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Public land scouting

Depends on the season. I start scouting as soon as season ends. That's when I can get right up in bedding areas and bust through thickets without fear of leaving stink or making a bunch of noise. I'm looking for trails, congregation areas, scrapes, rub lines, where the mast trees are located, that kind of stuff. It's basically like a forensic investigation of a crime scene. I'm accumulating as much information as I can so I can later put the pieces together to determine what the deer were doing, when, and where.

I then scout some more in summer. That's when I'm looking at which mast trees have the best crop. I'm also looking at maps, cruising the area to see which crop fields are planted with what, then contrasting my notes with previous seasons. For example, one farm I hunt has two large ag fields that alternate beans & corn, and there's another field to the east that alternates beans/corn/fallow, and yet another field to the north that alternates. Believe it or not deer movement within a season relates directly to which fields had which crops, and by having historical notes I can fairly predict what to expect in terms of where deer will be bedding and where they'll be eating. If you know that then you know where the movement will be. All these fields are separated by strips of woods and one big thicket in the center. Does pretty much always stay in the thicket, but bucks stay in peripheral woodlots & strips that the does travel on their way to a particular field of choice for that season. This year is all corn except one bean field, so I know I have to isolate that bean field & get a buck early because the corn has all been picked, and once the beans get picked the movement will no longer be as concentrated or predictable. Deer will be more random.

Then right before or right as bow season opens, I quick cruise all my hunting spots and potential spots to see if I'm on track or if something has changed that might alter how I hunt. I don't spend much time, just a steady pace walk through.
 
Ski said:
Depends on the season. I start scouting as soon as season ends. That's when I can get right up in bedding areas and bust through thickets without fear of leaving stink or making a bunch of noise. I'm looking for trails, congregation areas, scrapes, rub lines, where the mast trees are located, that kind of stuff. It's basically like a forensic investigation of a crime scene. I'm accumulating as much information as I can so I can later put the pieces together to determine what the deer were doing, when, and where.

I then scout some more in summer. That's when I'm looking at which mast trees have the best crop. I'm also looking at maps, cruising the area to see which crop fields are planted with what, then contrasting my notes with previous seasons. For example, one farm I hunt has two large ag fields that alternate beans & corn, and there's another field to the east that alternates beans/corn/fallow, and yet another field to the north that alternates. Believe it or not deer movement within a season relates directly to which fields had which crops, and by having historical notes I can fairly predict what to expect in terms of where deer will be bedding and where they'll be eating. If you know that then you know where the movement will be. All these fields are separated by strips of woods and one big thicket in the center. Does pretty much always stay in the thicket, but bucks stay in peripheral woodlots & strips that the does travel on their way to a particular field of choice for that season. This year is all corn except one bean field, so I know I have to isolate that bean field & get a buck early because the corn has all been picked, and once the beans get picked the movement will no longer be as concentrated or predictable. Deer will be more random.

Then right before or right as bow season opens, I quick cruise all my hunting spots and potential spots to see if I'm on track or if something has changed that might alter how I hunt. I don't spend much time, just a steady pace walk through.
Click to expand...
That's pretty much what my buddy and I do. We're in the woods pretty quick after the season ends looking for trails, rubs, scrapes, and bedding areas...marking these items using OnX. Then we'll revisit later in the Summer to get an idea of how movement in the area might have changed in relation to what we saw earlier. Then a few weeks before the season, we'll go back...pick our final stand locations and cut shooting lanes.
With new areas that I maybe didn't have time to scout preseason, I'll do a lot of aerial map scouting using OnX to find saddles....areas of hardwood density and other points of interest. I'll then take my light weight climber, get in at early first light and scout as I go.....moving slow and as quietly as possible. If I find a spot that looks particularly active, that's where I park it for the morning/day.
 

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