atlasman

What do you guys do and when do you do it?

I prefer to do mostly spotlighting around this time of year and I will be on the lookout for deer sign when I hit the woods in a few days for spring turkey. I am primarily concerned with where the deer are right now and what they are feeding on. In my experiences deer will head for their favorite feeding spots right after the snow clears.........sort of like an old reliable habit for them where they can be SURE of getting some good eats.

Once the bucks start to sprout some headgear I spend more time in the woods or fields glassing and trying to pattern movements because I find it easier to identify whether I am looking at the same deer or multiple ones. Gives me a good idea of numbers and quality of what made it through the winter.

Once I figure out the favorite buffet spots I get in the woods more and trace routes back to where I hope to find bedding areas......sometimes I do sometimes I don't [:@] When I do I then map out the most likely routes to and from each and go looking for signs that help confirm this..........doesn't always go as planned and sometimes outside forces screw everything all up anyways but I would say it has worked pretty well for me over the years.

I don't go out of my way looking for the biggest, oldest buck in the county but don't think a chest high rub shredding a 20" tree doesn't catch my eye

Always looking to build a better mouse trap so any reliable tactics would be great............What has produced good results for you guys??

Fieldmouse

I talk to the Home owners and/or maintainance crews in Sept. they tell me when and where the big boy has been seen.

Dirt2

I hunt both whitetails and elk. Read maps all winter - the first hour staring at an area on a map is just the warmup. March through May I scout my deer. This year I'm on a track-measuring kick, trying to quantify track width as it relates to buck age. June through August I'm backpacking my elk canyons, trying to find those 300 bulls.

titleist_03

I like to do most of my scouting in the 3 months following the season. The woods are bare and trails are easy to spot as well as rubs and scrapes can be seen too. This time of year I don't have to worry about scent either and I can take my time in the woods. I like to map out all the trails, rubs, and scrapes on an aerial photo. Then throught the summer I scout from field lanes and roads with binocs and a digital camera. I also use a trail camera to do some scouting too. I try to be as scent free as possible whne going in to hang the camera and change the film. I like putting it out in May and leaving it up until the first of the year.

shed33

I scout year around, averaging from 150-200 days per year in the mountains either hunting or scouting or both, I keep a detailed log. I have recorded over 200 days in one year scouting when I was single and had no kids, Not anymore

Jan-May, Backtracking bucks bedding areas, shed hunting, turkey hunting, bear hunting and reading deer and elk sign and glassing animals.

June-August 29th. Glassing and videoing the areas and animals that interest me from my shed hunting/scouting findings. Extreme scent control now. Thermals and swirling winds in mountainous country will give you away. I don't want a mature animal knowing I am watching him, so I keep my distance once June rolls around.

August 30th-Dec 23rd Hunting and scouting in accordance to the feeding phase, pre rut, scraping phase, breeding phase, post rut/secondary rut, never cutting corners on scent control especially in or near a bedding area.

My favorite thing to do is hunt specific animals whether it be elk, deer or even bear. I have harvested 4 bucks now that I have sheds from. My favorite style of harvest is through ambush. Knowing them "well" enough to sit and wait on them without disturbing their area. I used to call, I dont much anymore, unless I am turkey hunting, and Elk hunting during the rut. I use synthetic scents for deer hunting.

Shed

Below is a buck I scouted for 2 years, I called him "bigfoot", he had an unusually large foot compared to other bucks in this area. I was able to help my brother get set up on "bigfoots" doe group he had covered the year before. On my brothers 3 day hunt up here he harvested him on the second day. The buck showed up on the same does, same time as the year before. This was as rewarding as shooting him myself. He scored in the mid 150s and was a nice hvy bodied buck for being so late in the rut.

PABowhntr

I am nowhere near the hunter some of these gentleman are so take my comments with a grain of salt. This year I have started using my game camera immediately following the season to determine patterns of travel both in terms of location and time of day. I have also started driving the back roads just looking for any geographic/environmental changes from last season such as crop patterns, new clearcuts, etc.. Around the beginning of June I will start to drive through my hunting area more often and glass for any bucks with decent headgear. That will continue through the summer. Towards the end of the summer I will then pick a few stand locations to keep an eye on specifically until the upcoming season.

Hope this helps somewhat.

rybohunter

I know my core hunting area quite well, so there's not much I need to look for until mid-summer. I can then start getting an idea of the size of the bucks in the area and which farmer planted corn in which fields. From there I can develope a game plan for which trees to hunt from under various conditions. The trees have been ID'd from years past or the post hunting season scouting i do immediately after archery is done. Heavy rut sign is much easier to find and make note of at this time. Right off the bat once hunting season starts I will make a stab or 2 at a good buck, while he's still in summer mode, but mostly I try and get does into range in places where I don't feel I'll hinder myself with spooking out a wise buck. As the rut nears, I focus my attention on the areas I feel a buck will slip up and make his way past during daylight hours.

silentassassin

I don't guess I have a scouting routine. the majority of my routine has come from hunting the same areas for several years. I literally just follow the deer. They typically start in an area and then move to thicker terrain or certain "core" areas as the season goes on. Pinning down "bedding areas" in the big woods that I hunt is pretty difficult. I scout alot during the season and I scout alot after turkey season and I cross reference that info with the info stored in my on board computer and come up with a game plan from there. This is what I do for bucks anyway. Most of the good bucks that I kill are on public ground and setting up stands and leaving them is not an option. Also, with varying water levels travel patterns change quite dramatically. Therefore, a good deal of my scouting is done during the season in reaction to the deer movements for one reason or another, whether it be hunting pressure or high water etc. I do prescout areas for early season but on public ground, this all comes unraveled quickly.

atlasman

I hear ya man [:@]


Nothing ruffles my arse feathers more then putting a lot of time into scouting an area only to find out that a week before archery starts some idiot decides to ride his ATV for 9 hours a day and shoot at clay birds right before dark every night []

I have actually had a troup of nature hikers parade past my stand while hunting state land. Oh well, they have just as much right to the woods as I do. I was hoping they would stir up some game............they didn't.

fullofbull

Ive gone as far as make natural ground blinds on state land only to walk out to it on opening morning and have someone else in the very blind i had scouted out and built. But its even worse when they put up a stink about it being public and how they got to it 1st, no point arguing with an a$$ holding a shotgun though.