How early is TOO early to scout?
 

I bow hunt, muzzleload hunt, and firearm (shotgun only) hunt, making a much longer time in the woods. I have 3 hunting spots and 2 of them are standing corn this year. I have cameras in there now, but by just changing batteries and pulling SD cards to look at, I almost feel like im messing up by going into a prime bow hunt area. Besides the camera aspect, I have to go in and clear lanes, find climbable trees, etc. because I have never bow hunted this particular 200 acre ag field. I know I want to hunt the edges, but I also want to get in deeper to find trails, bedding, and find the areas they are coming in and out of the corn fields.

When do you guys usually start to scout and pattern your deer population on your lease?

Is it better to just wait until late summer and just go in a couple times before I hunt it? What would you do if you knew this place was not only holding deer, but is a honey hole for big racks.

TIA

Never too early. Just don't bump them out of bedding areas. watch from afar!:s4:

My wife tells me that I'm only temporarily not scouting. There is no bad time to scout.

I do a lot of deer hunt scouting during turkey season .... Mar. 15 was opening day. Once it gets hot ... I quit !!! I used to scout more frequently than I have these past 4-5 years. I usually wait until a cool snap in September to do my serious pre-season scouting. I am getting to darned old to spend hours on end scouting in heavy woods during the blazing heat of a SE Alabama July - August. Heck is was 90F+/- today where I hunt. If this keeps up, we'll see many, many days well over 95F come late June! Lord only knows what August will look like !!

Never too early to scout. This year I've got 800 acres all to myself and a couple buddies of my choice. I started walking the edges of some of the fields this past weekend.

Never to early. I get out as soon as the snow leaves & it has always paid off...

scout all off season.

yeah i dont think its really ever too early to scout, i think "how late is too late to scout" is the more important question.

Im down in the woods right now adding little patches of clover and thro-n-gro. Been clearing lanes and thinning new spots for archery. Ide rather do it now, let it settle then move in there at archery season knowing everythings a go. Wont hurt to target some old rub lines or find smaller cedar trees that got rubbed last year, and target those paths for archery/ clear a shooting lane near them. Good luck

I already have my areas picked out and will start hiking to the various springs to confirm water sources in July.

While hiking I will be looking for sign and doing a lot of glassing. We don't know what actual area we got drawn for until June. I feel pretty positive in my choice, and confident that I will get drawn, as the area I put in for has OTC Tags for sale every year due to the illegal alien and dope smuggler problem. I could start scouting earlier, but I'd rather not stir them up too much, as whitetails here tend to spend their whole lives in a one to two section area, depending upon availability of water.

FYI: 1 Section is 640 acres and it's a four mile hike to get to the ridge I want to be on by the time the sun rises.

Biker

Better too early than too late , the woods just after hunting season are pristine and you arn't worried about bumping deer,better yet bumping them this time of year is good to bump them as you can gain insight on what and where they are doing. This time of year gives real insightas to what is going own during the rut as scrapes and rubs are still fresh looking.
Once the heat returnes the recon info is limited to what will be going own in the pre- rut . Though valuable info it is not nearly as important as insight as what will be going own during the rut. Also the closer you scout to opening day the lower the impact you need to inflict.
A few things that can come out of summer scouting is this , a good creek crossings in the summer are aften good in the fall, the same with fence crossings and so forth.

plan ahead of time to take an entire day and walk everything you want to walk and take a notepad and write down notes on what you see and where you see it, any sign that looks promising, scouting is best done right after season closes, if you scout in the summer you are scouting summer feeding patterns which could dramatically change come fall time in some areas or on some farms, scouting right after season gives you fresh sign to follow up on, giving you ideas on some areas you may have missed during season, I say take one day so your not in and out of there many times, once you take notes go home and take time to study them and relate them to what you saw during hunting season and get a good aerial map of the area and draw travel routes and where you saw sign and you can begin to see patterns forming and you'll be able to put together killer strategies for harvesting giants, could go into more detail, but theres my short version, but to your original question sorry i kind've got carried away but scout right after season for, i only summer scout from a distance just to see what kind've bucks are running our properties.

We scout year round, but we run cows on our hunting ground so we are in their every other day in winter feeding and at least once a week spring through fall. I go up and check cows and cameras same trip, and for the most part the deer aren't spooked much from the pickup or 4 wheeler, but they don't associate them with danger either they just see the cows run to us.

my friend and i we did alot of deer scouting this new property during turkey season we ran into a few deer but they now have lots of time to calm back down before hunting begins

Its never too early, the first day after the season is the first day of scouting season. That being said, if I want get in to the core area I do it early. We stay out of their core areas from early summer through the fall. If we do go in later on, we make sure the wind is good so we dont contaminate the whole area and also try and just peek in from the edges. The deer need their sanctuary area where they feel safe in the fall.

At this time I am using trail cams to scout for me when near their bedding areas. I try to stay away from the safe havens they tend to bed in. All year long I keep my eyes open for heavy use trails that can be seen on the edges or glass from a distance when looking over open areas. The farmers are in two of my areas at this time turning and planting the soybean crops or corn for this year so they are use to a little more noise I think than usual. Thats what I'm doing at this time.

As soon as the snow melts and before green up is the best time to learn a property. Scouting never ends, but looking at buck beds, and patterns, as well as setting up stand sites should already be done.
I would recommend keeping the cameras away from your treestand positions. Mature bucks don't get mature by walking in daylight where human scent gets deposited on a regular basis. Stay away from your tree till its the right day to kill him. Put the cameras back on the field edges.

never too early to scout!

I've already started scouting. Never too early to get an idea where the deer are. Keep in mind, like you probably already been told, that deer habits do change from summer to winter, but chances are if you find a good location now it will still hold the deer later. As other have said if you find mature bucks be sure to not pressure them, but you can't hunt em' if you don't know em'. Best of luck!

I think everyone is on the same page. I like to get out after hunting season in a fresh snow and check things out. I have hunted the same land for years so I may tweek things a little in the early spring and cut back my lanes, even though they can grow back, you can get the big stuff. I like to check my cameras only 2 times before hunting season. leave them out for 2 months at a time and I will check them during hunting season as I walk by them. It gets real tempting to go look to see if the big buck is on there when I check it.

Best time to scout?
 

I scout year round. I have 3 stands set at 30 feet just for Spring, and summer scouting.

There is never a bad time to scout, just that different times of year require different kinds of scouting. Summer time is great for watching fields and running trail cams.

There is a great tool available for deer hunters and it can be used for scouting as well as hunting. The Non-Typical Whitetail Journal from Step Ahead Outdoor Solutions is an unbelievable asset for anyone that wants to learn as much as possible from your scouting and hunting trips, as well as your trail cam observations.

If you check it out now they are running a FREE TRIAL of the journal. It has a ton of really helpful features, including some really great mapping tools.

Dan