buckeye

One thing I have read on here in books or magazines and have noticed many times by friends of mine is how much "in-season" scouting hunters do. To follow is what I have adapted as some of my strategies which I believe has gone hand in hand with whatever success I have had in the whitetail woods. Bare with me it is a long read.....

I religiously follow my guideline of no in-season scouting or "walk abouts" before or after a hunt. I believe the lowest impact possible on the way in and out of stand is critical. I refer tono in-seasonscouting as "damage control".

I call it this because the more time you spenddisturbing the woods increases your odds of bumpingthe deer,ultimately educating them to your human presence and altering their daily behavior. In my opinionall you are mostly doing by in-season scouting is observing what your deer herd was doing before your intrusion and if you didn't take all precautions, what they most likely won't be doing tomorrow......

The least disturbance I cause in my hunting locations increases my confidence, whichin turn increases my success as confidence is my key ingredient to staying in and sharp on stand.

I firmly believe that to be as successful as you can you must learnas much asyou can about your timber in the immediate post season through the end ofthe spring turkey season. My next step is to learn all I can about my deer herd from the start of antler growth thru the bow opener to the close of the season by first hand observation from glassing and stand time. I believe any undue stress caused to the deer on my part is only shooting my self in the foot. If you keep your woods as clean and clear of human disturbances as you possibly canthe more I am willing to bet your success will increase as well.

This is my take on scouting everyday pressured whitetails..... I can't believe some of what I have read over the years by professional hunters..... I think many of them have lost touch with us regular bowhunters, who most don't get to hunt low pressure, high quality, high healthdeer herds.....

I welcome any comments or disagreements.....

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hardcorehunter

I agree. I know my different timbers that I hunt and I know how the deer travel and where to setup in different wind situations on the properties soI see no need to walk around in the timbers except when I am hunting. When I am on my way to the stands in the fall I can observe scrapesand rubs.I want the deer to feel safe inthe timbers that I hunt. I also never hunt the same place in the woodstwodays in a row so that the deer feel no pressure. I think that if one wants to look for sheds in late January once or twiceand then mushroom hunt in spring a time or two thisseems to have no effect on the deer in my timber though.
Ialso do no preseason shooting lane trimming as I don't find thatI need to. I do 90% of my hunting once the leaves have fallen and I can always seem toget myshot as there are natural shooting lanes created by nature. I know guys around here that go out a little bit before season and spend all of this time cutting shooting lanes and stinking up the woods with their scent. I am always on the move with a climbing stick lightweight hangon setupand if I walk over to somewhere and start cutting trees and limbs I have just put my scent on a trail or on bushes and I have found that it isn't necessary.

davidmil

It depends totally on the area you're hunting. If you're hunting suburbia like many do, they see people all the time. For example, Len has a spot next to a State Park complete with walking and jogging trails. On a weekend is the best time to hunt it as the park fills with joggers and they push all the deer onto Len's place. These deer see people daily stroll through their woods. They simply circle or most of the time, stand and watch them jog by. It really doesn't hurt to do a little looking around. Now if you go where my brother hunts, it's big woods in the Adirondacks. You bump a deer he's out of there. You really wouldn't want to do a lot of scouting and that which you did should be slow and quiet. I hunted a place for years that the deer bedded right up behind a neighborhood of Million dollar plus houses. I had stands within sight of some houses and deer bedded all around. I've watched deer stand and stare as people came out of their house and drive off to work. I've had people working in yards and watched deer watch them. I've shot deer and had them fall within feet of a guys tennis court. It's no problem to scout a little in such places. I too believe in low impact, no stinky scouting even under those circumstances, but it's OK to do so. Deer patterns change over the course of summer, fall and late January. You have to stay up with them. Our season is 5 months long. Deer aren't doing in January what they did in August. Hardcore, I totally agree with the trimming. Bowhunting is not a rush sport. I hunt thick stuff and keep it that way. I really don't like to cut ANYTHING. MY brother, the non hunter went out to watch me put up a stand in NY. I was up in the tree and he grabbed a big sappling about 20 feet tall and started to break it off. I literally yelled at him. "What are you doing? STOP". He said he was clearing it away becauses it was in my way. I said, it's hiding my stand. Well he had buggered it up and stunk it upso I cut it down and hauled it away. I did shoot a deer there but with my climber in a different tree 25 yards away that still had cover.

mobow

I've learned much from you over the course of this past year, and just learned a bit more. Man alive do I agree with what you say about the "pro hunters." The hunting they do is so very different from us "regular" guys. I often say that if they had to find their own deer they would be in big trouble.

