I hesitated on the title. Hunting the Great Cypress Swamp in southern Delaware is never dull because anything can happen at any moment. Considering I hunted over seven days and put in 14 sits without hanging a tag on a deer though, I have to say it was a little disappointing. Hunting the peak rut (second week of November) is anything but a sure bet for success and if I’m being honest, it’s my least favorite time to hunt. Deer activity is less predictable and if you’re not on or near “the X,” you might as well be 10 miles away. I found myself waffling on stand decisions and whether to hunt with my compound or longbow, and that led to an overall sense of being a rudderless ship. In the end, I only had a little bit of blood and a clump of hair to show for my effort.
At the outset of the hunt, the weather was warm and there was a steady wind out of the south, which always seems to make things tougher for picking a stand. To avoid putting pressure on some of the better spots, Ron and I opted to hunt the southern end of the property on the western side of Hudson Road. Neither of us saw a deer, but it was nice to get back in a tree and break the ice. The next morning I hunted from a tree I had been in a few times before hoping to navigate the tricky southern wind, but the risk didn’t pay off. I did see two deer, a doe and a spike, but both got wind of me and there was no shot. Things were about to change though and I got my eyes on a good on one Sunday evening.
When I was there in mid-October, Ron and I marked some trees on the newly created Pond Trail that was cut to gain easier access to what we refer to as the Hell Hole. I sat in the first tree we marked on the north end of the trail and had my eyes on a good shooter at 2:15 p.m. I tried calling to him but that was before I realized he was tending a doe. In hindsight, calling was a bad idea because naturally he wasn’t interested in potentially having his doe get close to another buck and he eventually steered her in the other direction. I ended up seeing several other deer that evening but never got a shot. That was a sign of things to come.
I bounced around the swamp to various stands primarily around The Point and Pond Trail where the most sign was and saw deer on all sits but one. I had a close call on a nice three year-old buck that came in to my ground setup to just 10 yards, but I was hunting with my compound and wasn’t going to shoot him with that. With my longbow I would have. His body was impressive but his rack wasn’t. The winds finally shifted and the temperature dropped, but we probably only had one or two textbook November rut hunt weather days and I failed to capitalize. I saw several bucks on the move, but nothing to get excited about. Because I was focused on bucks I missed opportunities on does. Then I struggled with the decision to take my longbow or compound and began overthinking pretty much everything. On one morning I didn’t dress warmly enough and probably climbed down before I should have. It was just kind of one thing after another.
Eventually I made the decision to settle on my longbow and I was eager to fill a tag. I wanted to eliminate at least one daily decision from my mind. I had the added task of hosting a hunter that won an NDA Delaware Branch raffle for a two day hunt in the swamp with me that would take place on the first two days of gun season. There was a lot on my mind, but the hunter, Joe, was great and he made it easy for Ron and I to manage. He saw 19 deer on his first sit including a wide shooter, but he didn’t get a good shot at him. He had a great time and we enjoyed having him. On that same sit Friday morning, I had a pretty nice 8-point show up that I would have gladly shot, but it was a morning of the dreaded light and variable winds and that makes things nearly impossible in the swamp. Needless to say, the deer winded me and I never got a chance. I did see a coyote earlier in the morning though so that was cool.
Later in the morning on that same hunt, an adult doe wandered in and there was enough of a breeze to keep my scent blowing the opposite direction. When she stepped into my shooting lane at 18 yards, I had my opportunity. When I released the arrow I watched it sail toward the doe but had the sense it was going low. I knew I made impact, but exactly where was the question. The shadows were tough to see through so it wasn’t until I got to my arrow that I realized it wasn’t a body cavity hit. I did give the deer the rest of the morning before tracking, but Ron and I logged a lot of steps and covered a good bit of ground only coming up with some hair and a weak blood trail for our effort. I believe I hit the deer through the fatty portion of her brisket area given the lack of blood or odor of stomach contents on the arrow. It was another hard lesson from learning to hunt with a traditional bow.
On my last hunt of the trip I saw several deer but obviously picked the wrong stand location as I was just off the “X” having to instead watch the majority of the deer stroll by the tree that I shot my 13-point buck from in 2020. I did have a few coming close but again was stymied by light and variable winds. Other than two scrawny bucks that walked under me, all the other deer were well out of range and I was resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t be filling a tag after more than a full week of hunting.
On a side note, I hunted the last morning using my compound because two of my four arrows for my longbow took a beating from my shot on the doe and then hitting a cinder block while target practicing in that order. Because I forgot my extra arrows at home, I thought it best to go with my compound because I still had four good arrows. In the end it didn’t end up mattering because I didn’t release an arrow, but the entire experience has me a step closer to giving up the cables and wheels forever. That’s a whole other article for another day.
While the outcome wasn’t what I hoped for, it was still a great experience in the swamp and hunting with Ron and meeting Joe. I’ve matured as hunter and truly measure my success by the enjoyment of the journey and not the number of tags filled. The trip also allowed me a lot of time to think and reflect on things hunting or otherwise, and it helped me come to the decision to not coach baseball next spring. It also helped me get clarity on a few other matters burdening my. Mind. I’ll return to Delaware in December after Christmas and give it a go again so it’s not the end of the story. For now though, it’s back to Pennsylvania and the last week of the 2025 regular archery season.
