RE: Pre-season scouting.....from stand?
 

My take is that as long as you aren’t scouting FROM your intended stands or are going to be majorly busting out deer then go for it.

RE: Pre-season scouting.....from stand?
 

That's just it, Rybo.....I am kinda scouting from where I "might" hunt from in the future. It wouldn't be the exact spot, of course, but fairly close. it's also not the right time to be in that area.....so in essence I'm scouting that area a lot sooner than later. I won't be hunting in this spot until october.......

..........lol....unless I see something nice, there:D

RE: Pre-season scouting.....from stand?
 

It's a creek. There is a fence line.....but I'll have to cross it (it's on the woods edge) to get where I'm going.

Here's a shot from the road. Look over the birds to see the spot I wanna go into.:) The brush in the foreground is the brush that runs along the creek.

RE: Pre-season scouting.....from stand?
 

That's just the chance you take. I'd rather sit there & check it out now and potentially avoid a wasted hunt later on.

RE: Pre-season scouting.....from stand?
 

Im not sure if you saw my pics of the buck I posted that I got on my camera or not. The only way Im going to be able to tell for sure where he is going/coming will be to do exactly what you are thinking.

Im going to find a spot waaaaaay off with as little deer traffic as possible, and just sit one of these afternoons til dark. This 100% humidity crap just SUCKS right now though! haha

RE: Pre-season scouting.....from stand?
 

I've done it quite a bit...Especially if I'm watching over our bean fields...I've got so many good places to hunt that if I feel I "bugger" a spot, I'll move...

One other point...Yor're not hunting big woods bucks that seldom get human intervention...These farm deer are pretty used to being cautious around fields...I've killed deer in a field in the afternoon, gone back to the cabin and waited for the other hunters to come in and returned on the 4-wheeler to retrieve deer and run more deer out of the field...I've also hunted the same field and killed deer one afternoon and killed more the next afternoon...

About 6 years ago, my brother hunted the "Killing Field" 3 afternoons in a row...He left, the next afternoon I had 7 does come in, one freshened a scrape and 15 minutes later a 9 pointer came into the field chasing does...He left the field on the rack of my 4-wheeler...:D

I've also killed deer that either I or one of our farmers jumped in the field while working on the tractor or combine...If a dang noisy combine going throug a bean or corn field does't run them into the next county, then what will??? Sometimes I believe that they come to the field just to see what all the commotion is about, they just stand there and watch, get a bit to eat and go back into the woods...

You simply can't learn about your deer and their habits sitting on the couch...Every time you enter the woods you risk a chance of spooking deer...It's just the way it is...If you know you spook deer, wait a few days, use what you learned and go back and hunt...

Finally...How many time do you spook a deer that you don't even know about...Maybe they picked up on your scent 4-5 hours after you left...These are things that we don't really know...I'm not one to sit at home and dream about hunting, once I have it on my mind, I'm going...

RE: Pre-season scouting.....from stand?
 

I would do it. Play it just like a regular hunt, scent free and stealthy. Way to procrastinate big head.

RE: Pre-season scouting.....from stand?
 

Guilty.[8D]

Also guilty of possibly not giving this area its due. Yeah.....I deserved that.:D

RE: Pre-season scouting.....from stand?
 

I'd do it. I'd be very scent conscience but I'd go have a look.

RE: Pre-season scouting.....from stand?
 

I'd do it, too. I scouted a couple of possible locations yesterday and sat in one of my stands for a while-- watched a doe and fawn walk around for a while... the doe scented me and got nervous, but didn't leave the area. I know a lot of guys hang a stand and never come back until it's time to hunt, but I read an interesting article about Andre D'Aquisto, the inventor of Lone Wolf stands, and he's got a really unorthodox way of hunting. He'll intentionally walk into bedding areas trying to scare up bucks. He said something to the effect that most people think that if a deer sees you in the woods, the deer will run 100 miles away and never come back to that same area, but that's just not the case. He'll bust in on deer bedding, hang a stand and come back the next day and see/shoot the same deer. Personally, I'm going to stay away from my stands until the season starts after checking things out yesterday, but reading about D'Aquisto's methods sort of changed my perspective on how deer react to people.

Also, there are farmers and people cutting wood in the area I hunt all the time, yet that activity hasn't pushed all the deer off the property...