I honestly feel like I took a step back from last year in terms of scouting. Last year I put on like 50 miles on the woods and had a game plan for most of it. I have been out twice this year and I feel like I was more or less just walking aimlessly hoping to come across something.
That’s why starting at the food source can be a great place to begin if you are able. There’s always a concentration of sign and can generally reverse engineer the sign to break down where they are bedding.
@@NextStepOutdoors where would you start if there is no apparent food source? I’ve scoured as much public as I can get to that is Ag adjacent and now I have a bunch of either dense maple forest or swamp/marsh to check.
Diversity is where I would key in. The more habitat types in one place the better. Deer are creatures of edge so I’d be walking all the transition lines until I got into something juicy.
Found a new piece of public last fall that I really liked, sat out there probably 8 times after gun season and never had another hunter out there with me. Saw doe groups on every sit but never saw a buck. Hoping bucks are using that area more early season, maybe they just went nocturnal after gun season, maybe they are bedding closer to me than the does and I’m spooking them. No clue, need to get a couple cameras up to figure out what’s going on 🤷♂️ Should I keep hunting that area with all the does or branch out? Lots of buck sign in there
That sounds like a killer spot. It’s tough to get on any deer at all, even does after gun season in most states. I’d find a couple good scrapes to run cams on and see what kind of bucks are around. Sounds like a great place to start tho!
Whether it’s private or public, it’s always a challenge! That’s what makes it so sweet when you finally get it done! Good luck out there. Keep me posted as you get closer to season!
So I have a piece of public that has an ag field on the end of a brushy thicket that’s 200 yards deep. The deer bed in the middle of it but I have cleared a trail along the fence line on the south side that I can get in pretty quiet now. Since they bed in it, should I be avoiding this for afternoon hunts when they are closer by and only sit mornings when they are hopefully out in the field? Or would it be worthwhile trying to sneak in mornings and catch them in the way out to the field? Either way, I appreciate the information, love to see the full scouting process!
It’s hard to answer without seeing the area but sounds like a place I’d be getting in super early in the AM and sitting all day in the rut. Like you said, there’s a good chance you’d bump those deer out if you try to access while they are bedding right there.
