Scoutting and hunting a new area. How much time on stand?

[MattMan81]

On average. Your scouting a new area you never hunted before. You find something good, a s decided you want to hunt there. How much time do you leave to actually be in your set up? Assuming your going to ascend a tree.
I ask because shows like THP, or Hunting beast show guys walking around. Then they say we will come back here and hunt it if we don't find anything better. So how long do you normally give your self set up to hunt an area like that?

 

[Hall17]

Depends on what time I get in the woods. Most of my archery hunts I have about one hour to scout before I want to be in a tree. Luckily I hunt a pretty deer dense area. When I rifle hunt at our cabin I'll leave around 8am and scout all day till around 4pm then climb. Its not uncommon to walk 5 miles for me on those rifle hunts from truck to truck.

Also, time of year. Early October I have no problem only being in a tree for 1.5 hours. Coming into the day when I know bucks are on their feet around 4pm I'll want to make sure I am either moving extremely slow or be in the tree. All if there is actually good sign to hunt.

 

[Robert loper]

This is a great question and this is My long opinion on this great question
Ok lol well there is several different ways to approach this question and there could also be several expalanations or opinions this would be my ramble on theory or way of doing things.
In my opinion It really depends on what time of year it may be. Now I will explain how i do most things in my areas but it may be different in others.
I think where where buck sign is and daytime visits depend totaly on how much pressure there is on the deer.
Finding sign on a wide open field edge in a high pressured is probably not going to produce a good or enjoyable outcome for the hunter.
That may work on big TV shows but thats not the real deal lol.
Now my inseason scouting during the rut and really all season long consisits of spot checking areas that are known to have mostly nightime acitivity ,open fields ,ag, open oak transitions,etc by scouting these areas your not buggering up your spots that you are going to actually hunt.
If you are seeing fresh sign in those areas you can probably narrow down where the deer are bedding or hanging during daylight hours looking at aierials. setup accordingly
winter time pics like on Spartan Forge app or Google earth will help big time. Look for those transitions on the maps.
The big youtube guys are great very entertaining and you can learn from them especially the content from years back way before money got involved lmao. whoops did i say that? ughhhh. jk.
Well back to the topic and With that being said I believe that quite a few hunters are watching these big youtube channels and are literally scouting bedding areas or just outside of known bedding without having a bow in hand and gear on your back.
They scout all day then go hunt another spot therefore leaving scent and disturbing a very sensitive area. thats just putting you a day behind the deer.
Scouting bedding in season without immediately hunting it is going to do more harm than good, when you see guys Like Infalt or the THP boys scouting they probably are well aware of what is in the area and are spot checking rather than really scouting. food sources,oaks areas,or alot of times ag fields or edges of crp.
Ya got to also remeber that These guys literaly hunt and scout 7 days a week and hunt every day of the season. It is or has become thier jobs and they are awesome at it.
But i doubt very much those guys are going into bedding areas or known areas that are high presured areas and scouting it without a bow and stand with them.
They are most likley doing like i said earlier and spot checking the areas the deer are frequenting at night and then adjusting thier setups closer to bedding.
Andy May did a podcast I think a few years back kind of explaining this same thing.
Andrae, The Wensel brothers , Dr deer are just a few that have been doing this since probably the late 70,s early 80's so its nothing new.
alot more deer and hunters nowadays though lol.
Finding hot sign is the best way to get on deer but if your going to invade delicate spots and scout them you better have a bow in your hand and your gear on your back. There is no i'll come back tomorrow and hunt it . If you do you will always be a day behind.
I did it myself for years and just could not figure out what the hell was i doing wrong.
How long does it or do you need to setup? me? park the truck and gather my gear, however long it takes to get to that spot i need to hunt ASAP,
5-10 minutes to setup.
so probably around an hour or 30 minutes
Now if you find good sign in a good daytime activity spot and its early like before noon,? then go grab a java or bite to eat then get your backside back in that spot and setup. as long as its hunted the same afternoon its found you should be ok. well you should lmao.

Remember the more pressure the deer have on them the less distance they will travel during daylight hours especially outside of the rut.
and the later the season goes the worse or later it will get
sorry to ramble but i love talkingor rambling deer stuff

 

[kyler1945]

I hunt - in other words, I look for deer - until I find them. Then I sit in a tree and kill them.

I’m at least 70/30 hunting to sitting in a tree. New property 90/10. Sometimes 100/0 if I don’t find what I’m looking for.

