Northern Badger,

All I can offer is the information I gather on deer in my neck of the woods from winter scouting. First lets assume we all have snow and we have distinct seasonal changes in food and even water. Here in Northern Idaho at 2500 hundred feet elevation, my hunting area averages about three feet of snow throughout the fall, winter and spring. It's really not too much considering it is spread out from October through March. So I don't see as much yarding as you may not to mention our deer densities are rather low (about 5-6 deer/mile). My favorite thing to do after my December archery season is to find a big buck track and backtrack it to find his bedding area and possibly find his sheds. I often find that the doe in my area move around and use many bedding sites which is usually dictated by snow level and availiable food and water. On the other hand and this is soley from backtracking and shed hunting that I have found that the bucks in my area seem to have one or two preferred bedding areas. I often find the same bucks sheds year after year in the same general area by backtracking. The buck I harvest in 2000 had left me three of his sheds over a two year span within 100 yards of each other. I harvested him at 4 1/2. I also find that these same bucks move their bedding areas as soon as sping comes around. Most of the bedding areas this time of the year are on southern slopes. The terrain here is mountainous. During my summer scouting missions I pack my video camera and often watch bucks slip into south facing clear cuts from the Northern side of the same ridges I had found winter beds on. So they simply use one side of the mountain then move to the other. I think it has to do with comfort due to temperatures.

The reason I like to scout right after season in the snow is two fold. First I want to know exactly what routes bucks (via tracks) are using to inspect doe bedding or hangout type areas and second I like to find their sheds.
My most productive time to scout for hunting purposes the following year is DEC 1 through Dec 9. Our whitetail season takes a 9 day break from the anyweapons season NOV 1-DEC 1 and then starts back up again DEC 10th. The rutting activity during those nine days is starting to slow but there are still does in estrus. The land reads like a book this time of the year. Our secondary rut (which is very minimal) seems to begin again around Christmas. If ya want to know what the deer are doing in your woods and where they are hanging during hunting season, I think a person has to get out of his stand and scout as much or more than he hunts even during season. I keep track of conditions too in a log book. If mother nature plays a nasty trick on me from one year to another I try to be ready... bye understanding just what causes the deer in my area to move. I still have so much to learn...but that the fun of it.

IHW,
Shed