Post season scouting, How's it going?

[Rutman]

Heading up to southern Illinois this weekend to scout some Shawnee. Anybody else gonna be in the area Saturday scouting?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mschultz373]

i made my first post-season scouting effort today and 'yak'd out into the swamp (or marsh? tell me what you think). I have only hunted a small portion of this 112k acre expanse that is nowhere near where I put in today, and I didn't get any solid framework for understanding the deer in this terrain.

while I found lone rubs all throughout, with some obvious trails that had fresh poops and tracks in them - I'm tending to chalk most if not all of the deer movement in such opens areas as night sign. Now I've never hunted these kind of marshes successfully before, but the lack of cover makes me lean towards assessing it as night sign.

now I did hone in on two features. one is the edge of this tall brown grass that creates an edge to the open marshland. it's hard to get through that stuff, not only because it's super thick but it grows on more flotante-type ground that you can sink into on a small misstep. if I had to guess, the deer probably bed back in that grass and filter out for food. I suspect this partially because even when I found slightly higher ground that would not be wet when the water levels are higher, there wasn't any bedding sign there.

(Bed below?)

the other feature are areas where this shorter green grass was growing. it was only ever about hip-high on me, but compared to the open areas of the marsh, i would suspect deer prefer to move through those areas.

overall, I'm not confident i could make anything happen here. the intel puzzles me and I'm not sure how to put it together

 

[Dmathews87]

i made my first post-season scouting effort today and 'yak'd out into the swamp (or marsh? tell me what you think). I have only hunted a small portion of this 112k acre expanse that is nowhere near where I put in today, and I didn't get any solid framework for understanding the deer in this terrain.

while I found lone rubs all throughout, with some obvious trails that had fresh poops and tracks in them - I'm tending to chalk most if not all of the deer movement in such opens areas as night sign. Now I've never hunted these kind of marshes successfully before, but the lack of cover makes me lean towards assessing it as night sign.

now I did hone in on two features. one is the edge of this tall brown grass that creates an edge to the open marshland. it's hard to get through that stuff, not only because it's super thick but it grows on more flotante-type ground that you can sink into on a small misstep. if I had to guess, the deer probably bed back in that grass and filter out for food. I suspect this partially because even when I found slightly higher ground that would not be wet when the water levels are higher, there wasn't any bedding sign there.

(Bed below?)

the other feature are areas where this shorter green grass was growing. it was only ever about hip-high on me, but compared to the open areas of the marsh, i would suspect deer prefer to move through those areas.

overall, I'm not confident i could make anything happen here. the intel puzzles me and I'm not sure how to put it together

i believe it was Dan Infalt that did a video on marsh hunting bucks thats worth a watch...basically says that bucks will bed on the backside of a tree thats on higher ground around water and travel along edges. your questionable bed pic almost seems to support that...you should be able to see hair in them if you get down low and really take a look.

 

[woodsdog2]

i made my first post-season scouting effort today and 'yak'd out into the swamp (or marsh? tell me what you think). I have only hunted a small portion of this 112k acre expanse that is nowhere near where I put in today, and I didn't get any solid framework for understanding the deer in this terrain.

while I found lone rubs all throughout, with some obvious trails that had fresh poops and tracks in them - I'm tending to chalk most if not all of the deer movement in such opens areas as night sign. Now I've never hunted these kind of marshes successfully before, but the lack of cover makes me lean towards assessing it as night sign.

now I did hone in on two features. one is the edge of this tall brown grass that creates an edge to the open marshland. it's hard to get through that stuff, not only because it's super thick but it grows on more flotante-type ground that you can sink into on a small misstep. if I had to guess, the deer probably bed back in that grass and filter out for food. I suspect this partially because even when I found slightly higher ground that would not be wet when the water levels are higher, there wasn't any bedding sign there.

(Bed below?)

the other feature are areas where this shorter green grass was growing. it was only ever about hip-high on me, but compared to the open areas of the marsh, i would suspect deer prefer to move through those areas.

overall, I'm not confident i could make anything happen here. the intel puzzles me and I'm not sure how to put it together

I would hunt the transition zone where the thicker woods cover meets the marsh areas. That's where the rubs are, that's where the bucks were, its a good start imo.

 

[Rutman]

Maybe the biggest rub I’ve ever seen. It’s neck high on me. Public land scouting today.

