Cal516,

I'm still learning myself, and what's been good for me are books and magazines. Read whatever you can about deer habits and how to stay undetected. Hunters get burned because of movement, noise, and wind.

Stupid advice: "forget the wind, just hunt." Deer don't forget the wind.
Great advice: "The harder you're hunting, the less you move." ANY movement or little noise can alert a deer, so you've got to be as still and slow as possible

I don't know so much about scent control and how those products work. Many hunters rely on the wind and do just fine. Others swear by them.

Good areas can be found walking ground just as you say. Rubs and scrapes will let you know a deer's there. Look for food sources like grain crops, orchards, wild plants that deer eat. Look for weedy, brushy areas that are obviously matted down from deer lying there. Find the trails in between and set up there, just off the trails. By the way, a buck's bedding area is normally by itself away from the does and fawns. Don't mess around with it. If you scare a mature buck out of a bedding area or spend too much time there, he will move to another area. If you stumble into a buck's bedding area, get out and don't go in again. A one time incident, from what my reading indicates, will probably not cause him to move out permanently, but he will tolerate very little of your presence after that.

Also look for travel corridors. Trails are obvious. So are terrain features that funnel deer: Narrow strips of cover between larger areas, fencelines, bluffs/cliffs, streams, benches (flat spots on steep hillsides that allow flat walking), saddles (dips in ridges that allow crossing over with less exposure, especially if there's cover), and brushy draws. Look for things that make the deer travel a certain route or make it easier walking and set up a stand downwind.

Edit: an aerial or satellite photo can be tremendously valuable here. So will a topographical map.

The other advice: get to your stand an hour before legal shooting time in the mornings, be as quiet as possible, and pay attention to the wind direction. Give some thought to a stand that you can find in the dark, using the flashlight as little as possible. That's often unavoidable, but don't be flashing that light all over the place. Keep it pointed down and off as much as you can. Use the same principles in the afternoon. Get in early and hunt till dark. Don't be tempted to use that last fifteen minutes of sunlight to make it back to your vehicle. That's prime time. My rule is hunt till legal shooting hours are over, I can't tell the deer's legal, or I can't shoot safely.

Pay serious attention to what your friend says and others on this board. There are some real hunters here who know their stuff.