FLOOD--DEER=HOW LONG?

[woodybox2002]

My deer hunting area is the river bottems and it is now under several feet of water. Does anybody have an idea on how long it will take the deer to move back into the area after the water drops? I am guessing that this years slug season might be a lost cause. I doubt the deer will start bedding here again until it is fairly dry and that they would choose not to eat any vegatation that is covored in river silt. I am interested in hearing about how flooding has affected your hunts in the past or how you think it will affect mine.

THANKS

[PerchJerker]

I don't know if they feed on recently flooded ground, but if there's still ground cover I wouldn't worry about them vacating it and not bedding there at all. Deer are not afraid to get wet if it means they'll stay hidden. And they have a great knack at searching out the small patches of higher, drier ground in the middle of swamps, so I think they'd do it in flood plains too. I wouldn't give up hope yet........

[Rippinlip]

I am in the same situation, my main area was under water, need to go today to see if is has dropped enought to get to my stands.

I am hoping it will not affect them too much, like mentioned above, if there is available cover they will use it.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Boar]

I to hunt riverbottoms an when it floods, the deer just move up to next shelf. I'm sure yours isnt much different than mine, if you look at the time table of erosion over the centeries, where the river is now, then as you move up the riverbottom, you find your old oxbows an dry river bottoms an shelfs an old points, the shelfs an old points with thick brushy cover is where I'll find them bedded down. Where you would find them before the flood, look for identical types, just move up the time table of mother nature. Boar

[96trigger]

The fast flooding that we have had down here has probably pushed the deer to higher ground, but as soon as it goes down, I believe they will return rather quickly. It would be totally different if the it would stay flooded for months, but its not a whole lot different than when deer get pushed out due to hunting pressure, they eventually move back in when they can.

[woodybox2002]

I to hunt riverbottoms an when it floods, the deer just move up to next shelf. I'm sure yours isnt much different than mine, if you look at the time table of erosion over the centeries, where the river is now, then as you move up the riverbottom, you find your old oxbows an dry river bottoms an shelfs an old points, the shelfs an old points with thick brushy cover is where I'll find them bedded down. Where you would find them before the flood, look for identical types, just move up the time table of mother nature. Boar

I wish that I could, but the land above it is close to houses and owned by a different person and I don't have permission from them. Fingers are crossed that the water will go down in the next couple of weeks and the deer will get reclimated to the area before the opener.

[bottom-bouncer]

I was out this morning hunting river bottoms by looking at the silt marks on my ladder sticks I would say the water was up about 5 feet or so on them. the deer are already back in the there lots of fresh sign since the water has went down.

[Boar]

Hard to believe about five weeks to rifle. Water is already going down, just need to keep going down. boar