Winter Scouting
 

Hello everyone.... I've been reading this message board for quite a few months and decided to finally participate. I bowhunt in northern Wisconsin so I have many opportunities to scout in the winter with the help of the snow. I've read countless times about how you should place your stand between bedding and feeding areas. The problem is that I've never been able to distinguish "bedding areas." I've seen deer come from many different directions but have never actually seen any bedded down. I know I've seen spots where deer have layed down in the snow but I've never taken the time to fully investigate our land for more of these spots. Do you think it's worthwhile to do this in the winter? Will these spots be the same areas they bed down in during the summer? One of the reasons I ask is that I've had very poor luck hunting in the morning.. which is supposed to be a very successful time. I only seem to see deer in the evening no matter if I'm on a field edge or in the middle of the words. Any suggestions/ideas are appreciated. Thanks.

Northern Badger

RE: Winter Scouting
 

i have the same problem!

RE: Winter Scouting
 

First let me welcome you to the board. I do much of my scouting in the winter, just after season has gone out, and then again in the spring and early summer. Deer tend to bed in differnt areas near food sources in my area, and we don't get a whole lot of snow here in Virginia, but you still can gather a lot of good info this time of year.

TAKE YOUR KIDS HUNTING AND YOU WON'T BE HUNTING FOR YOUR KIDS

RE: Winter Scouting
 

I had this problem in an area that I hunt in Iniana which had been timbered out and contained heavy bedding cover all over. I used the month or two after season to walk through the entire property with my bird dog during the middle of the day. I would then make a note of every place I jumped deer up at. This is an agressive tactic that I wouldn't ever try any time close to deer season. However, the following deer season while hunting between the food sources and the areas that I jumped deer, I saw lots of deer and arrowed a nice 10 pointer. Don't spend too much time in the woods though - they'll be watching. I've also had luck creating the perfect bedding areas for deer. If you own the property, go in and cut the trees down in a small area, plant some pine or cedar seedlings, plant some warm season grasses and let it go. In three years or so, you will have created the optimum bedding area on the property and deer will use it!! Good luck.

RE: Winter Scouting
 

Welcome to the board,
Here is my take on winter scouting. I'm located in MI - U.P., fairly close.
What your seeing in the snow is probably no more than winter yarding or deer in there winter mode. Your best bet is probably to wait a few months for the snow to leave. Once the snow is gone what you will see is a "blue print" of what happened in the fall. You will see scrapes, crap, runs, rubs. All the good things that you wanted to see in the prime time of fall. This is a great time to get a plan ready for fall. Don't get cought up in what your seeing now, it very well will be different than what the deer are doing come next fall. And you never know, you might find a shed or two. Good Luck!

RE: Winter Scouting
 

Northern Badger,

All I can offer is the information I gather on deer in my neck of the woods from winter scouting. First lets assume we all have snow and we have distinct seasonal changes in food and even water. Here in Northern Idaho at 2500 hundred feet elevation, my hunting area averages about three feet of snow throughout the fall, winter and spring. It's really not too much considering it is spread out from October through March. So I don't see as much yarding as you may not to mention our deer densities are rather low (about 5-6 deer/mile). My favorite thing to do after my December archery season is to find a big buck track and backtrack it to find his bedding area and possibly find his sheds. I often find that the doe in my area move around and use many bedding sites which is usually dictated by snow level and availiable food and water. On the other hand and this is soley from backtracking and shed hunting that I have found that the bucks in my area seem to have one or two preferred bedding areas. I often find the same bucks sheds year after year in the same general area by backtracking. The buck I harvest in 2000 had left me three of his sheds over a two year span within 100 yards of each other. I harvested him at 4 1/2. I also find that these same bucks move their bedding areas as soon as sping comes around. Most of the bedding areas this time of the year are on southern slopes. The terrain here is mountainous. During my summer scouting missions I pack my video camera and often watch bucks slip into south facing clear cuts from the Northern side of the same ridges I had found winter beds on. So they simply use one side of the mountain then move to the other. I think it has to do with comfort due to temperatures.

The reason I like to scout right after season in the snow is two fold. First I want to know exactly what routes bucks (via tracks) are using to inspect doe bedding or hangout type areas and second I like to find their sheds.
My most productive time to scout for hunting purposes the following year is DEC 1 through Dec 9. Our whitetail season takes a 9 day break from the anyweapons season NOV 1-DEC 1 and then starts back up again DEC 10th. The rutting activity during those nine days is starting to slow but there are still does in estrus. The land reads like a book this time of the year. Our secondary rut (which is very minimal) seems to begin again around Christmas. If ya want to know what the deer are doing in your woods and where they are hanging during hunting season, I think a person has to get out of his stand and scout as much or more than he hunts even during season. I keep track of conditions too in a log book. If mother nature plays a nasty trick on me from one year to another I try to be ready... bye understanding just what causes the deer in my area to move. I still have so much to learn...but that the fun of it.

IHW,
Shed