Use common sense people. Some of you take things way too literally and get all bent out of shape trying to understand things.

Summer scouting 95% of the time involves just seeing what type and numbers of deer are in and around your areas. It’s not critical to pinpoint exactly what they are doing now. For those whose seasons start early enough, with not as much pressure, yea you can “pattern” the deer and get a jump on them. Otherwise all the scouting and stand hanging is done based on where the deer are likely to be in the FALL when hunting season is actually in. Many people like to do this in the summer so the deer have time to come back to normal and they can leave their hunting places alone as the season nears. If you are seriously hanging stands based on the conditions in july, and still expect the deer to be using them in November, you could be in for a BIG surprise. Some places may stay relatively the same, others can change immensely.

I usually get out in mid-late August here in Mid-Missouri and hang most of my stands. I do hate it because it is usually boiling hot, I'm sweating, seed ticks are out in full force, mosquitoes sound like kamikaze pilots coming in for the kill, and I tire more easily because it is so HOT!!

I do however, try and get out first thing in the morning when it is cooler, or try and find a day when the temperature is down 10 degrees or so below normal. But this isn't always possible. The land where we hunt, I've been hunting for over 18 years, so I pretty much know where I want to place my stands even before heading out to the farm! It's not so much about scouting...it's about getting in, hanging the stands, and getting out.

Scouting in the summer should consist more of glassing from a distance (if possible) and using trail camerasso as tominimize the contact with the deer herd, especially as opening day gets closer.

I not only scout "the deer", but scout the general lay of the land. It is very important for me to really get to know the land I am hunting, even if I have to sacrifice not having the "perfect" scouting conditions, such as scouting in July. A thicket is still a thicket, old rubs are still old rubs, food sources such as Oaks are still Oaks come October.

Ding...ding. That sounds like me. I hang a lot of stands in the early part of the year that are terrain stands or in areas I strongly anticipate movement in during the fall. In other areas when I can hunt as early as Sept. the deer are definitately still in summer feeding patterns and low impact stands within the edges of fields or cutovers or near water sources/creek crossingsare very productive, for me anyway.

I still run & gun when I have to during the rut as "hot spots" doturn up frequently and I am not going to pass up an oppurtunity to hunt one. That's when I use my climbers or ground blinds and sometimes after the season ends I slip in and hang a stand for next season in that areajust in case.

I don't necessarily do a ton of "scouting" per sayin the summer because it is miserable but I watch the fields, my cameras, and occasionally if we get a day that's overcast and a little drizzly I'll clear a trail and slip in another stand. For the most partI just keep a finger on the pulse of the deer activity in my area year round,probably more because I'm addicted than anything else.

I will agree with you 100%. I would say that overall it doesnt help me get deer.

I will tell you what it does do for me.

It prepares me mentally. It kicks the fever into high gear and motivates me to do that evening practice shoot when it is 90 degrees plus with high humidity. And the multitude of other unmotivating things that are necessary to harvesting deer in the fall.

I love being outdoors and any chance i get to be outdoors i look forward to.

I scout all year long. Often deer move early morning late evening and anytime they want during the Summer. Rainy days are also very good for watching. It just take one spotting of a special buck to set one on the right track to build on prior to the season and you never know just when that sighting will be....usually when one least expects it and when there is no camera a long.

Finding a good location to intercept a rack buck is like putting together a zig saw puzzle and the more piece one can fit together the better the big picture becomes.

Of course it is seldom productive to spot a buck any time of the year and trust he will return to that location while one sets in wait. I need all the information I can get.......to have a chance at being Lucky including Summer .....hot as it may be. Changes are I will be battling the cold when he does show....

I do my summer scouting for "inventory" purposes. I like to know whats survived...

however I think locationplays a huge role in how or if you scout in the summer...

I hunt 2 types a areas: BIG BIG woods, and farmland.

I dont want to go trompin through the woods only to alarm the deer for what? you cant pick up much sign in the woods during summer...

Now I love to glass fields in the farmland, our season starts early enough you can get them in a summer pattern...

If I hang a stand in the summer it has nothing to do with what the deer are doing right now. I am hanging them in areas I expect the deer to be later in the year either due to past experience in observed deer movement or past experience guiding my intuition to say given factors x,y and z being present in a given area, I am going to want to be right here during the fall.

Good post, as just yesterday I had lunch with one of my hunting buddies and discussed my findings of early season scouting, and he too asked "why so early"...

Being self-employed and father of a 2 year old son doesn't give me a whole lotta time for perfect conditions.
Also I try to stock pile my "away" time for hunting season, so the wifey doesn't keep telling me she is a "hunting widow".
So as everyone can imagine, I head out when I get the time.

This past Sunday was 52 degrees (not too warm) in the AM and NH had just got a lot of rain, so I believe it was a decent time for scouting, in my eyes.
After realizing I was going to be tick and mosquito bait, I checked out 3 "new" areas that connect to my other hunting areas for my early bow hunting
(Sept15th-1st week of Oct.).
Our discussion was based on trying to piece together the puzzle of "connecting" land parcels in bedroom community hunting. Basically my premise was due to last year's finding of a big buck in one of my areas and he was photographed almost 3 miles apart as the crow's fly. So my goal is to try and figure out how he is getting from parcel-to-parcel.

I had pulled my topo and aerial photo to get the lay of the land (as VirginaShadow mentioned). I had also previously set points on my GPS of roads etc., helping set-up my boundaries for these areas. I then walked into these areas and started looking for white oaks and other types of possible feed, making mental notes along the way and continuing to mark key features on my GPS. I also looked for swampy, streams or other muddy areas for tracks and also dropping etc.
So now, when I go back in a month or so, I can pin-point an area to scout more thoroughly and hang a stand or "cut-in" for my climber.
These new spots proved to be good, as I stalked towards a nice Doe from 125 yards to within 35-40 yards and also had heard a "blow" from a deer, in each of the other spots.

So VABOWMAN, anytime in the woods can be informative and one must go around his/her priorities in life.
If someone is fortunate enough to have a schedule that permits perfect scouting or hunting conditions, then I would view them as very lucky woman/men[&:]!
I hope it makes sense or maybe I'm just wasting my time, but I will find out in 76-days?