Save your money JD. I've nothing against outfitters but there's not a single thing they do that you can't do yourself for less money.

The best bits of advice I could give you is pick a good area and get to know it like the back of your hand, or get to know a few locals who do. Just finding deer isn't enough. You have to find BIG deer. Some of us are very fortunate to live in areas that have lots of deer and plenty of mature bucks. When considering a hunting spot ask yourself. How many 140, 150, 160 class bucks can i expect to see here throughout the year? If the answer is less than you're prepared to live with then find a new area.

I moved to PR three years ago and didn't have a sniff. The first three deer I shot up there were courtesy of a new local friend who was kind enough to take me under his wing and show me his spots. After a few years, With guidance from a few co-workers and a lot of gas in the Tacoma, I've started to get a handle on the areas I've choose because I put my time in. I've spent 100's of hours scouting and shed hunting in the last 2 years, picking up over 200 antlers. I can't describe how much that helps when choosing where to focus my attention in the summer and fall. Shed hunting season is for finding travel routes, pinch points, staging areas and bedrooms. Mark potential stand locations on the GPS. Use google earth to locate natural or manmade funnels or exposure points (pipelines, seismic cuts or fencelines). My scouting routine in the summer consists of dawn and dusk car rides with the pooch starting in early August. Once or twice a week is usually plenty. Also, have good optics and stay out as early/late as you can see. I've spotted sooo many more deer in the years since I got my Sworovski's that i never would have seen before. All of that scouting is just starting to pay off this year with my bow buck and mulie. Not the biggest deer in the world but much more enjoyable because I found them myself.

Being from Cowtown it's understandable that finding good areas reasonably close to home is likely pretty tough for you. If you're looking to keep heading north i'd suggest sticking to an area where you have local knowledge (ie. someone to scout for you) on your side since scouting isn't much of an option that far from home.

Don't feel too bad. This has been a tough year. Warm weather and no snow always make for tougher hunting. If it's any consolation the old pumkin patch pastures have been sucking the hind teat the last few years, including today. I'm slowly accepting (I've been in denial for a while) that those spots just don't consistently have the type of bucks i'm looking for anymore. Sure they turn up the odd 150 or better, but not like they used too. I didn't find a single fresh whitey shed over 30" there this past spring. What's worse is I find myself road hunting more often because I feel I need to cover a larger area to have a shot at a big deer. Is there big deer in that area? Definately. I just don't have the time to scout and get permission lined up for the best spots anymore (now that the public stuff is all shot up). The last few years I've found that in the one week I have to hunt I usually have things figured out by thursday, just in time for the orange army to show up and stir everything up for friday and saturday. In other words, I'm basically relying on dumb friggin' luck and it's bugging the he!! out of me. This will likely be my last hunting trip here for a while and i 'm considering heading north on wednesday to start looking for some new areas if I ever do come back.

Good luck this weekend JD. Remember, the offer still stands. You're welcome to come up and try whitey's around PR next year.