I would greatly appreciate some of your scouting methods. I have been hunting only for a few short years and I have had some good sucess only be a rookie, but I feel lucky, not skillful. Please, any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated.

Scout now while the used trails are still worn. When Spring and Summer comes, they'll disappear. If you have a piece of woods you have in mind, circle around it when a fresh snow comes. Trails can change because of foods coming and going (i.e. apples, acorns, etc). Look for trails heading to thick cover.
Good luck and have fun!

Just spend lots of time in the woods,make a day of it and a adventure.I cant walk any more to far ,so here is a hint.What I do is do alot of driving around the prospective hunting areas like between midnight and dawn on the back roads.Where you continually see deer on tne edges ,crossing alot ,thats a good place to start looking.Works great for me.I've shot alot of deer 100 yards off the road from a deer crossing sign

Now is the best time to be scouting. The deer are still in their winter pattern so if you find where they are now , that is where they will likely be next fall. Spring and summer are good times too! ANYTIME that you can get in the woods is a GOODTIME! Main things to look for are bedding areas, well used trails, and food sources. Look for "funnel" areas, which are fence lines, small wooded strips between diffferent types of terrain, and shallow creek crossings. Remember that unpressured deer will take the path of least resistance so these areas will be good stand setups. Also one of the best areas that you can find are areas where two or more terrains connect, such as where a clearcut connects to an area of woods or where small thickets connect to big woods. These edge areas are excellent, deer love them! Good luck!

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I would agree that winter/spring scouting is the best time to be checking things out, however I am not looking for fresh sighn r even deer at this point. The deer in Northern MI migrate and what you see now is only winter yarding. I wait until the snow is gone ( april-may) and spend as much time before spring green up. The woods will be open, visibiltiy is great and for the most part you can see what happened before the migration took place. I look for rub lines, runs, bedding, travel routes, staging areas...and last, possible stand spots. Keep in mind a that there is no back drop in a tree at this time of year and more than likely except for early fall there will be no back drop in mid and late fall. You can easily pick the best tree for cover. Do you work now and you will be ready come the first of your season. It really can pay off. Spend as much time as you can, I even take time off of work to get this done. Good Luck!

defintiely look for trails and also you can see rubs that r still pretty fresh.

after the season ends I start squirel hunting,then turkey,I am scouting for deer sign all the time.
you can still see the trails and where they feed.
any time in the woods is a good time to scout.


I am not a hunter I am a whitetail population reduction specialest

remember keep your back to the sun, your knife sharp, and your powder dry.

I look for trails and rubs and scrape lines right after the season.

Check out my website at http://www.geocities.com/deerhunteri...oors_Page.html

look for deer sign......scrapes, trails, and then set up a deer-cam to see what bucks made it and see what is in your area to hunt next year.