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With the heat of summer upon us many people forget about the
importance of scouting for the upcoming fall.
This is the time of year when the bucks in your area are the most
relaxed and the most visible. Often
times hunters will wait until September to glass fields looking for bucks. By the time September rolls around, most of the
bucks have shed their velvet and have begun to regress back to their hermit
type lifestyle. Now is the time to take
inventory on your buck herd for this fall.
For most of the summer, bucks will stay in bachelor
groups. The size of these groups will
vary. I have seen groups of up to 10 bucks together during the summer. These bucks will have a very small range
during this time of year. They will stay
in their “bachelor pad”, grow antlers and get fat for the fall. 
My favorite areas to look for bachelor groups are soybean,
clover, alfalfa, and hay fields. These
high protein food sources are on the whitetails dinner plate this time of
year. The best advice that I can give is
to glass these fields from the road if possible. If you don’t have road access to some fields,
make sure that you stay a good distance away from the deer. The main thing is to keep your summer recon
missions as low impact as possible.
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If the farm that you hunt does not have any of these food
sources on it, keep your eyes on the surrounding farms (from the road). A buck’s summer range will often differ from
his winter range. You may see your
favorite adversary a mile down the road from your farm. 
Although these bucks will live together all summer they
cannot tolerate each other during the fall.
Once they shed their velvet they will disperse to their respective fall
range and establish their dominance.
Another thing to remember is that the bucks you see a mile down the road
will likely make an appearance on your farm during the rut. 
So dust off your binoculars, and go pick out the buck that
will drive you crazy this fall. As
always drop me a line with any questions or comments. Good Luck!! |