Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

Since this is a "HUNTING" forum. I thought I would post an off-beat yet original "hunting" question for folks. What do you people do in the off season in regards to scouting to assure you success in the upcoming year? Me, personally, I take a walk through my woods periodically to check the signs of deer activity. With snow on the ground and bare woods with all the leaves fallen off the trees it becomes much easier to nail down the patterns of deer in the area. Everything stands out..trails are much easier to notice. Feeding areas are obvious with all of the fecal matter everywhere. Bedding areas are obvious with the melted snow clearly indicating where the deer like to spend the majority of their time. And a cherished set of shed antlers clearly point to the potetial of bucks that have survived the hunting season and are going to be growing, hopefully, a larger set of horns the next year. I love the off-season as much as the on-season. It's exciting! When the wife allows, I will even sit in a stand every so often to see what I can see in the way of deer and their herd's inventory. Although patterns now will be much different compared to next October, there is a huge amount of information available now that can be pertinent to next year's pursuit. Do you agree...what do you do as far as scouting in the "off-season"?

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

When I have to I scout. BUT, I've been hunting the same little 100 acre patch for 3 or 4 years now. I have them figured out. Yes patterns will change, but not a lot normally. I'll do some strolls in mid August, hang a couple stands, pick out several places for my climber and that's it. Guess what.... I already know where most of those spots are... but I use it as an excuse to go to the woods.

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

I do a little shed hunting, so I guess you could say I scout a little, but not much. I have been hunting the same areas for years, so they use basically the same trails yr. after yr. A lot of my decisions on where I put most of my time in depends on what crops are planted in the spring and the mast crop.

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RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

I do the majority of my scouting this month and next...as you mentioned, everything stands out...trails,bedding areas,rubs,scrapes,and big sheds:). I spend a lot of time searching the terrain between bedding areas, looking for something that will funnel buck movement;erosion ditches,creek crossings,brushy fencelines,etc. During the rut, I hunt these locations frequently as bucks are moving between bedding areas looking for 'hot does'.

I also do as much stand work as I can. Once I've located a tree I like, I return with a lightweight treestand,climbing sticks,long pruner,and a hammer a nails(for hanging my backpack and bow). The area will have 6-7 months to cool off and all I have to do next fall is hang my stands and hunt<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>.It takes a lot of time,but come bow season...it pays off.


TB

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

I usually look for shed antlers, and look for the deer signs. Like you said, the patterns of the deer right now are nothing like they'll be next season, but it's good to see the local herd. Right now most of them are bunched up and you can see the herd and the quality and info them.
Visit My Hunting Page

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

Post season is a favorite time for me as well.As mentioned it is at this time when all the buck sign is laid out for me to record.I usually head to the woods wearing a small day pack loaded with a small trimming saw a note pad and a 14.4v cordless drill and several 7&quot; lag bolts so that I can ready a good number of new locations.Of course, I'm always on the look out for shed antlers.There's nothing like fnding a &quot;booker&quot; while your setting up stand locations.I have found it usefull to record as much info as I can in my note pad because you'll find it gets difficult to recall alot of what your learning a full 9 months before hunting season.Now, if I can just stick to deer without turning a post season scouting day into a pre season turkey trip????

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RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

I do the same as you wolfen.

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

This is how I do it in the &quot;Big Woods&quot;, as soon as the snow is gone and that won't be until April-May, there is a window before spring green up and that's when I hit it hard - real hard. Don't care where I walk, I put on the miles. I look for the &quot;blue print&quot; from last fall. All the tell tale signs the deer left last year are all real visibible. I then stay away in the summer and fall. First time I go back is opener of Bow. Good Luck!

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

Here's one fault I find with all you folks that say I scout in the spring when the snow is gone. You say it gives you the layout of what happened last fall. Somewhere in a magazine about 5 years ago someone put this out as a NEW and smart thing to do. Everyone jumped on the band wagon. Here's my problem with it.

In Feb, March or April any sign such as old rubs, scrapes etc are just that. &quot;OLD&quot; When was it done? Oct, Nov, during the second rut maybe Dec. You don't really know by looking at it. Deer work on food and cover. The closer they are to each other the better. I know what the deer like, where it's likely to be and where it was last year. I hope I already found scrapes and rubs last year. Deer will be back.... IF THEY WEREN'T SHOT. Even if they were, some areas produce scrapes every year. I personnally don't sit on scrapes. In my younger years I did... but I waisted too much time when I could have been shooting deer. If I find the right travel corridors I see deer all the time out. If I find the right scrape I might see a deer every 3 or 4 days. Spring scouting for whitetails in my opinion is a lot of leg work that I can do better in a quiet trip through the woods nearer the season. Where the deer will be when my season opens the middle of Sept is not anywhere near the same places you'll find in the spring. If that deer is around I'll find exactly where he's traveling..... not where he WAS traveling. Everytime in or out of the woods I'm looking. Every hunting trip I'm looking for changing patterns and sightings. They're in the corn, the acorns start to fall they shift, late they're in the fields and honeysuckle etc etc etc. Right now I know exactly where about 20 deer are bedded in one herd in my woods. Yes they'll be there again... but in between now and then I expect to stick a half dozen of them. I sure would hate to have to wait until they returned to their winter hideouts. Spring scouting in my opinion is a falicy/farce perpetrated by a couple writers trying to come up with a new angle for an article. Sure there are success stories based on what someone saw in the spring. Guess what.... if you were observant last fall you already knew it. Anyone who thinks spring scouting is the answer to finding the big bucks or plain old bucks just choses to think that way. Proper scouting anytime will accomplish that. No information is better than up to date facts. The closer to the hunt the more useful.

