How to Hunt Whitetails in Florida's Creek Bottoms

Florida has an incredible diversity of habitats and whitetail deer have adapted to thrive in nearly all of them; scrubs, piney flatwoods, palmetto sprawl, river marshes, prairies, suburb and golf course edges, cypress heads, bay and titi thickets, hammocks, and more. Perhaps the most beautiful habitats to find them are the hardwood creek bottoms. It is not the aesthetic aspect that steer deer into these zones but rather food, cover, and freedom from social pressures. Other environments may hold more deer or higher proportions of bucks, but creek bottoms supply their wants. Happily, people who hunt the bottoms receive the incidental pleasure of the remarkable beauty and rich diversity of life.

These bottoms are found along nearly all of the natural creeks and streams of Florida. The water level rises at times high enough to discourage development or agriculture, so they are left mostly in their natural state other than that the giant cypresses were lumbered out in the first half of the nineteen hundreds. These cypresses were large enough three people standing with hands joined could not reach around them. Hollow trees had no value and so were left standing. Impressive specimens can be found to this day. Cypress resist decay so stumps and fallen logs from bygone years remind swampwood hunters of their past grandeur.

Lush ferns, vines, forbs, fallen and low-hanging tree leaves, and water plants provide deer with year-round food sources that are supplemented with seasonal droppings of acorns from water, swamp chestnut, and other oaks, as well as cabbage palm berries, grapes, pawpaws, and wild oranges. Waters flowing through the bottoms, usually in several meandering channels, buffer the temperature keeping it cooler during times of heat and warmer during cold snaps. Many times, I have encountered deer bedded on narrow dry humps separating portions of creeks when the temperature dips near or below freezing.

People often ask about mosquitoes, and yes, they are present. At times, they can be annoying plentiful. However, at other times, they are sparse and of no consequence. When the water rises from abundant rain, other terrains develop puddles ideal for mosquito eggs to hatch. The waters of the flooded creek bottoms flow, rendering life difficult for mosquito larvae. Hunters encounter few, if any mosquitoes then. Also, during the dry months of winter it is not unusual to have few mosquitoes. However, when high water recedes, low spots in the bottom not connected to the flowing channels turn stagnant and the mosquito population soars. Deer hunting in Florida can be a solitary sport but at such times hunters cannot complain of lack of close companionship!

Lush-Green Hunting

Creek bottoms typically have canopies dense enough to filter out much of the light, creating a nearly magical day-long twilight. The predominant color is green, starting with subdued shafts of emerald sunshine sifting through the high leaves. The understory is a lush green as well, and the bottom is carpeted thickly with verdant ferns and lizardtail between the channels of tea-colored water. Many of the tree trunks and limbs are softened and hued green by thick mats of resurrection fern, orchids, shoestring ferns, and the climbing vines of poison ivy, woodbine, and greenbrier. Resurrection ferns are remarkable plants for during dry spells they dwindle to small, brittle, dead-looking clumps of brown and grey only to re-emerge as vibrant green plants within an hour of rainfall. Sometimes dew is moist enough to revive them. Swamp hunters get to see this transformation before their very eyes!

Hunters who choose to walk out of the creek bottom after dark without the aid of a flashlight are in for an additional treat. Fireflies put on a phenomenal display from high in the canopy to near at hand, multitudes of little blinking flashes of cool green light, swirling and pulsing and dazzling. Unseen flying squirrels may squeak piercingly at the hunter’s nearness. Of course, this practice is not safe where other hunters share the woods and a flashlight is desirable to unmistakably proclaim a human presence.

Whitetail Hunting

To target whitetails, hunters are advised to find a discrete food source where a stand can be set or several food sources between which the hunter can slip quietly. These food sources can be dropping acorn trees or berry-rich cabbage palms. Browse is more spread out and less dependable as a draw. However, storm-toppled maples or elms pull deer in like magic until no leaves remain within a deer’s reach. When a blow-down site is discovered it certainly is worthwhile to set a stand. Wild oranges, the sweet variety, are tremendous draws after the first cold snap sweetens them. Unfortunately, in my area, citrus greening has struck even the scattered lone ones. Many have died. Trees still living drop most of their fruit before it has ripened.

Even without a food source, some shallow creek channels seem to be regular deer travel routes, being used by successive generations. Sometimes, buck rubs give evidence to these travel channels that are used year after year. Some creek channels are deeper. I used to set stands at shallow points directly adjacent to long, deep stretches with the idea deer would be steered to ford there. Anyone who has hunted along fence lines knows that deer will often angle their travels to cross low spots or gaps in a fence even though they are quite capable of jumping it anywhere. It seemed that shallow crossings could dictate deer movement as well. However, after many years of observation, my conclusion is deer cross central Florida creeks wherever they choose; shallow spots hold no special attraction for them. Keep in mind that Florida creeks are relatively sluggish. I have seen in Nebraska and Kansas a marked predilection for deer to ford at shallow spots in their fast-rushing, rocky streams.

