Master Chief

What do you look for when scouting to find a new hunting area. Like rubs, paws, heavily used trails, big tracks, trail cam pics, deer poop;], etc.

Also where do you look. For example--bottoms, acorn ridges, thickets, or maybe just walk through the woods till you find sign...


My dad and I usually look for big rubs that are close to a deer trail or thicket were it looks like he goes in and beds up. I like it when we find a spot that has it all though :]

Terasec

First I look at overall layout of the land,
Looking for pinch points and possible food/water/shelter areas.
When finding food sourcesn try to determine what kind of food, early season, late season, year round source,
I then look for routes to/from such places, and that's where I focus on trails/ markings and such, and determine where I want to be.
By late season if all works well from early season scouting have little need to enter the woods except to get to my predetermined spot.
Close to the season prefer to disturb the grounds as little as possible

scottycoyote

im trying to get better about using google earth, aerials and topos to do my initial scouting and then zero in from there. Theres a few good websites on the net, google "scouting for deer using google earth"......theres also a book out called "mapping trophy bucks" that has some good info as far as what to look for on a topo or aerial map. Its not going to put you on a deer without any footwork but it should get you there quicker.

White-tail-deer

Funnels or pinch points with deer sign (trails, rubs, scrapes, good cover, droppings, food, water). The more sign the more I will target that spot as a potential hunting spot. The other key is the time of day the deer are using a particular trail. Trail cams help or if possible long distance scouting.