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

davidmil...I won't argue with you that the patterns of deer in the spring compared to the fall are drastically as different as night and day. However, I disagree that it is a waste of time and that information useful for the upcoming season is not available. I'm certainly not going to set up a stand at any point based on the deer activity I see now. But as you surely know, in October and even into late November where I'm at, the woods are still thick and full and every trail is not readily evident. Even trails made in the fall start to jump out at you when you walk through the woods. It's like taking the mud out of the water to see the bottom. Bedding areas are never as clear as they are in the winter and early spring and IMO bedding areas in my spot don't change that much although feeding locations change often. I like to &quot;scout&quot; mostly to find sheds and to get an idea of the herd's inventory and see what the upcoming deer crop looks like. It's also one heckuva good excuse to spend some time in the woods.

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

wolfen I am like you, I find any reason I can to scout, this is my twins first year of scouting, I took them hunting several times and it was an experience they will never forget. This whole year will be teaching them to scout, how to gain permission to hunt property, how to identify sign, when it is about 3-4 weeks before opener I will show them how to select spots for stands. With me hunting is a year round deal and since I am living in a new area now, all of it is exciting and a new challenge.

The Tazman

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

I spend quit e a bit of time in the woods cutting wood,clearing trails and replanting some bare places in the forest from logging . I've hunted this place for the last twenty years .I guess you could say I know it pretty well . Where we elk hunt is buried in the snow this time of year .

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

Deer patterns and bedding areas? Their is no such thing down here in East Texas. When you hunt the big woods like I do, it's a whole different ballgame. You can walk within 10 yards of a deer down here and not even know that it was there. I have been reading over the years in magazines about locating their bedding areas, locate funnels and what not and it don't hold much water in the thick East Texas woods. Don't get me wrong, the deer are deffinately here but the woods and brush are very thick. Ya'll come on down here and find me a funnel or a bedding area back in the woods and I'll buy you a new bow of your choice.

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

Johnny.... I'll be right there. I've been wanting a new recurve.<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle> I've hunted in Texas.

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

Back on the bowhunting forum Johnny? Always a pleasure.<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle> What types of trees are we talking about that make up the woods of deep east Texas? Aren't there differences in lay of the land...hills, valleys, creeks, ponds, lakes, crops, CRP, or is it just miles and miles of thick and wooly timber. Is this a mature type forest or one riddled with briars and thornbushes?

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

Well I think I can speak on the subject Johnny brought up. I too live and hunt in the middle of East Tx in the thick Piney Woods. I will agree with him 100%. I want someone to come down here and find me a bedding area. I have hunted here my whole life and have yet to see one. Also the &quot;funnel&quot; theory goes out the window most of the time. I'm sure there are some natural funnels out there but I've everytime I find a textbook funnel in a high traffic deer area, I find out that the deer use the funnel no more than anywhere else.

On the subject of bedding areas, I think that East Tx deer stand 24hrs a day and never acutally bed.<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle> The layout of East Tx is about 80% wooded acres to 20% open acres. I don't know if those figures are exact but that would be my guess. Our open land is just pasture and hay measows, no crops other than small gardens are grown around here. The woods are hardwood and pine but pine is dominant in many areas. The bottoms and low land are hardwoods but many of them are as thick as the pine woods. I hunt on over 650 acres of land with only 20 acres being open, the rest is THICK woods, hardwoods and pines. I'd say that well over half the land I hunt it is so thick with underbrush and briars that you litterally can't crawl thru it. Somehow deer can move thru it with ease but not a human. It is impossible to scout and just as impossible to hunt. That is why many folks use bait and hunt on the log roads. I try to get back in the woods where there is less underbrush but the deer really like the thick cover. When you are in the woods and are surrounded by literally thousands and thousands of continous acres of woods and timber it is pretty tuff to find bedding areas and pattern deer. Finding sheds........that is almost a joke around here. Better go play the lottery if you fine one, because you've beat the odds.

All that being said, I love hunting the big woods here but take most textbook wisdom and throw it out when you come here. Deer are still deer but the habitat here is a whole new ballgame. Oh, if you think East Tx is odd, try South Tx! Nothing but scrub brush almost so thick you can't walk thru it for miles and miles. Like the ads for Texas tourism say, &quot;Welcome to Texas, it's like a whole other country.

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Hunting the Piney Woods of Deep East Texas.

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

Good thread. I was getting tired of all the cryin and whining from Wolfen.
I dont do much scouting this time of year. Ill start in July, watching the herd, checking trails for usage. I agree to a point that scouting now in my area is pointless.


AllenC

RE: Off season scouting...tips, advice, hints, comment
 

I also like scouting this time of year. Like wolfen said everything shows up better. You can see rubs from far away and the trails are easier to see. Bow season comes in here in mid sept. and the patterns of the deer will change because there feeding habits change. But I like to scout now because there is no one else in the woods and I like to look for sheds. I also look for deer sign with one eye and turkey sign with the other. Even though the deer are eating different things now trails that are close to grain fields or white oaks will also be used by the deer in the fall. And around here the deer will bed in the same area all year.