What's your approach going to be this year? Do you have a plan or a location in mind? If so, why? My approach this year is different than years past and is already paying dividends.
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Post season scouting
- Thread starter BTaylor
- Start date
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- Jan 3, 2022
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I'm looking forward to post season scouting as soon as the season ends January 31st at dark. In fact, I'm scout/hunting right now. I tried a little trick on myself at the end of December. I though "if the season ended today, where would I have regretted not hunting?" I though about some spots and I am in the process of hitting as many of those spots as possible. I am hunting these spots aggressively, I don't care one bit if I burn them out, blow out deer, whatever. Go in, kill the deer or run them out of the country, move on.
Once the season is over I plan to thoroughly scout that new club I joined in September and did not get a chance to preseason scout. The members have a bunch of pre-set locations (box blinds) and green lanes, etc. I've hunted out there enough and talked to the guys hunting to notice that the deer seemed to disappear once gun season started. With 8 guys out there hunting, plus their kids, and generally only on weekends the pressure should not be too crazy but only one deer has been shot so far out there, a good buck. One problem the place has, from my viewpoint, is that it is too open. They also ride side by side all over it and to their stands to hunt, so there is that too. The edges are thick, and that is where I foresee the best spots to be. Anyway, its only 350 acres and I plan to thoroughly dissect it, find the best overlooked locations and preset those for next year. Early season I saw lots of deer and had the place to myself. It will likely be an early season honey hole that gets abandoned by me once gun season starts or gets hunted "socially" later.
As for public ground, I plan to get back to basics and put boots on the ground and find new spots. That pure scout day/outing last week really got me fired up to scout. I know what I am looking for, I just need to pin down more examples.
Once the season is over I plan to thoroughly scout that new club I joined in September and did not get a chance to preseason scout. The members have a bunch of pre-set locations (box blinds) and green lanes, etc. I've hunted out there enough and talked to the guys hunting to notice that the deer seemed to disappear once gun season started. With 8 guys out there hunting, plus their kids, and generally only on weekends the pressure should not be too crazy but only one deer has been shot so far out there, a good buck. One problem the place has, from my viewpoint, is that it is too open. They also ride side by side all over it and to their stands to hunt, so there is that too. The edges are thick, and that is where I foresee the best spots to be. Anyway, its only 350 acres and I plan to thoroughly dissect it, find the best overlooked locations and preset those for next year. Early season I saw lots of deer and had the place to myself. It will likely be an early season honey hole that gets abandoned by me once gun season starts or gets hunted "socially" later.
As for public ground, I plan to get back to basics and put boots on the ground and find new spots. That pure scout day/outing last week really got me fired up to scout. I know what I am looking for, I just need to pin down more examples.
I started this past Saturday even though our season is still open, I am pretty much done. I started trying to learn the mountain area nearby three years ago. Had never been there and had never hunted mountains. Decided I was not going to rush into it but would use cams, take my time and do way more scouting than hunting until I felt like I was getting a handle on things there. It's about a 2 million acres chunk of public ground so I carved out a roughly 10k acre area to focus on. Some cams only hung a spot for one season and some spots have had them a couple. After pulling cams a couple weeks back, I made the decision to stop looking and scouting over big chunks and focus my efforts around 4 cam spots that have had multiple mature bucks. So since pulling the cams, I deleted tons of pins and started dropping new pins based on the areas "around" the cams. This focus area is roughly 1500 acres. This past saturday I went to the area around my best cam out there. I had marked 3 different areas in proximity to the cam site that were of particular interest. Three of the four spots had great sign both rut and current use sign. One spot showed a good bit of people pressure and there was almost no sign in there. Found no evidence of hunting pressure in the other three. The buck sign was of particular interest because it was hands down the best size sign I have found out there to date, including two of the largest rubs I have ever seen in AR. Here's a fun note about the cam site though, that I have found, there is no buck sign within 2-300 yards of the cam and almost no deer sign period. But that cam had 4 mature bucks and 13 racked bucks total this past two seasons.
The take away for me has been dont let a cam site that has been getting a good buck or even multiple bucks you would be happy with distract you from really learning the area. When you get a cam that produces, remember you are looking at the woods through a straw and that those deer are going to cover a good bit of ground, like 5-600 acres or more depending on location. Map scout around that cam site and then go puts boots on it between now and green up. You might find some other spots that arent getting boogered up with people that you can kill that buck or at least have options for how you hunt him given wind, food or rut location changes.
The take away for me has been dont let a cam site that has been getting a good buck or even multiple bucks you would be happy with distract you from really learning the area. When you get a cam that produces, remember you are looking at the woods through a straw and that those deer are going to cover a good bit of ground, like 5-600 acres or more depending on location. Map scout around that cam site and then go puts boots on it between now and green up. You might find some other spots that arent getting boogered up with people that you can kill that buck or at least have options for how you hunt him given wind, food or rut location changes.
I envy you guys that have thousands of acres to roam for hunting. Or anything for that matter.
BowhunterXC
Well-Known Member
I don't do any post season scouting. I wait until about a week before the season opens, walk around the outside edges of the woods that I intend to hunt to see their travel routes. I use "pinch points" as a place of ambush for a stand location.
I'll be watching the property that I hunt, real close, this coming '26-'27 season. There's a huge chemical plant being built in the section to the west of me and I absolutely hate to see this kind of destruction of farmlands.
The deer and other wildlife that live in the woods behind my house, travel west to the other property that has a woods on it. However, the woods to the west that is being destroyed by the contractors, is where they're building the chemical plant. This is going to push all of those animals east to the woods behind my house. Sad thing is that the woods to the west that they are destroying, is twice the size of the one behind my house.
