buckeye

Flix

Thanks for the heads up on that video series. I will have to look into it.

mobow

Yes, sir, it cerainly does....Seems I've heard this somewhere before..hmmmm

GMMAT

Whomever said that they hunt deer - not sign....I agree and that's what I do. More precisely....I hunt does...all season long. If it's before the rut.....in my area....the bucks have to come the same way the does do to eat. If it's during the rut.....the does ARE the bait.

I just follow the deer.

I scout during the year, though.....from a distance.....and I'm mainly looking for where they're crossing roads......to see where they're going. I know where they're coming from. They go home one of 3-4 ways.....and I try to beat them there.

GR8atta2d

I agree with the no in season scouting to a point.

In fact I even go as far as setting a couple low impact stands. These serve 2 purposes.
1) They are edge type stands..They are stands I can hunt once time changes after work when my time is serverly limited. I have a couple set-up so I can take advantage of different winds so as not to alert them to the hunter.
2) they also serve as observation stands I can be succesful from them (and have been) but I can also see deer movement from a distance to pattern them more carefully. This way when I have time, I know where the deer are going at this time of year*

*year.. I make note of this because my main area (that I can hunt when time is short)is a working farm. With other farms surroundingthis one.As crops are picked..things change in hours not days.


They are suburban deer in the essence that they can tolerate people movementand farm machinary...but set foot in the "bedding" area and forget hunting there for a week minimum..

buckeye

Gr8atta2d

What town are you doing most of your hunting in Boardman-Canfield area?

MonsterBuckDreams

subscribing for future reference

Flix

Thanks Buckeye,

It has been a really popular series. I'll have to see about comming up with a special price for all three volumes together. John also just released the title Archery Mechanics, which a lot of people have liked.

-- FLIX

MNpurple

My three best bucks, 2 pope and young, the other just missed, were the direct result of in season scouting. This year I had hunted a couple great funnels for a couple of days and wasnt seeing anything but 1.5 year old bucks, so I packed up, started scouting and found a rub line that I didnt know was there leading to a cornfield, I built a ground blind, sat down, and a short timelater I got this years 10 pointer. Last year I was seeing deer but for whatever reasons it just was not working out. I grabbed a stand and went scouting and found a good scrape line down over the crest of a small ridge, I hung the stand and the second time in it, got last years buck. Similiar with the third buck.

Ithink the downfall of many bowhunters is that they put up, say 6 stands. For the rest of the year, they hunt these 6 stands, seemingly like thereare noother options, they're locked down to these stand sites. There are many things going on in the woods around you all year long and you wont know about any of them if you are not out there scouting. When I get an itch, I grab my bow and asmall saw and go scouting, BUT I dont socut all day, find a spot, prepare it, and then come back some other day and hunt it, I hunt it right then and there, because as others have said, the first time is usually the best time in a new spot. I put up about10 stands every year,yet4 of my last 5deer have come from the ground, all from places I have found that day, threw a ground blind together, and hunted them that day.

I agree with what many have said that you really can disturb an area, and much depends on whre you are hunting, but you can also miss out on a ton of things that are going on just beyond your eyes and ears. Dont be afraid to get out there and look, sure dont intentionally barge into a bedding area, but take a look. I think the real key to in season scouting is to HUNT IT, WHEN YOU FIND IT.

Greg / MO

Thanks a lot, Flix... You'll be seeing more of my money come your way soon. [8D]

Another term was introduced up above which I also highly subscribe to -- low-impact hunting. I've practiced it for the past couple years, and it's yielded me a 132-class (which I believe was one of if not the largest in my area last year) and it would have given me a slam dunk shot at a 140 class if I'd stayed on stand longer this year.

As hinted at, I start on the fringes of the core territory and slowly and as quietly with as little disturbance as possible, I move inwards. I like to set up on funnels or pinchpoints leading to food areas, and start closer to the feeding areas and move closer and closer to the bedding areas. Ideally, I'll end up in their proximity the week of Nov. 4 - Nov. 11.

Speaking of that... a lot of questions get asked each year of "when do you think the rut will hit?" In my area (Southern Illinois) I don't care what else is going on... that week is money.

Greg / MO

Good points, MN...Anytime Ihang a new stand in-season, I hunt it that afternoon (as I usually hang the stand around noon...)


Speaking of hanging stands... I've still got a stand or two that I did precisely that on (hung it during the season). One I just hung with a few weeks left trying to adapt to some changing patterns I noticed. As such, I trimmed some close branches to open up some shooting lanes, but I've actually got some stands still up after the close of season this previous week which I'm waiting to take down until my wife can tag along with me...

I like the locations very much, and I want to climb up into the stand and point out which saplings and overhanging limbs to mark so that I can climb down and cut them down now in order to open up some good shooting lanes further out. Now's definitely the time to do something of that magnitude.