Tikka 30-06

I am 13 and haven't gotten a deer yet, so want to start scouting. How do all of you scout in the off season

JerseyJim

Start right now. summer, spring and fall patterns for deer are different then winter. After the season is over, the woods quiet down and the deer get back to normal behavior you can learn a lot about where they go to eat, drink, sleep, ect ect...The snow tells no lies! Get out there after a fresh snow and see where the tracks go. In the spring and summer I like to scout fields and see what kind of bucks are in what area's. write everything down from now until next season including what you saw during this season and you should start to see some patterns form. Patterns can change from year to year but the basic rules stay the same and you can learn what to look for in your or any area! Hope this helps some. I'm not an expert on this topic but these things have worked for me in the past. Good Luck ... Jim

m.t.hands

great time to look for sheds also which will give you an idea of what kind of deer are in the area

cardeer

Just spend all the time you can scouting all year long

Bob H in NH

go out now, walk runs looking to see where they go, in places with not many deer (ie NH!) follow any tracks you find, see where they go, often they will meet up with other tracks, find runs that head into oak stands or other food sites, the run will often seem to end there, probably means they are spreading out to feed. You rarely will see runs like they have in magazines.

When the heavy snow falls, you can stop scouting for sign cause the deer movements have changed, but you can get to know the area, find food sources etc. I don't scout much in the summer, around mid-end of August I start up again looking for runs, see which oaks have acorns, these places will be used in Sept when bow season starts.

--Bob

slugman

scout until your tired of seeing the same woods ....then scout some more. When you are able to effectively pattern deer , you wont have to say " I havent gotten a deer yet "

Chuck7

If you are hunting in a heavy pressure situation try the following..
1. Once you found a serious deer trail, tie a black thread across the trail,
check it in a few hour . If it's broken it could be a day time trail. Deer also leave lots of tracks which could be their night time route. I was in the service and could only scout one day. It paid off.
2. Deer don't seem to travel alot in the day time, so their going to bed down where it;s heavy cover and water close by; either marshy, swampy or thick shrubs near a quiet stream. I've shot all my deer in this situation.
3. When you are finding scrapes, dropplings and rubs too, it sounds like a good place unless another hunter has also found your place.
In that case your better off to have about 2 or 3 spots.
Chuck

Deerslayer_37

Scout year round. Right now. Just get out in the woods and look for sign. rubs especially. I keep a notebook of all my stuff so i am organized and i know what the deer are doing in a certain time of the year. Come about June and July, i start hitting the fields with a pair of binos and a video camera. The bucks aren't shy at all and you can watch them to see where they hit the fields. Once the pre rut hits, they will probably use some of the same fields, they just won't use them at the same time of day. You can really see what deer are using your hunting area in the summer. really can see the quality of bucks during the summer. scout now for sheds, and see what you got too.

slayer