ORIGINAL: jmbuckhunter
Scouting after the season can help your odds of finding travel routes. But early season observation stands can tell you a lot too.
Early season scouting has always been my method in years past (watching bean fields in September and watching deer movement from early season stands). However, I feel I am putting more pressure on my area than is needed my going in and fine tuning a stand during the season. And in my area of the county where pressure tends to get thick at times, a mature buck doesn't need a reason to go into hiding.
I pretty much hunt on our family farm now and have left the crowded public land alone. I have a pretty good understanding of how the deer use our land (bedding area, funnels, etc.), but the hot spots do vary from year to year (corn in one field vs. beans the next and no acorns means our "Oak Ridge" is DEAD). Also, it is getting logged pretty heavily this year and I feel like that is going to change the way they use our land once the tree tops are there. So scouting is a must, and I am looking forward to the increase in bedding areas around the bottom of the hollows.