Planned or Blind Scouting
01-22-2008, 10:27 PM
#21
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: ND
Posts: 1,627
RE: Planned or Blind Scouting
1. How many of you actully have a plan when you go out to scout?
WE do.
2. Do you just wing it or do you study the area with maps and images before you go in there?
While I don't use maps or images... we don't wing it. Most of the land we scout/hunt... we have for years. We shed hunt to get to know the land. Accessing an area during huntingis very important to me. I want to know every draw, drainage ditch and etc... to get in undetected since it is so open here. I also look for good highervantage spots for scouting that is low impact toanarea.
We find out what cropsare planted as that will tip us off to what feeding areas to watch during scouting. We know what crops will be hit during hunting season. The deer have their favorites at any given time and change quite a bit from summer through hunting season.
3. Do you think about the impact that scouting trip may have on your fall's hunt, in terms of pressure?
Yes.We scout long range.Just like hunting, wind is still the deciding factor where we scout. We scout mostly in the evenings since the bedding areas here are more defined then a lot of places. The deer are more likely to be on a mission and not wander to their feeding areas at night. Mornings find them wandering more towards the bedding areas. While we did scout mornings when Troy was here, it was for his benefit to get the most out of his trip. Just too much of a chance of getting busted in the morning from wandering deer. Generally if we scout mornings, we find a big hill"on the road " and scout from the vehicle or at least a hill not far from the road.The township roads are pretty deadduring the weekendmornings.
4. Do you think you could be overscouting?
No. We cover a big area compared to most. Summer is busy for us on the farm. Not enough time to cover it all so one area rarely gets scouted more then twice. All long range scouting. We know how to access our areas to not bump deer going in.
5. Does the type of woods you are hunting determine your scouting tactics?
Yes. We have no trees. Googling up a map doesn't give me much to go by from what I've seen of their maps for " this area ". The bedding areas look like the fields. Man made drainage ditches don't show up. Fairly flat landso topograghy maps aren't much use either. You want to "know" the lay of the land... you either walk it or find a good sized hill tolong range scoutit. Trail cams are no use to us. The deer don't follow trails other then out of the bedding areas ( cattails ). Baiting an area just to get pictures for the all theareas we cover would be expensive plus the cost of cameras, not low impact and a waste of time. I can accomplish more by shed hunting andscouting. I enjoy doing it !!
WE do.
2. Do you just wing it or do you study the area with maps and images before you go in there?
While I don't use maps or images... we don't wing it. Most of the land we scout/hunt... we have for years. We shed hunt to get to know the land. Accessing an area during huntingis very important to me. I want to know every draw, drainage ditch and etc... to get in undetected since it is so open here. I also look for good highervantage spots for scouting that is low impact toanarea.
We find out what cropsare planted as that will tip us off to what feeding areas to watch during scouting. We know what crops will be hit during hunting season. The deer have their favorites at any given time and change quite a bit from summer through hunting season.
3. Do you think about the impact that scouting trip may have on your fall's hunt, in terms of pressure?
Yes.We scout long range.Just like hunting, wind is still the deciding factor where we scout. We scout mostly in the evenings since the bedding areas here are more defined then a lot of places. The deer are more likely to be on a mission and not wander to their feeding areas at night. Mornings find them wandering more towards the bedding areas. While we did scout mornings when Troy was here, it was for his benefit to get the most out of his trip. Just too much of a chance of getting busted in the morning from wandering deer. Generally if we scout mornings, we find a big hill"on the road " and scout from the vehicle or at least a hill not far from the road.The township roads are pretty deadduring the weekendmornings.
4. Do you think you could be overscouting?
No. We cover a big area compared to most. Summer is busy for us on the farm. Not enough time to cover it all so one area rarely gets scouted more then twice. All long range scouting. We know how to access our areas to not bump deer going in.
5. Does the type of woods you are hunting determine your scouting tactics?
Yes. We have no trees. Googling up a map doesn't give me much to go by from what I've seen of their maps for " this area ". The bedding areas look like the fields. Man made drainage ditches don't show up. Fairly flat landso topograghy maps aren't much use either. You want to "know" the lay of the land... you either walk it or find a good sized hill tolong range scoutit. Trail cams are no use to us. The deer don't follow trails other then out of the bedding areas ( cattails ). Baiting an area just to get pictures for the all theareas we cover would be expensive plus the cost of cameras, not low impact and a waste of time. I can accomplish more by shed hunting andscouting. I enjoy doing it !!
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