My brother and I are going on our first deer hunt this fall. We're both 20-somethings who have been around guns all our lives, but never been hunting. We'll be after mule deer in the Sierras of N. California. We have a place to stay (his in-laws cabin) and are trying to figure out where in the area we're bound to have the best shot at bagging us a deer.

Currently we're using satellite photos and topo maps to help narrow things down, but as a novice, I'm not sure what I should be looking for. The area we're hunting is mostly wooded, but with some meadows and areas of scrub brush. It's very steep in some places and fairly flat in others. The elevation varies from about 6500' to 3500', and there are streams (some seasonal) all over the place.

My brother will be going up a couple of months before the season starts, but I need to try and narrow down the places he should be looking for signs of deer (poop, scrapes, etc.) We'll be hunting with rifles in October if that helps. I'm not asking for someone to tell me where to hunt, I just wanted to get an idea of the kind of terrain where we might have our best shot. Thanks for helping out a newbie.