xXx6182

I am new to the board but in no way am I new to deer hunting. I love deer hunting, infact you could say that I love deer hunting more than anything else in this world. After 4 years of passing up doe after doe after little buck I finally killed my first buck. Actually 2 in one night, which I am still down on myself about killing 2. I always have something bad to say about the ppl that kill anything that walks. We have land all over West TN and East TN, and use to let SOME ppl hunt but when we found out they were killing all the doe, button bucks and so on. I made then leave and told them to never come back. Anway, long story short, I shot at the first buck, thought I missed. There were about 15 doe around him and they all just took off running when I shot and I didn' t see him fall. The same buck (I thought) came around to the right of me and by now it was so dark that I couldn' t see anything but a silouet. I seen 5 deer in a straight line and heard the buck grunting at the very back, so I just aimed at the very last one and shot. Well I knew that I hit him. I walked over and thought " The deer that I shot at the first time looked bigger" Well I thought for sure there was no way I shot at a buck and then another one was still hanging around. I went back the next day to find a massive 8pt. but the cyotes already got to him. I kept his antlers though. I hate myself for killing two. I have always said that if I kill one buck at the very begining of the season then I wouldn' t hunt anymore casue there is no sense in killing another one. I have passed up 100s of deer just waiting for that one buck that I was happy with. Well that is my story, now for my question. Last year I found myself needing to scount, but I have never done that before and was already in the middle of the season finding myself moving my stands around. This year I want to do it right. So how early before opening day should I start scouting???? Month, 2 months????

jred

Welcome to the board, sounds like you may have alot to share.

timbercruiser

Welcome to the board. I' m not real big on pre-season scouting because we have a real big deer population. Also I know the woods I hunt pretty good and the deer have always been all over the place. If you are not real familiar with the woods you need to spend some time out there locating their fall/winter food sources.

Rack-attack

Welcome triple x

Seems like your gonna have fun around here Keep those stories coming[8D]

As far as the question - I start my scouting the day or two after the season ends, and I don' t stop until the next season begins

Good Luck

Tree climber

welcome to the board;just jump in any time you feel the need.good to have new meat.
enjoy!!!