Scouting land
 

What do you look for when you scout land? How do you go about asking someone to use their land? And how do you find out who owns it?

RE: Scouting land
 

Well, this is going to be a long post.

If you want to ask someone if you can hunt on their land. Probably the best way is to find people at your work place. Or close friends. But if you know someone who has land that you want to hunt on, just figure out a good time to ask. Go up to the door (do not do it on the phone) and small talk at first. Then once it slows down, mention their land. Then bring up the fact that you would like to hunt on it. Tell him/her exactly what you plan on doing on the land. And let them know when you are coming, hunting, and make sure that its ok.

When you are scouting, I usually look for HEAVILY used deer trails. I don't like to hunt spots where there are only a few deer tracks. Rubs and scrapes are probably some of the best signs of deer.

RE: Scouting land
 

I use google earth for both scouting and finding land to hunt.

You can usually look at the satellite photos to see which pieces of land go with which house. Then go to that house and ask for permission like 1shotkill describes.

When scouting, I look for game trails, rubs, beds, scrapes, good lookouts, good locations for treestands, food/water sources and I take pictures of everything I find to make a map in Google Earth. I use a GPS and software to tag my photos on the map exactly where I took them so I can review when I get home. After a scouting trip I put all that information on satellite image maps and topography maps and use the organized information to help determine how the animals are travelling and behaving.

I describe what to look for and how to do all this in an eBook.
Deer Hunting, Scouting Tips, GPS Journal

RE: Scouting land
 

Deer signs. Nuff said.

RE: Scouting land
 

like that one?:D

RE: Scouting land
 

Use the county GIS site. Each county should have it. Once you have located an area that you like go to the GIS site, look up the area. It will show you the property lines along with telling you exactly how much land each place has, it will also provide aerial photos so you can see what it looks like beyond what you can see. Then the tricky part comes, you got to ask for permission, there are many tactics to use, best case scenario is look around the house/property when you walk to the front door, try to get an idea of what kind of people they are and talk to there likings. Make yourself a friend right of the bat. oh and i hope you like rejection, cause you will get rejected a lot, but it only takes one yes to make it all worth while.

RE: Scouting land
 

Try to get a map of the property, if that's not possible start walking. I look for 2 things, the thickest, nastiest places there. This can be thick alders, swamps, heavy pines etc. I also look at any and all edges. Deer loves edges, so look for places where swamps meet the woods, where hardwoods meet swamps, where woods meet new/cold cuttings etc. Finding old/new droppings will tell you the deer have been and still are using a particular area.

When you locate the owner and decide to ask permission to hunt, hers's one piece of advice....meet the owner in street clothes. Don't show up in all hunter orange or camo. Be polite and respect whatever the decison may be.

Good Luck!