ou have to believe in what you are doing as the vast majority of mature buck sign you find scouting is created in the dark
You got that right. And trail cams only prove what we suspected all along.
The only thing about where I hunt where scouting is great, is that it is so vast that you are always discovering new spots. And those new spots get us away from the spots that we probably burn out over time. Seems that mine, my buddies' and my neighbors all have stands in a 200 acre area that is within walking distance to the cabin. These have been perennial producers and we always see game. Most are 1.5 year old bucks and doe....but these stands are our security blankets. Hard to deviate. Every now and then, we'll scout out a new spot that's a good mile away from the cluster of stands and it's red hot while it's new. Deer pattern us, eh?
The stand we over-hunt the most got a nice bear a few years ago.....so you never know. And you also never know what kind of buck will walk by the stand in the rut. I've seen big, mature bucks in our backyard during the rut. They go where the does go.