Pre-Season Scouting
 

I have exactly 2 months before the season opens on October 1st. I want to go out and move a few stands around and make sure everything is good to go. What do you suggest i look for exactly? Trails, Tracks, Rubs yet?? I need some advice on what to look for and what the things should look like. Thanks in advance!

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

It is getting pretty late for scouting, but if you must scout, keep your impact as low as possible. Keep your scent to a minimum and take all precautions to avoid spooking deer. I would say find their food sources and bedding areas and set up somewhere in between on some well used trails. That is about as simple as I can break it down. Good luck finding some spots.

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

One thing is to try and find enough different spots so that you can hunt (set up for) any wind. That way you can always play the wind. It's still a good idea to try control your scent. Thats's my plan for this fall. I have several spots ready, and I will simply decide which stands to go to based largely on the wind and how often I have hunted the stands.

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

I agree with the others, my scouting right now consists of sitting on far vantage points with my spotting scope or bino's. The leg work is best done directly following the close of season and winter. I do all my intensive scouting then and the rest of the year I monitor from a distance. For you that is next time country, I would determine bed n breakfast then try to sneak in and sneak out to find transition areas, it is always best to try and situated yourself from where they are to where they are going. Look for deer sign (tracks, droppings), travel routes, intersection, natural funnels, etc as starting points for your setup. I would then do some intensified scouting and modify if required while actually hunting in october (this is when you start checking rubs and scrapes for buck activity). In many cases I have done this for draw tags or virgin territory, hell I even do it in my roost(normal hunting grounds). The way I see it you have to be in the woods if things aren't working out you must create your own opportunities, sometimes moving a few hundred yards is all it takes.

Porintree is right on the money about finding spots for every available wind, it is IMO essential as you can't pick the weather only the day in which you hunt come fall in most cases.

Keep in mind bucks will be in bachelor groups now, so be aware come fighting time these deer will disperse some.

Have fun and best of luck to you!

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

As a newbie who is probably not that qualified to give advice, last December I looked for trails through the snow in the woods I will hunt this Fall. Then I tied ribbons on small branches on trees along the trails so I could go back this summer and put my camera up. I have seen several deer traveling these trails at about the same time just before sunset this month. I hope they stick to their pattern through the season.

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

I would go in about noon time frame if you are going in, i went last weekend and the spider webs were horrible, it was too hot, every time i look for sign.............BAM run right into another spider web so big it looked like spider man himself made it,lol. Well good luck, but i would reccomend that you scout every year after the season is over in january.

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

I disagree with the best time to scout is right after season. I think right now 2 months before season is prime scouting time. There is way too much that can change in the 8 or 9 months in between seasons. How do you know there will not be a drought in one area causing the deer to move. After season all those deer have been pressured and run ragged and spread out. How do you know they will not leave the area that they have been pressured to run too. JMO but right now is without a doubt the best time. Just remember to scent up!!

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

hunt and look for food sources..take pics as did on a recent scouting trip...take a look. i have more of different things the deer are eating right now. do as the others have said but take pics of your hunting area

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

Good point. I notice that pretty much all the posts are from northern hunters, and I don't know much about how drought conditions can impact your deer herds. Here in Georgia, the past several years of minimal rainfall have done much to move deer to other, wetter areas.
Agree also on the end of season theory, that is entirely too early to gather any real information that can accurately be applied to the following season; again, especially for southern hunters. Too much can happen in terms of not just drought, but rapid fire development and just plain ignorant people in search of "recreation". Four to two months out is suffucient in most areas to begin scouting. Cover up and be prepared to hang high come opening day.

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

Nobody, your right we all have to deal with the unexpected but what direct post season scouting does is lets you know where them deer like to hang in the fall and once you know those spots you can apply them to other terrain. If your scouting deer directly on summer patterns it becomes mooted come fall anyway, as I mentioned the bachelor group thing makes for a dispersement of the male deer. Not to mention deer usually have a good choice of food sources and even water during spring and summer. Babies are done sucking and groups of does start to hang vs off tending and teaching the young solo. Really within a matter of a month things start evolving and changing in the deer world, where I start it sept for early bow is far from where I am in October and even further than where I will be come November and the rut.

I certainly don't stop scouting I just scout with a spotting scope or as season progresses with a bow or gun. The point we are making is limit your pressence, I don't stand hunt but when I did my stands where placed for archery a month prior to season and I never ventured in after that timeframe until actually hunting. IMO the best scouting is actually done while your hunting, that is when you find this years marks and can start formulating a plan. Experience from previous years & scouting will help you in locating or interpreting the sign for best placement of your time or stand.

Best of luck for 2004.

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

How familiar are you with your hunting area? You say you need to move some stands, so you must have pretty good knowledge of the area. Get some recent aerials and a topo map and go over them using previous knowledge. Mark good possibility areas and limit your time visiting those areas. Remember the dominant wind directions and place your stands accordingly.

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

Keep in mind though, that when season starts up, bucks aren't following those heavily used trails. Bucks are heading out in search of their own turf to guard from other bucks and to have does come around. I used to think, the more heavy beaten paths I found, the more bucks I would see. Wrong. Just don't get close right now. That's a must, because most deer aren't too far from those bedding areas when you are in there scouting. This late in the game and he just MIGHT come back during rut, but if it is around november or more *here in the midwest*, if you scare him out then, he is most likely gone for good, either noctural, or out of the area period.

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

I do alot of post-season scouting in the winter to locate areas, but I also verify those areas in Aug. and then immediately before the season opens I'll go in on a rainy day and look for rubs.

We can't scout from a distance in the wooded areas, so that doesn't apply for alot of people. It would be nice if I could set up across the field and scout at dusk and dawn, but it's not feasible here, so I have do put down foot-work and verify everything. Just keep it as minimal as possible.

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

I don't agree that you should wait untill January to do some scouting. Each month, deer, does and bucks travel different trails at different times. This depends on available foods and what do they like the best. Or, if the rut is on, you will see more bucks on doe trails.

I find I see more bucks between October and November, and they are gone come December and January.

For example, I have a large apple tree near my home. Normally I will only see an occausional doe now but as the season moves into October, I will see 6 or 7 does together, plus some bucks. As some of ther other guys said, bucks maybe traveling in bachlor groups. I saw a spike the other day with some does. The deer will come more regularly once their food sources decline.

This will change again when the rut sets in and the bucks loose their senses. After rut, they fall back into their regular routines.

Just try to leaveing as little scent as possible and try not to spook the deer. If you see some, look the other way and keep on walking. They will return to what they were doing if they are not threatend.

Good luck scouting....

Tom

RE: Pre-Season Scouting
 

The best advice I can think of is simply spend time in the woods. Some say scout early, some say scout late. Scout all year. Get in the woods and just go for a walk and enjoy your surroundings. Obviously, deer patterns change throughout the course of a year. When scouting for whitetails immediately after the season look for rubs and scrapes in areas you haven't hit real hard in the past, this will help you in the upcoming rutting period. When scouting immediately before the upcoming season, try to identify travel routes for both bucks and does. The does won't change their patterns much, so hunt the does to find the bucks come November. Most importantly, have fun, learn, the woods is the best teacher. Get out there and breathe clean and rest easy. If you're like me, you rack your brain all week at work and the last thing you need is the stress of a wily old buck. Good scouting to you.

Happiness is a fresh gut pile.