The Hunt-Stand Advantage

Mention was made above of slipping from one potential feeding locale to the next. Creek bottoms seem custom-made for still hunting. The footing is generally quiet and tree trunks and palmetto patches provide cover. Slow, careful movement, coupled with alertness and pauses to scan or inspect with binoculars, affords the still-hunter a decent chance of closely approaching game. And creek bottoms bestow a special advantage to stand hunters. Many times, the stand can be accessed by wading in the flowing creek waters, leaving less human scent behind to forewarn or alert game.

As far as stands go, cabbage palms, common throughout the bottoms, seem designed for climbing stands. Their trunks maintain nearly the same diameter for their entire length, making adjusting the angle of the stand simple, and their fibrous outer layer is quiet when climbing while simultaneously offering a secure grip for the stand. For saddle-stands, hunters will find oaks and other hardwoods with limbs that offer footrests and branches to break up their outline. Blowdowns are common enough that sometimes a hunter can walk up their angled trunks to either place a stand or saddle or to merely lean against an adjacent tree.

Most creeks carry clear water browned by tannins to a color like bourbon or weak tea. Once, in the Panhandle, I encountered an exceptionally clear stream wending its shallow, narrow way beneath oaks and elms. I followed upstream for a half a mile to discover its source—a crystal spring half as big as a backyard pool. The surrounding trees grew over it completely, so it was invisible from the air. The surface reflected the overhead green boughs, and, below that, ancient fallen trees crisscrossed down the shaft of the spring. I could see down at least 30 and maybe 40 feet. Truly a secret and lovely spot!

Creeks offer hunters an extra aid for it is much easier to drag harvested game along water channels than over ground. The channels wind enough that somewhere they usually approach the woods edge. Many times, creeks have helped me get arrowed deer or hogs close to where my truck could reach.

Life in the Creek Bottom

I enjoy hunting varied habitats but must admit few allow a hunter on a stand to witness as much life as creek bottoms. Ibises, limpkins, wood ducks, mergansers, egrets, and herons ply the waterways. Tree limbs and branches offer perches for hawks, barred owls, woodpeckers, kingfishers, and plentiful songbirds. Small birds move through the swampwoods in loose groups of mixed species. Their songs and flitting behaviors entertain the waiting hunter. Reptiles and amphibians are seen as well; rat snakes, water snakes, and indigos, cooter, mud, and snapping turtles, anoles, frogs, and, of course, ‘gators. Insects are multitudinous and many are interesting or beautiful. The ebony jewelwings entirely live up to their names! Four-footed animals include raccoons, otters, and squirrels along with occasional bobcats and coyotes. And, importantly, whitetail deer, hogs, and turkey can be encountered.

I mentioned indigos above and for decades they were not unusual inhabitants of the bottoms. However, in the last twelve years I have seen none. They seem to have vanished not only in the creek woods but from all terrains. I’m at a loss as to an explanation. We have less hogs than in years past. I’ve never heard of a human hurting one. Our other snakes seem as plentiful as ever. The one change I can think of is that coyotes began colonizing the region I mostly hunt in the early nineties and are now plentiful and widespread. While there is little doubt that a hungry coyote would prey on an indigo, it seems unlikely that the behavior is widespread enough to wipe out the entire population, especially so with other snakes thriving. One is left to conjecture if perhaps a disease dealt the indigo population a significant blow.

Hogs can also be hunted in the swampwoods. Like whitetails, when acorns are dropping, hogs can be ambushed near oaks with heavy crops. Hogs also utilize the creek bottoms for its cooler temperatures during times of heat and for water and mud in seasons of little rain. When solely targeting hogs, I like to still-hunt, covering ground rather than wait in one place. Almost always, sounds of feeding (or skirmishing) hogs will betray their proximity to the hunter before they discover him or her.

Turkey are harder but not impossible. Be aware turkey generally descry hunters on tree stands from a good distance. As for stalking, lizardtail and ferns grow precisely the right height to hide turkey bodies while their heads, armed with phenomenal eyesight scan for danger, reminding the hunter of hard to notice but very observant submarine periscopes. Regardless, now and then, things fall in place for both the stand hunter and stalker.

The biggest difficulty associated with creek bottom hunting for deer and hogs is the vagrancy of the wind. Most creek bottoms are bordered by more open terrain on each side of the bottom and even small changes in pressure influence air currents. Any gust on either side ushers air through the swamp and gusts in the wooded bottom move air one way or another along it. Also, near its edges, winds over the treetops suck back, confounding the hunter who set up according to the forecasted prevailing wind. Hunters who take light, wispy, dandelion-like seeds to the stand marvel at the many directions they travel when released. It seems no direction is immune from their voyages. The hunter’s scent is similarly being bandied about. Stronger winds can be more reliable than light ones, yet even they are subject to pressure changes from gusts. When an opportunity at a deer or hog presents, it is a good idea to act promptly for devilishly fickle air currents can betray the hunter. This is so true that, when taking friends into the swamp for hogs with a bow, I urge them to close the distance quickly. The risk of detection by un-cautious movements or sounds is less than the near certainty of errant breezes.

Creek bottoms offer Florida hunters great chances at game, all in a setting of great beauty and charm.

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• This article was featured as a “Florida Gem” in the August-September issue of Florida Sportsman magazine. Click to subscribe.

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