BigDaddy12t

Ok, heres kind of a beginners question. Our bow season here in Mn. runs thru December 31. After the season is over, I want to go out and do some scouting on my land. I figured that I would go out right after a good snow fall, ( If we ever get one) so that it will be easy to see the trails that they are using. I want to hang some more stands for next year and I would like to hang them yet this winter so that the deer will get used to them by next year. (I am the only one that hunts on this land) My question is, If I find some good trails this year and find some good places to hang stands, do you think they will use these same trails come next fall? I know that the crops will be a deciding factor here, but most of my land is woods and CRP, with crops oinly on one side of my land, and I allready have a stand on the edge of that. Thanks for any advice you can give. This is only my second year bow hunting and I get into it more and more every year, if thats possible.

pinkys79

I really dont have a good answer for ya I do all of my scouting two months before season opens. But I must say about the getting more into it (bowhunting) I have got to second that one. Man I got sucked in bad. My wife never used to have a problem with me hunting lol. Now she always asked me " is that all that you think of?" " Of course" Anyhow this is my 5 year bowhunting and it is the first year that I didnt drop quite a bit of cash the change things like new sights, broadheads, ect. Took awhile just to figure out what worked good for me.

tabby

I suggest you hanging your stands this summer. The trees grow quite a bit in the spring, and you may have some difficulties taking your stand down. And you will be able to prune shooting lanes much better.

But scouting a few months before season is better. I know my deer travel different paths durring the winter as they do durring the fall.

adams

Alot of my scouting turns into pre season trimming. Deer are lazy plain and simple. If you know where they feed and where the bedding cover is you' ve got them beat. I go out mid june when the trees are covered with leaves. I trim/cut trails through good cover from bedding aeras to food and try to have them cross a run or two effectively making my own " funnels" . Buck tend to like good cover so I don' t cut the trails to wide, just wide enough to make easy going through the thick crap. It dosn' t take long, a couple of weeks or so for the deer to find the trail and once they do you have them. This is also a good time to start mock scrapes. Don' t use scents designed for the rut. I' d use any pre or post rut curiosity scent. Start the scrapes small and let the deer take them over. Belive it or not the will frequent these scrapes all year long.
I find winter scouting to have its limits. It is good to know what survived hunting season but once deer yard up they don' t move a whole lot so there is limited info avaiable at this time of year. I also don' t like to stumble into a yard of deer and bother the deer in any way once we have good snow on the ground. I live in maine and the winters are hard enough on the deer. I certainly don' t want to have any negative inpact onthe heard. JM$.02

Belle Island

I keep my winter scounting to a minimum. If during the season I had a suspected bucks bedding area, I will go deep into his bedroom during February and March just to look for sheds, trails, rubs, etc. The woods look completely different in MS between December and February. I like to hang my permanant stands during June or July, get the trimming out of the way. But, with that said, you should do what ever floats your boat. If you want to hang stands 10 months in advance, go right ahead, it couldn' t hurt. Good Luck.