Another good one in the same area. Lots of fresh and historical rubs in here.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cbigbear]

Couple decent rubs

 

[HuskerInIowa]

Put in about 2.5 productive miles with my son today. I decided to take a different approach and let him lead the way wandering in whatever direction he thought was best. I kept my mouth shut when I thought he was headed to an area that would be silly to even check out and it worked out, think he is really onto something.

I hadn’t ever hunted this area of the property but it was much better than it looked on maps. Thick cover that had several rubs and he found 2 fresh beds and scat. Edges of the field with low hanging branches had scrapes in 3 spots within 100 yards.

I’m pretty excited about it and glad I just let an 8 year old lead an adventure, it was good for both of us.

 

[Jammintree]

Put in about 2.5 productive miles with my son today. I decided to take a different approach and let him lead the way wandering in whatever direction he thought was best. I kept my mouth shut when I thought he was headed to an area that would be silly to even check out and it worked out, think he is really onto something.

I hadn’t ever hunted this area of the property but it was much better than it looked on maps. Thick cover that had several rubs and he found 2 fresh beds and scat. Edges of the field with low hanging branches had scrapes in 3 spots within 100 yards.

I’m pretty excited about it and glad I just let an 8 year old lead an adventure, it was good for both of us.

I love this approach. Empowering kids is where it’s at. It’s also great to get out of our heads and let some chaos and chance enter the equation. It’s so easy for our biases and patterns to take charge and lead us through the land in repetitive ways. While experience and history are extremely valuable they can also lead us to repeat the same thing. I’m always attempting to work through familiar areas from new angles and perspectives.

 

[woodsdog2]

Found a balloon near a known bedding area today. I had a cam set on a bed on a military crest about 35 yards to the west of this balloon and I can’t wait to see what’s on the sd card.

 

[BTaylor]

i made my first post-season scouting effort today and 'yak'd out into the swamp (or marsh? tell me what you think). I have only hunted a small portion of this 112k acre expanse that is nowhere near where I put in today, and I didn't get any solid framework for understanding the deer in this terrain.

while I found lone rubs all throughout, with some obvious trails that had fresh poops and tracks in them - I'm tending to chalk most if not all of the deer movement in such opens areas as night sign. Now I've never hunted these kind of marshes successfully before, but the lack of cover makes me lean towards assessing it as night sign.

now I did hone in on two features. one is the edge of this tall brown grass that creates an edge to the open marshland. it's hard to get through that stuff, not only because it's super thick but it grows on more flotante-type ground that you can sink into on a small misstep. if I had to guess, the deer probably bed back in that grass and filter out for food. I suspect this partially because even when I found slightly higher ground that would not be wet when the water levels are higher, there wasn't any bedding sign there.

(Bed below?)

the other feature are areas where this shorter green grass was growing. it was only ever about hip-high on me, but compared to the open areas of the marsh, i would suspect deer prefer to move through those areas.

overall, I'm not confident i could make anything happen here. the intel puzzles me and I'm not sure how to put it together

I wouldnt immediately rule out daytime movement due to it being open. Generally, open areas will be predominantly night movement but in large part they are in places with moderate to high hunting pressure. If that area is really low pressure, they could still be using it in day time, esp on the edges you found. Might be a good spot to let a cam or two soak for verification.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I wouldnt immediately rule out daytime movement due to it being open. Generally, open areas will be predominantly night movement but in large part they are in places with moderate to high hunting pressure. If that area is really low pressure, they could still be using it in day time, esp on the edges you found. Might be a good spot to let a cam or two soak for verification.

I agree. If the area itself is difficult to get too and people don't go out there much the deer may feel pretty confident to move around in daylight. Your safest bet, of course, would be to stay close to cover, thought within that general area. A lot of it is going to boil down to pressure.

 

[mschultz373]

this particularly WMA gets pounded, but it’s 112k acres so hard to say how much this particular small area does. In general I’ve found that water access doesn’t deter as many hunters in LA - they’ve all got boats and pirogues and whatnot. I found one homemade seat on a cypress knee that was left out, but most of the trash I saw was all on the edge of the channels. But when I go back later this week, I’m gonna try to get up some of the smaller finger bayous off the main channels.

And any tips on getting through that tall thick whatever grass is appreciated!

