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Favorite time to scout?

Seekbigger said:
Done some scouting today on a farm I got to hunt that joins my farm where I killed the big nine this season! I found a very heavy used trail leading up to a thicket on a point, across the point is undoubtedly a well used bedding area which now explains a lot of where the deer are coming from. Also found one bed just below the point but looked like a small buck or doe bed because it was fairly small. I then found two different trails leading around a point that was about all buck tracks. Found a great tree, put a paracord preset in that is within range of where the main trail is and where the two buck trails crossed heading down to my farm! Learned a lot today about the travel routes coming to my place.View attachment 98876View attachment 98877View attachment 98878View attachment 98879View attachment 98880
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Looks promising.
 
Right after season until spring Turkey for all of the reasons noted above.

I like to wait a week or so after the close of any seasons to scout deer more in their normal patterns but also find value in seeing what they’re doing when the pressure is on. I started a thread similar to this a few weeks ago as well. I especially like to scout new areas at this time of year. It’s much easier to see terrain undulations at this time of year than when we have a flush flora going on preseason. Most of my preseason scouting is post season scouting if that makes sense. Also see:
https://saddlehunter.com/community/index.php?threads/hownow-to-find-them.56137/
 
Snow helps. This was only my second time to ever get to hunt when the woods are white. Did 7.6 miles Saturday scouting. Found several spots that got marked for next year. This is the spot I hung yesterday.
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Nutalls dropping acorns.


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Wlog said:
Since you said favorite time to scout I would say the day I’m hunting. I really try to not even bother climbing a tree or setting up to hunt without some kind of reason to be there. Being able to react to what is happening in real time has been the ticket for me.

Post season is a close second place.
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Same here. There are so many variables to react to even on the day of the hunt (i.e other hunters, water levels, variable winds, etc.), which keeps things exciting for me. I much prefer scouting while “still hunting” in the early season and I usually end up killing about 25% of my deer on the ground before I even get into a tree. Post season is certainly logical, but not as much fun for me.
 
September through May is all good scouting season here. As I primarily hunt November, the closer to that, the better. The farther removed, the blurrier the picture the sign leaves behind. Thus, my go-to spots, I try to scout closer to the end of season. By March/April, I'm usually onto fishing and once inawhile taking a jaunt through some new territory. I hate being in the woods June-August.

Pre and inseason scouting, I'm careful. I don't really go into bedding, I stick to perimeters, a lot more macro with deductive reasoning.

Post-season scouting, I flip the script and try to focus on picking a smaller area apart.

Snow is tricky. None is pefectly fine, a wee little is wonderful, more than a couple inches is pretty much useless and potentially even counterproductive as deer will do weird things in winter and leave hella sign in places that are meaningless without snow.
 
Right now for me. A lot of stuff around here is either swampy or heavy briars/thicket aside from Feb and March. we have a couple inches of snow but nothing to slow you down. It shows up trails and beds, but the 'thin' woods lets me get around and explore areas better. The frozen swamps make acess easier. Also, our season is still in for another month so I can carry the bow for a hang and hunt if I find sign. I'm going to a spot tomorrow that I have to walk through the swamp to get to due to private property bordering it the rest of the way around. I might leave a camera and let it soak to see if its worth the effort of getting in there next year (which would require either a long bicycle ride, someone dropping me off and picking me up, or getting permission to park at a small business).
 
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