Post season scouting, How's it going?

[dalton916]

All the damn time. And where I was everywhere in the woods looked about the same.

I was turkey hunting, but I always approach turkey hunting with the thought of deer hunting in case I return. Let’s be real, turkeys are not incredibly hard to kill so I’m generally deer scouting until one gobbles close.

I take that back….if you’re hunting with a Greek buddy and his family turkeys are incredibly hard to kill. I’m convinced Greeks drink more than Russians and the NEVER stop eating

 

[mschultz373]

Did a three mile loop on a small tract of pine jungle. My main goal was to retrieve a cam I had put out in July last year in a small acreage of hardwoods that covers the NW boundary. most of the pine is so thick you are either brush-busting or on your hands and knees crawling.

(Welcome to the jungle)

Of course there are heavily used trails in this thick crap but there’s no way to hunt it. And even in the openings where the browse thins out and you can move standing up without problem, the sign is small - small rubs and all.

I spent the majority of my time walking the transitions and drainages alongside or within these pine stands. The highest concentration of rubs were along the transition line between the thick lines and a young clear cut that was re-planted and has grown a year or two.

(Larger rubs on transition line - as in larger compared to other rubs along transition)

(Looking out into the replanted cutover)

I followed a drainage out into the cut over and found trails and scat and more rubs but smaller and less clustered.

On the far side of the cutover, in the stand of tall pines, there’s a small creek that drains at the lowest point between two hills. Hardwoods lined the bottom. It had some rubs and tracks but there was also a cell cam…

I circled back to the hardwood acreage, grabbed my cam set up along another small creek and made my way back following the creeks drainage. Nothing outstanding but a few rubs here and there. That drainage backs into a stand of young pine that is super thick, so I made my way out after that.

(Trail along bottom)

(Logging road into new pines, cut and planted ~3-5years ago?)

Pines seem tough. The edges carry good sign but there’s nary a tree to get into. the cut over seems appealing but would require a ground setup, too. I’m not sure how to make sense of movement since the deer can bed anywhere in the thick stuff. My suspicion is that the bigger bucks bed more in the sparser cut over, whereas most of the trails in the super thick stuff are does and smaller bucks.

As I scout and prepare for next season, I really want to be more efficient and choose places to hunt that are high odds. I’m wondering if this tract - 650 acres, an hour plus drive from home, tough to figure out and carrying a good bit of hunter sign - is worth more time or not.

 

[Dmathews87]

Did a three mile loop on a small tract of pine jungle. My main goal was to retrieve a cam I had put out in July last year in a small acreage of hardwoods that covers the NW boundary. most of the pine is so thick you are either brush-busting or on your hands and knees crawling.

Of course there are heavily used trails in this thick crap but there’s no way to hunt it. And even in the openings where the browse thins out and you can move standing up without problem, the sign is small - small rubs and all.

I spent the majority of my time walking the transitions and drainages alongside or within these pine stands. The highest concentration of rubs were along the transition line between the thick lines and a young clear cut that was re-planted and has grown a year years.

I followed a drainage out into the cut over and found trails and scat and more rubs but smaller and less clustered.

On the far side of the cutover there’s a small creek that drains at the lowest point between two hills. Hardwoods lined the bottom. It had some rubs and tracks but there was also a cell cam…

I circled back to the hardwood acreage, grabbed my cam set up along a small creek and made my back along the creeks drainage. Nothing outstanding but a few ok rubs here and there. That drainage backs into a stand of young pine that is Uber thick, so I made my way out after that.

Pines seem tough. The edges carry good sign but there’s nary a tree to get into. the cut over seems appealing but would require a ground setup, too.

As I scout and prepare for next season, I really want to be more efficient and choose places to hunt that are high odds. I’m wondering if this tract - 650 acres, an hour plus drive from home, tough to figure out and carrying a good bit of hunter sign - is worth more time or not.

anything on your cam?

 

[Cbigbear]

Did a three mile loop on a small tract of pine jungle. My main goal was to retrieve a cam I had put out in July last year in a small acreage of hardwoods that covers the NW boundary. most of the pine is so thick you are either brush-busting or on your hands and knees crawling.

Of course there are heavily used trails in this thick crap but there’s no way to hunt it. And even in the openings where the browse thins out and you can move standing up without problem, the sign is small - small rubs and all.

I spent the majority of my time walking the transitions and drainages alongside or within these pine stands. The highest concentration of rubs were along the transition line between the thick lines and a young clear cut that was re-planted and has grown a year years.

I followed a drainage out into the cut over and found trails and scat and more rubs but smaller and less clustered.

On the far side of the cutover there’s a small creek that drains at the lowest point between two hills. Hardwoods lined the bottom. It had some rubs and tracks but there was also a cell cam…

I circled back to the hardwood acreage, grabbed my cam set up along a small creek and made my back along the creeks drainage. Nothing outstanding but a few ok rubs here and there. That drainage backs into a stand of young pine that is Uber thick, so I made my way out after that.

Pines seem tough. The edges carry good sign but there’s nary a tree to get into. the cut over seems appealing but would require a ground setup, too.

As I scout and prepare for next season, I really want to be more efficient and choose places to hunt that are high odds. I’m wondering if this tract - 650 acres, an hour plus drive from home, tough to figure out and carrying a good bit of hunter sign - is worth more time or not.