I don’t do it because YouTube said so. I do it because I can’t understand the allure of sitting in a tree with a 0-5% chance a deer will walk within range. And if you really consider your actual odds given detailed assessment of your hunting circumstances most times, you’ll find that they’re terrible.

Being honest about your odds, and what you can do to improve them, will help a person more than internet scouting or blindly climbing trees days after day.

I hate the saying, but I guess it has some merit. How much to scout? You’ll know it when you see it.

 

[BTaylor]

On average. Your scouting a new area you never hunted before. You find something good, a s decided you want to hunt there. How much time do you leave to actually be in your set up? Assuming your going to ascend a tree.
I ask because shows like THP, or Hunting beast show guys walking around. Then they say we will come back here and hunt it if we don't find anything better. So how long do you normally give your self set up to hunt an area like that?

If I am putting boots on the ground in a new area, I will have already been e-scouting it. During the e-scouting I will drop pins on all of the spots that I think I need to put eyes on. Say I get to an area late evening or after dark and will be starting in the morning, I will wait for good light to go in the woods. I likely will do a drive by for the access points to spots I have marked to gauge pressure. I will then start checking spots, I will do this with bow in hand but not really prepared to climb. I want to see as much as I can see before lunch time. At that point, I may have found a spot or too that are just too hot not to go hang for the afternoon and if so I will do that. If not I am going to keep checking pre-marked spots until I have put eyes on all of them. Then it is decision time, either hang the best found spot for the conditions or if they were not inspiring, I am going to keep looking. Before striking out blindly, I am going to look at the map and try to determine if an area with some or light fresh sign needs to be looked at again but expand around the area to see if there is something nearby that is THE spot. If you are just trying to kill a deer, I would prioritize food then bedding then travel at all points of the season. If you are trying to kill a buck, I would flip that around at this point in the year and key on travel then bedding then food in a new area simply because it is generally easier for me to e-scout travel. Confirm bedding and food once boots are on the ground. I am sure others will have better or more efficient methods, that's just what works for me.

 

[MattMan81]

So let's says it's October 20th. You find some really good sign. It's 1pm. Are you hanging a set and waiting? Or driving around to check a few more spots and what time would you come back? For argument sake sun set is 7pm. So you can legally hunt to 7:30 in most states.

 

[Spartan]

I don't hunt the same days I scout. Even if it's miles back on public. If I'm still in scouting mode then that means I'm leaving scent everywhere (even though my scouting clothes are washed scent-free) and I'm likely mucking up sensitive areas since I don't yet know how best to access the area or where I want to setup...because I'm just learning the area. Once I find spot(s) I want to hunt I will then figure out how best to access and wait for ideal weather/wind conditions. So, it could be a couple days or even a few weeks later that I actually hunt a good spot that I find.

Just my MO. Everyone approaches it different.

 

[BTaylor]

So let's says it's October 20th. You find some really good sign. It's 1pm. Are you hanging a set and waiting? Or driving around to check a few more spots and what time would you come back? For argument sake sun set is 7pm. So you can legally hunt to 7:30 in most states.

Sometimes I strike out with a spot or two in mind to check and will be prepared to hang and hunt. Most of the time though if I am scouting I am not going to take everything to climb. If I find a hot spot at 1pm on 10/20, I am coming back in to hang later because generally speaking don here afternoon movement that early in the year is going to be late in the day. Actually had almost that exact hunt last weekend. Was going to look at a certain area that I was not familiar with but was going to be going right by a spot I have hunted in the past. Checked that spot on the way in and it was hot. Went on in and took a look at the area I wanted to see and only found hog sign. That afternoon hung the hot sign and had 5 deer in bow range but none to shoot.

This year with the unseasonably warm weather, I have mostly just kept scouting but I have have seen pretty much all of the area I hunt, at least all the parts I want too. I have zeroed in on 6 spots, three I am really excited to hang and 3 back up spots that I think would have good opportunities to kill a deer. I am hoping the increased amount of scouting before spending any real time in a tree pays off. Circumstances are different this year though and not just with the weather. The only mast is overcup acorns which means browse is going to be the primary feed much earlier this year. The 3 primary spots I am going to focus on for the next few weeks have overcups but also have dewberry which is a preferred browse here and are are on little small humps or what we call ridge in the river bottoms and are all in cutover areas so they combine food, bedding and travel. The weather is supposed to improve significantly this weekend temp wise. Excited to finally get serious about hanging and feel confident in the spots I am going to focus on.