Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Have you killed any bucks along streams or tributaries?

I was reading an "old school" book on deer camps and one of the illustrations was a hand sketched stream with various tributaries and the fellow had marked all the locations of downed bucks over the years. I found his results to be very interesting as all of those bucks seemed to be tucked in pretty close.

In the particular area of Maine I'll be in this November there are many areas like the one above and being a still hunter I'm planning on getting betwixt various tributaries and hopefully cutting some good tracks or finding some good sign.


Tell me about your experience hunting for bucks along waterways. Post some pics if you can.

Thanks

My best stand is a on a ditch that runs to a river. The deer follow it, cross it, drink from it.. you name it.

Depends on what distance from the stream is considered. Bucks 1-2-3 were all killed by the stream, within 15' or less. The bottom buck was killed about 100 yards from the stream, up a small drainage. The middle two deer were killed out of the same spot within 25 hours of each other.
The two pics with the Ruger 77 in 30-06. The other two by myself. One with a Savage 219 in 30-30 and the other a Sav 99 EG iin 300. No shot over 25 yards.
All deer were killed in the last 3 years.

Oh yes, but they were arroyos.

I have hunted Whitetail deer for the past 38 years almost exclusively on 153 acres in Minnesota that I own with my brothers.

this property has the Moosehorn River running right through it.

For the first few years that we hunted it, I more than regularly noticed (heard) splashing sounds down by the river, which was about 200 yards from where I had built a treestand. I thought it was beavers.

Finally, I couldn't take it any longer and went down to the river and decided to stand there for a day or two to see what the beavers were doing. It turned out that much of the sound was from deer crossing the river.

Right then and there I built a tree stand right on the bank of the river. And I have hunted there ever since. And there has not been one single year that I have failed to see a deer, and I would say maybe only one or two years when I failed to shoot a deer there, but only because Minnesota had a restricted season allowing bucks only.

I have seen as many as 13 deer, walking single file, cross that river at one time. I have seen them walk in the shallow parts, and I have seen them swim across the deeper parts.

I have shot them on the banks, and in the middle of the river.
Each season, on the first day, I carry my hip boots down to that stand and leave them there for the season.

My conclusion after all of these years is that deer somehow feel that water is a safety feature for them. They will cross water when they are being agitated or bothered, thinking that whatever it is that is chasing them will not also cross the river. It is almost predictable that they will stop while in the river to look back from where they are coming from.

And, of course, they also come to the river very early in the morning and just before sundown to drink. Obviously, if you are a hunter you can take advantage of this habit.

Plus, if you hunt on a river, you get to see all kind of other wildlife while you are not seeing deer. I regularly see beaver, otter, mink, muskrat, ducks, geese, turkeys, bear, racoons, and eagles. And rarely, fisher, and ermine.

I agree. It makes it a lot easier to sit when you can watch the wildlife.

In farm country, like Nebraska, the most cover is in the "waste ground" around creeks, so the combination of cover and water makes for good bedding ground.

In heavily timbered New England, I think that there is usually enough cover away from water such that deer aren't attracted to water like they might be in farm country, where there are miles and miles of cut wheat, corn, soybean, and milo fields with only minimal cover. I shot most of my New England deer as they traveled along the sides of ridges or when I jumped them from bedding areas.

Jeff

Yup, I hunt small creeks in Alabama woods all the time, hearing the sound of running water is just so amazing.

The first 10-12 deer I killed came out of the swamps along the St. Johns River. We don't drag deer, we float em out. I've waded through chest deep water to get to my stand. Yeah I've killed a few along the stream.

Jeff, the cover around here and Northern New England is very diverse and I like that a lot as it creates many different transition zones. Ridges and hardwoods dominate but the low lands are swampy and there are many streams, etc.

But you can find that in many parts of the U.S. The book I mentioned above is Deer Camp - Last Light In The Northeast Kingdom by John Miller.

The roughly drawn map of many bucks that where killed along this set of streams (like a historical perspective on killing) got me thinking that hunting in this type of landscape could pay dividends.

I've killed several near small streams or rivers. Two, last year, were within 50 feet of a small river.

I hunt in several areas of the state of Maine and have shot or had folks at deer camp shoot plenty of deer within a stones throw of a brook or stream.

I hunt a ridge that sits between two creeks. I've killed deer on both sides of the ridge and in both creek bottoms. I hunt the ridges in good weather, especially early in the year then go down in the bottoms later in the season when the deer get pressured or any time the wind is blowing hard. Bottom line, I'm never far away from the water.

i hunted the oregon coast for 13 years and shot almost all my deer within a couple hundred yards of streams or creeks... however every ravien and draw has a creek runnin down it!

Didn't read the entire post and I apologize if I reiterate others. I have killed deer (bucks and does) as well bear along river beds. Remember the water will hide sound both yours and theirs and the shots will be close so be ready. Keep in mind that your scent being heavier than air will drop to the water level and follow it down stream. I have found that deer will hang around streams rivers and creek beds very readily and even more so during high pressure times for the obvious cover, water and usually lush food that grows there. It's a great place to hunt but only if you recognize that it is usually harder to hunt successfully due to the unique circumstances it presents especially the drafts and airflows that can get you busted from any direction. It's nothing like sitting on a stump in the open hardwoods that's for sure.

Since you are in Maine and hunting whitetails, Ill only post a couple pics of them...



50 yds from a creek...



A favorite hunting pard..



another one 50 yds. from the creek..




Anyway, you get the picture(s)...


Ingwe

You're slippin...not at dink in the bunch.

Great pics Ingwe. BTW how is Chesty Puller doing? Trust all is going well with that project.

Ignore the ridiculous face I'm making:



He was literally ON the Bighole River when I shot him.

My performance has been improving since those pics were taken...I have progressively been able to hit smaller and smaller targets...




Ingwe