I go out and watch from a distance just to see how many deer are in the area and I like to see how the bucks are turning out and if their is one in paticular that I want to concentrate on. As far as trying to pattern them I try to wait just before hunting season because in past I have noticed that once the crops in my neck of the woods come down they change their travel routes. I have enough land to hunt on that I can hunt a different piece of land every year for about six years before I would start the cycle over again if I wanted to so it is almost impossible to know the way every deer is moving year to year.