I remember years ago wondering around the hills without real purpose. My buddy and I called us and others like us wondering souls. Walking up and down logging roads, hoping to see something. Rarely did. Then slowly, started honing in on places. Started picking up deer patterns. Then started some success. Then year after year, we started hunted sign, and heavy thickets. Things started really picking up. Now, we hunt the rut religously, and I only hunt active sign. It seems to be working for me.

I now go into bass pro, and see all these young guys buying up every gadget known to man, the latest whiz bang broadhead. 100's of pounds of bait. Latest scents and it reminds me of those younger days when I wasn't so successful. Its not your gear that gets deer mostly, its the fundamentals. Hunt active buck sign and search for it intelligently. In other words, in your search for active sign, don't run your hunting woods over doing it.