Pretty sure I know which WMA you are referring to. The SE corner near the parking along the creek on the private boundary use to be good.

 

[mschultz373]

Pretty sure I know which WMA you are referring to. The SE corner near the parking along the creek on the private boundary use to be good.

They just cleared that whole acreage by the south access.

I have to put card into computer but I flipped thru a bit on the BOG viewer and saw a nice 6pt and lots of does.

 

[Cbigbear]

They just cleared that whole acreage by the south access.

I have to put card into computer but I flipped thru a bit on the BOG viewer and saw a nice 6pt and lots of does.

Guess it was about time, that block was almost 20 yr old pines.

 

[mschultz373]

checked the card a bit more here at home. it was pointed along a small creek in a hardwood bottom. actually have a nice wide 6pt in daylight in early november, seems like most of the daylight activity was early season into early november, then it's predominantly nighttime until January for a few days. makes sense as the cover declines, but weird since the rut in this area is Christmas/NY time. this particularly little spot was mostly does and small buttons/basket racks. there's a few videos of a doe closer to cam with two eyes back in the frame, concealed by darkness... spooky! cool to have let it soak all season even though I only hunted nearby once.

 

[Dmathews87]

checked the card a bit more here at home. it was pointed along a small creek in a hardwood bottom. actually have a nice wide 6pt in daylight in early november, seems like most of the daylight activity was early season into early november, then it's predominantly nighttime until January for a few days. makes sense as the cover declines, but weird since the rut in this area is Christmas/NY time. this particularly little spot was mostly does and small buttons/basket racks.

november also starts primitive season in most areas so the pressure would have no doubt picked up as well. that could mean for you, take off work in the early season and get some archery hunts in during the week with very little pressure

 

[mschultz373]

AND this WMA is state season for gun... no restricted gun days like other WMAs...

 

[bigmike23]

I've been doing 80+ hr weeks since December to afford my new toys this year. Finally have some time off coming to get started scouting. Lots of spots and locations I want to further investigate and refine.

 

[mschultz373]

found some cool big-ish rubs in the swamp yesterday. getting around was miserable but glad I found at least some sign.

 

[woodsdog2]

View attachment 100563

found some cool big-ish rubs in the swamp yesterday. getting around was miserable but glad I found at least some sign.

Is that a bed in that hummock?

 

[mschultz373]

Yeah I’m pretty sure it was a bucks bedding area. Pretty much any of the mounds above water looked like beds. Didn’t get on my hands and knees looking for hair but…

Is there a way to upload higher quality pics taken with iPhone? I always downsize mine to medium and they look like trash

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Things are looking up. I went in a little while ago and pulled a camera from a thick, nasty, remote spot that I scouted around the beginning of February. I found a fresh scrape with big poos in it so on a whim I slapped up a camera over it for a month to see if I could get a picture of the buck or bucks using that scrape. Well, I went out this afternoon since I was in the area anyway and pulled the camera. I wanted to get it out before turkey season, sort of a rule of mine since turkey hunters are like sand at the beach, they get into spots you never imagined, lol.

There were several raggedy little bucks and maybe half a dozen does off in there and this fellow, which I am pretty happy to have gotten a photo of before he sheds this past year's headgear. I'm hoping he is better this fall, but he definitely survived. This photo was taken February 22nd. I plan to go back over there and figure that spot out thoroughly and figure out how to best hunt it for the fall, then stay out until I get ready to go back in there for an all-day sit.

 

[GeoFish]

Got out for a few days, took a camping scouting trip to west KY.
Love scouting this time of year. Get to see the old rubs and scrapes. And the trails are easy to see. Learned alot about one area I have been hunting. I thought a part of this area was part of a big bucks core. I was wrong as usual. The area is covered up with rut sign because of the multiple water sources. Does travel their and bucks come for the girls.
Also on the plus side, I got to moon another cell cam, .

 

[bigmike23]

Gorgeous day in the PA Mtns. There was a spot I overlooked last year. A giant 10 was killed last year on private that came from this location on public. Found some great bedding in downfall, and a highway trail through it to put a cam on this season.
Great find.

 

[woodsdog2]

I was out this am listening for turkeys and moving cams around. Found a beech with three licking branches and multiple scraps scrapes under them. I have set up in and around this general area before and had decent buck sightings but never knew of this scrape before. Best time to find rut sign is now!!!

 

[Flyerzfan10]

Got in a few more miles on a big piece of state forest. Found two spots with lots of sign. Hopefully the deer that made all the sign is still alive. I didn’t find any thing that would make me think he’s still alive.

 

[bigmike23]

had a huge kick in the boys today. I went up to one of my best locations that I wanted to refine for this year. It was freshly posted. It was state forest last season. I walked the perimeter, and whoever bought it didnt buy much. Maybe 80 acres. But it held some of my best spots and some of my best bucks were on cam from in there. O well. gotta scout harder now

 

[mschultz373]

got 6mi in today. I found two spots I really liked - one was an acreage just north of the area where I shot 3 deer this past season, but it's not quite as thick in the understory and was loaded with rubs. all of em along heavy trails. swamp edge on the north side.

the other was a drainage slough on the opposite side of said swamp. it meets a pine thicket to the N and bordered on either side with thick stuff. rubs all along it, too.

I could be reading it wrong - all a rub says is “a buck was here at some point”. But as many as there were, with obvious heavy trails, tells me it’s a common travel corridor. And to hunt it