all the time. The only way to know for sure is to be there in hunting season and find out first hand. I'd say if you have a spot where deer naturally congregate or travel through due to the terrain and local vegetation patterns, stick with it unless the water becomes too much of a hassle or the signs taper off or disappear altogether close to hunting season. :-)
There is no more humbling experience for man than to be fully immersed in nature's artistry.