RE: Time spent scouting
I scout plenty,unfortunately glassing in my area is not a practicality,there are some fields,not many and they are not on or adjacent to land I can hunt.I walk in the mountains all year long,I usually carry a gps to mark area's that catch my interest.I have a number of stand locations that are productive most every year but I am always looking for new and better locations.I scout intensively when bucks start to rub because at least at that time there is visable evidence of a bucks existence,usually this is in area's that I know reasonably well with a liklihood that if rubs are in certain area's I will have a good possibility of figuring out that animals travel patterns.The older I get or the more years that go by the more I believe that your scouting hours should out number your hunting hours by a very wide margin.