RE: Off Season Scouting
 

peak here is my setup, notice the river, how I get in behind the deer. I have a boat with a Eletric trolling motor. Works like a charm!!

Go ahead and mark it up, we will discuess later tonight!!

North is staight up!!

RE: Off Season Scouting
 

I scout late-January to mid-February. Hunt for sheds from mid-February to mid-March, scouting all the time. Place game cams from March to September along deer trails and develop stand placement strategies from all of the above.

In the past seven years, I have only changed a stand location once or twice. The deerin the area have maintained a steady yearly pattern and ever-growingpopulation.

I use aerial photos for reference only. The real scouting information is in the woods. My youngest daughter has hunted with me for the past three seasons and can now scout better than I can!:)

RE: Off Season Scouting
 

subscribing for future reference

RE: Off Season Scouting
 

hay i think that arreal pictures are great to but i really dislike hunting in stands so i glass for animals on the ground. using arrieal photos is a great why to survey the land because you can see things that you can't on the ground

RE: Off Season Scouting
 

I love it...............this is exactly what I had in mind. Hopefully we can mix in just a LOT of random advice as well as specifics. I am taking my camera out with me tomorrow.

Tomorrow should be a really good day for me. It is rare not to have snow yet around here and the ground is so soft and muddy that I should see some awesome runs and sign.

I am gonna post the aerials of this farm as well and show you guys my access points because getting to and away from my stands as stealthy as possible is my goal for next year. I don't think I did a good enough job of that this year and I payed for it late season.

RE: Off Season Scouting
 

I agree 100%..........I mark the aerial photo for obvious funnels and food sources and then try to figure out entry and exit points (for deer) based on the neighboring properties........then I use that as a guide when I hit the woods and try to find the bedding areas........sort of an outline if you will. Scrapes are not always easy for me to find this time of year but I try. Rub lines and trails are obvious...........and not knowing for sure what or where the farmer is gonna plant makes some other stuff kinda guess work too.

RE: Off Season Scouting
 

Great topic! This is where the rubber meets the road.

RE: Off Season Scouting
 

This is going to be my first year scouting so I'm going to look at this later when I have time. It appears to be very helpful.

RE: Off Season Scouting
 

9 thunderhead 100's, $4.50. Body wash 2 bucks a bottle.:D

RE: Off Season Scouting
 

Atlas, Scott, and others, this is a great idea!

After reading through this thread and the other linked threads to this point, I’m in mobow’s boat, I have a million questions.

For nearly all of my life I’ve considered myself a hunter, I’ll be 33 soon. In Feb. 2003, I bought my bow and fell passionately in love with it. WAKE UP CALL!!!!!!!! I’ve never really hunted in my life until I bought this crazy thing! What happened to me?

Scouting is hunting. I did not realize this until I bought my bow. Until these “scouting threads” popped up, I thought I was a decent scout,………I SUCK at scouting. Oh sure, I can find sign, trails, and sheds, but I don’t know how to read the language I’m seeing. Thanks to you fellas, I’m learning little by little. Since Oct. 2005, I have not seen a deer while bow hunting. I think I setup in prime areas, but it just hasn’t happened for me. Obviously my thinking is wrong. Around April 06, I started a new lease, so everything was new. This past season I tried to take things I’ve read on this board and put them to use. I started scouting where I thought would be good areas, the hardwoods that bordered really thick stuff. I found all kinds of sign, trails, white oaks, water. I didn’t mess around much, I just picked out where I wanted to sit, hung my stands and left it alone. Come season, no deer! Trails dried up, no new sign, but I had found a killer squirrel spot. whoopee[&:] All season I’ve been wondering where I went wrong, I’m still wondering.

For those of us who are illiterate about scouting terminology, will you veterans give us a little glossary for clarification purposes? Please add to this list and define in detail:

1. inside corner--
2. saddles-- I kinda have an idea, but I’d like clarification.
3. funnels—Again, clarification.
4. bedding areas—I know what a BA is and what it is for, but how do you identify them? Is it only by seeing matted down grass/weeds?
5. What does a scrape mean to you? What does it tell you? Until this season, I always thought that A buck would make a scrape to mark HIS territory and the HE ALONE would reuse this scrape until the rut was over. I learned that I was completely wrong.

I’ve noticed on my hunting land that there are tons of deer on the property. There are tracks literally everywhere! I think that they stay in the thick stuff and don’t really move much until dark. It gives them cover and food (browse), so why should they come out? This thick stuff is nearly impenetrable by a human, but there are deer trails all through it. I’m trying to think of a way to hunt this stuff. It’s basically young pines from 8-20 feet tall with mostly super-thick briars and yaupons with a few other various shrubs in between. Any ideas??

I have many more questions, but I’ll stop here for now.

Thanks in advance,
TXMM