 

[Flyerzfan10]

Ok, this will probably sound like a stupid question to most of you... I've been fortunate enough to hunt private my entire life hunting. The biggest problem with that is, if there are no good buck, then there are no good buck. I have a section of game lands 1500 acres about 10 minutes from me. I scouted 4 miles of it two weeks ago and i'm going back again this weekend. It consists of mainly one big mountain ridge. The most sign i saw was on the very top. I checked two big saddles on top that had tons of sign but that's probably where everyone else will head too also. Should i focus my attention to the runs that come out of those saddles and hunt the mountain sides where runs are traveling parallel with the ridge top? It's pretty much a third of the mountain side down from the top where I saw the most sign not counting the ridge. Any suggestions. Thanks!

 

[Dmathews87]

this particularly WMA gets pounded, but it’s 112k acres so hard to say how much this particular small area does. In general I’ve found that water access doesn’t deter as many hunters in LA - they’ve all got boats and pirogues and whatnot. I found one homemade seat on a cypress knee that was left out, but most of the trash I saw was all on the edge of the channels. But when I go back later this week, I’m gonna try to get up some of the smaller finger bayous off the main channels.

And any tips on getting through that tall thick whatever grass is appreciated!

speaking of left out seats...i really get annoyed when i see guys leaving their cheap academy fold up chairs in the field. i found 3 not long ago. Not left and coming back, left as in they aint coming back and now its just more trash. You probably already know but be careful walking through that grass, it can be deceiving about how solid the ground is.

 

[mschultz373]

I've found lock-ons, pirouges left on public. long after regs say all property is to be removed. not saying they're fair game in the post-season but I have the pins...

 

[BTaylor]

Ok, this will probably sound like a stupid question to most of you... I've been fortunate enough to hunt private my entire life hunting. The biggest problem with that is, if there are no good buck, then there are no good buck. I have a section of game lands 1500 acres about 10 minutes from me. I scouted 4 miles of it two weeks ago and i'm going back again this weekend. It consists of mainly one big mountain ridge. The most sign i saw was on the very top. I checked two big saddles on top that had tons of sign but that's probably where everyone else will head too also. Should i focus my attention to the runs that come out of those saddles and hunt the mountain sides where runs are traveling parallel with the ridge top? It's pretty much a third of the mountain side down from the top where I saw the most sign not counting the ridge. Any suggestions. Thanks!

I would probably start by looking at the elevation on a topo map where you found the parallel trails and then look for spots where small drainages head out at that elevation to give you somewhat of a pinch point or terrain feature that focuses travel. Could potentially use the drainage for access/egress too. Keep in mind I am new to mountain hunting though so other may have better ideas on how to attack that area.

 

[Jammintree]

Ok, this will probably sound like a stupid question to most of you... I've been fortunate enough to hunt private my entire life hunting. The biggest problem with that is, if there are no good buck, then there are no good buck. I have a section of game lands 1500 acres about 10 minutes from me. I scouted 4 miles of it two weeks ago and i'm going back again this weekend. It consists of mainly one big mountain ridge. The most sign i saw was on the very top. I checked two big saddles on top that had tons of sign but that's probably where everyone else will head too also. Should i focus my attention to the runs that come out of those saddles and hunt the mountain sides where runs are traveling parallel with the ridge top? It's pretty much a third of the mountain side down from the top where I saw the most sign not counting the ridge. Any suggestions. Thanks!

What part of the country are we talking about here?

We need alot more detail to make any good analysis of where to go to get on the deer. Otherwise generic suggestions are just gonna land you in places where all the hunters who don’t do their due diligence in scouting are gonna set up.

Where’s the food and bedding in this area?

 

[Flyerzfan10]

What part of the country are we talking about here?

We need alot more detail to make any good analysis of where to go to get on the deer. Otherwise generic suggestions are just gonna land you in places where all the hunters who don’t do their due diligence in scouting are gonna set up.

Where’s the food and bedding in this area?

Northeast Pa. These game lands are pretty much one long mountain ridge with a few prominent saddles on the top of the ridge. Main food source would be white oaks and reds later on in November

 

[dalton916]

Le Flyeur!!!!!

Man, I turkey hunted the Pocono’s years ago and it struck me as a place that would be hard to deer hunt where I was (somewhere off of 115, opposite side of 80 from the racetrack).

 

[Flyerzfan10]

Le Flyeur!!!!!

Man, I turkey hunted the Pocono’s years ago and it struck me as a place that would be hard to deer hunt where I was (somewhere off of 115, opposite side of 80 from the racetrack).

The wind is the hardest thing to beat here. Changes direction alot