bow_huntr

Just wondering how you all pattern/scout for your deer and if you set your stand up and observe, ect... Post all thoughts and tips if you dont mind! Thanks and good hunting!

Bowhunter57

bow_huntr,
I'll walk around a wooded area, if possible to see where they're coming in and out at and from there (if possible) decide if it's a feeding area, bedding area or if they're just passing through.

If I need more info as to the time of day that they're traveling a trail, I use cotton thread to "string" the area. It's cheaper than a trail cam and draws no attention.
For good visibility I'll use a spool of orange colored cotton thread: Take about a 3' or 4' piece of thread, tie it to something solid on one side of the trail and tie the other end to something that will tear (a leaf, small stem). When a deer passes through the trail it will break the string and it will be laying on the ground in the direction the deer was traveling.

The only problem (if you want to call it that) is you won't know exactly what time of day or night the deer passed by. However, if you're hunting that area everyday you'll get a better idea. I don't really need to know the exact time, I just want to know the direction of travel. This will tell me which way they're headed and why.

I hunt as close to a bedding area as possible....without spooking them. I've always found morning hunts to be the best. Deer seem to be less alert in the morning.

If all else fails, food...always locate the food sources. All deer have to eat.

Good hunting, Bowhunter57

jimpok61

Scouting year round helps me pattern deer, find sweet spots, locate well traveled, slightly traveled trails, food sources, water sources, prevailing wind patterns, rubs, scrapes, bedding areas, etc. etc.. I could go on but you get the drift. Make the time, get out there, observe, listen, smell and generally try to blend into their playground. Come next season you won't have any doubts as to where to go, what tree to hunt from, what secondary trees to hang stands from, what blowdowns you can use for concealment, etc. etc.. Now get out there and do your homework like your teachers always told you to do. Good luck, enjoy and clean out the freezer for next years venison.

davidmil

I follow the blood trails.[:-]

Dirt2

I think the whole "patterning deer" idea has more or less validity depending on the type of country you hunt. When I hunt some eastern Montana areas, with limited cover, patterning deer seems like a useful enterprise. However, where I live, in western MT, we have cover out the wazoo. Any deer that walks out of a cropfield has approx. 6 million acres of continuous cover to choose from, and thus patterning becomes a pretty academic exercise. Your "pattern" means a deer walks through this funnel once every week. I suspect this is the case in about any big woods habitat from WA to ME.

Rauch

i agree dirt2 in our woods (ozark missouri) we find two things food sources and funnles we hunt the funnles in the morning and food in the evening you have to really spend your time to be able to truly pattern the deer and seeing as most of us work or go to school it is hard to make time but if you can get away from the roads and congestion they do seem to be on a bit more routine schedual it really does depend on the terrain

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djkiller

to scout you need some good binocs. then tons of time in the woods. during the pre-rut you can hunt rub lines and scrapes w/ better success than while full rut is on. since they are on the move for does. sit in a stand and move to different areas. to try to find the bedding and feeding areas. once you have determand there feeding and bedding ares you can set up your stand in between them on a trail. good luck!!!!

Fieldmouse

When I need new areas to hunt, I check neighborhoods that back up to feeder woods and/or parks. I look to see the amount of old and new rubs in the area and ultimately go by the amount of doe's moving through the area. I won't hunt these areas until the first week in Nov. when the pre rut begins. I won't shoot unless the deer is huge with heavy and wide mass. If I feel like hunting meat early in the season, I have areas for this. I also won't take a small to large buck until late Dec or January time frame.

Rack-attack

Don't forget about other hunters. Their activity can effect the patterns of mature deer as much as natural funnels, food, etc.

I look hard for others stands when I scout a new area. I log these as I do other deer sign, and I do my best to figure out their entrance and exit routes.

Sometimes its as simple as setting up where others don't.