ORIGINAL: rybohunter
Use common sense people. Some of you take things way too literally and get all bent out of shape trying to understand things.
Summer scouting 95% of the time involves just seeing what type and numbers of deer are in and around your areas. It’s not critical to pinpoint exactly what they are doing now. For those whose seasons start early enough, with not as much pressure, yea you can “pattern” the deer and get a jump on them. Otherwise all the scouting and stand hanging is done based on where the deer are likely to be in the FALL when hunting season is actually in. Many people like to do this in the summer so the deer have time to come back to normal and they can leave their hunting places alone as the season nears. If you are seriously hanging stands based on the conditions in july, and still expect the deer to be using them in November, you could be in for a BIG surprise. Some places may stay relatively the same, others can change immensely.
Ding...ding. That sounds like me. I hang a lot of stands in the early part of the year that are terrain stands or in areas I strongly anticipate movement in during the fall. In other areas when I can hunt as early as Sept. the deer are definitately still in summer feeding patterns and low impact stands within the edges of fields or cutovers or near water sources/creek crossingsare very productive, for me anyway.
I still run & gun when I have to during the rut as "hot spots" doturn up frequently and I am not going to pass up an oppurtunity to hunt one. That's when I use my climbers or ground blinds and sometimes after the season ends I slip in and hang a stand for next season in that areajust in case.
I don't necessarily do a ton of "scouting" per sayin the summer because it is miserable but I watch the fields, my cameras, and occasionally if we get a day that's overcast and a little drizzly I'll clear a trail and slip in another stand. For the most partI just keep a finger on the pulse of the deer activity in my area year round,probably more because I'm addicted than anything else
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