Thanks for yet another outstanding post my friend.

archer58

I agree with what you are saying, however , I hunt public land in a way. Leased property with many,many members.As a result there is constant intrusion from the time small game , turkey,and( here in PA) we now have a week of muzzleloader in mid October. I'm not sure in season scouting hurts or helps.
I know at my stand locations there are no other bow hunters close to my set ups, thats usually not a problem.
From mid October to the end of the season it's difficult to find a buck. Do you have any suggestions for me, as well as many others of us in this situation.
I've been bowhunting only 10 years, a drop in the bucket compared to some of the seasoned vets here.
I came here seeking knowledge and value your suggestions.
Feel free to chime in...I'm all ears.

davidmil

The situation you're describing is a real high pressure deal. I've hunted places like that. If there is food, bedding areas etc adjacent to that land that's where they'll go. They will get out of Dodge with all the pressure. Unless there is something to lure them back on a daily basis you're really screwed to a point. If there are oak heads, food plots, or other food they'll return nightly. In such cases, hunt the borders. Get as far away from everyone as you can. Find trails leading off the public land. They'll always be in nice nasty tight little places where the deer feel secure. Hunt there and let the masses push them to you. At last light in the same spots you may catch some coming back across the line. Depends on the property, how big, how much pressure and how much cover and food. Also, what's happening next door. Learn the property and all the trails and easy ways for people to go and then get as far away from them as you can.

neck4752

So you guys never relocate a stand during the season?
Where I hunt there are about 5 deer per square mile and if the group shifts to another area you pretty much have to find it and set up there. Some times I will check the amount of sign around my stands or check other areas and ponder moving a stand... maybe I should stop doing this

Jim

PABuck_HNTR

I think I'll print out your post and show it to the bonehead who was cutting shooting lanes DURING the first week of gun season with a chainsaw 20 yards from my ladder stand. I questioned him on it and he said the deer were used to chainsaws. What a bonehead. Needless to say he ruined that stand site for me. I pulled it and brought it home. I won't let him know at all where my stands are located next year. Thank God he doesn't hunt in archery season.

buckeye

Archer58

It looks to me David has your post covered pretty well..... If there is that much pressure on your hunting setups by small gamers and uplanders I would suggest hugging some of the thickest most reclusive areas you can find.

From mid October on should be the best time for your buck sightings. I would suggest to "look from the outside in" on your hunting grounds, what the pressure is and where it is coming from and relocate to an area where you can take advantage of the pressure.... Much like if you were gun hunting.

I relocate and hunt different stands all the time.... I have a bunch of lock ons set up and use my climber frequently. When I go to a pre-hung stand or use my climber I use my best effort to be as low impact as possible in route to and from my setups.

My area fortunately has a higher deer density then your area does. Sorry I don't have any advice, as I do not want to speak of what I know not.

archer58

davidmil,
I get as far away as I can. My best stand isjust off the lip ofan oak ridge ,at the foot ,and down wind of a large bedding area made up of Christmas Tree size pines and grape vines.There is also a bedding area to the north on the ridge.It's the southern most edge of the property.I stay far enough away so I'm not seen coming and going. My entry is straight up the hill. The property is made up of reclaimed strip mines that have grown up pretty well,that's where the bedding area is above me. What you would see on an arial is the hill tops in reclaimed cover and the hill sides and bottoms are matrue and second growth timber. It's a pretty text book set.
But the pressure keeps the deer above me until almost dark. Should I move closer to the bedding area and leave the side hill trails and oaks?