So you're researching an area first with maps, other useful knowledge, etc. before wearing out your boots scouting, correct? If I blindly (without a plan) scouted any land I hunt I'd bump every deer in there to adjacent property I possibly couldn't hunt. And no I understood what you meant about crappy properties, I'm just glad you cleared it up for people who might not have as much knowledge as you.
Maps are great. I look at them a lot, and think kyle does too. But...there are issues with maps. Preconceived ideas and coming to the same conclusion as everybody else. Everybody is an aerial scouter nowadays. If you see that little island in the swamp, so has everybody else. Betcha a nickle somebody is hunting it. But if you can find an anomaly that doesn't show on a map...
I look at maps to find property lines, infrastructure, access, and land features I can use to aid navigation. Creeks, cutover lines, swamp edges, etc. Sometimes I'll look at an area that interests me. But mainly I want to be able to sketch the property roughly from memory. I want a big picture idea.
Then I like to drive everything I can drive. Ride my bike down any locked roads. Paddle my kayak down any navigable water. As I go, I'm mainly looking for trash and tracks. The idea is to get a feel for how accessible the property is for me and others, and see if it appears to actually hold some deer. If I bump deer or see good sign, I mark it, but I'm really looking for tracks and trash.
I also end up marking different "zones" that are contsined within property lines, roads, creeks, etc. This come in handy later, because I can walk into a big chunk of woods and not get lost because I know that there's a county road north of me, a property line west of me, a dirt road south of me, and a river to the east. Worst case scenario (I lose both compasses and my phone dies, I can just walk a straight line and eventually I'll find my boundary and know where I am.
Once that's done, I start walking edges. It makes for easy navigation, and we all know that deer are "creatures of the edge" right? Creek banks, edges of brush, the lines formed by timber harvest. I am mainly looking to bump deer and find buck sign, but at this point I'm focusing on observing as many details as possible. Food like oak trees and smilax vine. Swampy areas. Tree stands. Reflective tacks.
As I walk, I'll start to find areas that interest me. I may take a detour into a palmetto flat with sign on the edges, or start crawling into a bramble-filled clear cut. I mark interesting stuff, but no matter what I find, I don't linger. We're cutting big chunks into smaller chunks still.
Once the whole property has been covered, usually I'll see that one area really stands out to me. So i start scouting/hunting it. Maybe I squirrel hunt it before season and bump some deer. Maybe I go in and set up cold on a pinch point surrounded by good looking stuff. From this point on, it's a long, slow journey to get to know the property thoroughly. It happens as I chase squirrels and blood trail deer, or stumble through the dark trying to take a shortcut back to the boat.
Smaller properties are easier to learn quickly. Big properties you may never really fully understand. But in my mind there's no sense in sitting still if you havent seen the whole picture. On the properties I know well, I tread more carefully. Mainly my lease. I know where the feed, where they bed, and where they travel because I've seen every foot of dirt there and have hunted it since I was in high school. If I go more than 2 hunts without seeing anything, I may poke around quietly one afternoon to see where they've wandered off to.
I'm a big believer in seeing the whole property if you can. Too many times I've walked in, found something I liked, spent the season hunting it, and then found something better next year. The deer know the whole area they live in, and will use that knowledge to skirt around you. If you know the whole property, you can use that info to cut them off at the pass.