More destroyed habitat in the name of progress. I'll be watching as the year goes, to see where all of these animals relocate. I may be sitting on the biggest target rich environment in the county....time will tell the tale.
I'll be watching the property that I hunt, real close, this coming '26-'27 season. There's a huge chemical plant being built in the section to the west of me and I absolutely hate to see this kind of destruction of farmlands.
The deer and other wildlife that live in the woods behind my house, travel west to the other property that has a woods on it. However, the woods to the west that is being destroyed by the contractors, is where they're building the chemical plant. This is going to push all of those animals east to the woods behind my house. Sad thing is that the woods to the west that they are destroying, is twice the size of the one behind my house.More destroyed habitat in the name of progress.
I'll be watching as the year goes, to see where all of these animals relocate. I may be sitting on the biggest target rich environment in the county....time will tell the tale.
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2021
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Before scouting I will review all of my journals from the last 5 years or so and refresh my memory - primarily looking for questions and theories I developed in past seasons.
First rounds of scouting will double as shed hunting. I’ll start by following and mapping a number of big bucks and high traffic deer trails in the snow. My focus initially will be new places that I discovered while tracking in the late season. Next I’ll go to the places I have history with and use the tracks in the snow to answer some questions. Then as snow receeds I’ll return to all the locations and scout them again when I can see the ground and greater detail of sign made in the fall. From there I’ll proceed to some new locations that I’ve been curious about.
Throughout the scouting process I will be retrieving cameras that have been soaking for the last 3-9 months. I like to review big buck photo in each location and cross reference them with historical weather data to see if there are any pattens to buck movement - patterns and lack of patterns is significant to understand the locations. The camera intel coupled with my scouting findings will undoubtedly generate questions that will require more scouting.
Next I’ll be working on reviewing prior season stand sites, Listing new potential stand sites and compiling lists and details of places to speed scout in the preseason and early season. I’ll also prepare lists of locations to place cameras for the upcoming season.
First rounds of scouting will double as shed hunting. I’ll start by following and mapping a number of big bucks and high traffic deer trails in the snow. My focus initially will be new places that I discovered while tracking in the late season. Next I’ll go to the places I have history with and use the tracks in the snow to answer some questions. Then as snow receeds I’ll return to all the locations and scout them again when I can see the ground and greater detail of sign made in the fall. From there I’ll proceed to some new locations that I’ve been curious about.
Throughout the scouting process I will be retrieving cameras that have been soaking for the last 3-9 months. I like to review big buck photo in each location and cross reference them with historical weather data to see if there are any pattens to buck movement - patterns and lack of patterns is significant to understand the locations. The camera intel coupled with my scouting findings will undoubtedly generate questions that will require more scouting.
Next I’ll be working on reviewing prior season stand sites, Listing new potential stand sites and compiling lists and details of places to speed scout in the preseason and early season. I’ll also prepare lists of locations to place cameras for the upcoming season.
I do enjoy post season scouting as much as anyone else. Maybe I lack the skill to identify great spots, but IMO post season scouting only gets you in the ballpark. I remember Infalt saying no matter how much he scouts a property, it takes him two to three seasons to really get a grasp of what deer are doing and how they move about a given property.
3 of my best spots ever, 1 of which I killed a buck from 3 years running, was a spot I found just by a hunch. I thought ehh, spot seems to have the right ingredients, let's sit and see what happens.
The stand I killed my last 3 from, wouldn't jump out to you on Onx no matter how long you looked. There's just this little ravine not deep at all, that moves up the mountain. And bucks love to travel in this ravine. It's magical.
For me, the best spots are often happy little accidents.
3 of my best spots ever, 1 of which I killed a buck from 3 years running, was a spot I found just by a hunch. I thought ehh, spot seems to have the right ingredients, let's sit and see what happens.
The stand I killed my last 3 from, wouldn't jump out to you on Onx no matter how long you looked. There's just this little ravine not deep at all, that moves up the mountain. And bucks love to travel in this ravine. It's magical.
For me, the best spots are often happy little accidents.
The camera spot I mentioned above is similar. It certainly doesnt standout on the map for what it is. I found it because I was on the way to look at a spot further up the mountain. Got to where I ended up hanging the cam and thought there is no way deer arent using that. Walked through it and all around it and there was basically no deer sign other than one small doe track on a clean dirt spot. Decided to hang a cam there any way and it has been a buck parade the last two years and fair number of does too.
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From the little bit of map scouting I have done for OH, it seems there is a pretty good amount of public ground to explore up there. The place I am talking about here, depending on which spot I am headed to is 1.5-1.75 hours to where I park. I envy the guys that have ground at or close to the house lol. The other two place I primarily hunt here in AR are 2:15 and 3 hours away so none of my hunting is close.
Cool that you get to use the snow as part of your scouting. I think I have asked this before but do you find the deer are in the same areas during the rut as they are during the snow? Not having to deal with that it seems like it would relocate the deer.
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I think there is a lot to be said for these types of locations. I have seen them too. The spot where that 130+ buck was holed up with a doe yesterday I found 6 days ago on that in season scout day. On the map is is nothing. With everybody and their mama having detailed mapping software on their phones the obvious places get hammered. The deer figure that out and go to other locations. Deer are still going to do what deer do, if they are on the property. They just change where they do it and sometimes when.
Pinch points are the spots I am looking for the most. It just takes a lot of map scouting and boot time to find and figure them out in a national forest. Sucks they are cutting those woods down.I don't do any post season scouting. I wait until about a week before the season opens, walk around the outside edges of the woods that I intend to hunt to see their travel routes. I use "pinch points" as a place of ambush for a stand location.
I'll be watching the property that I hunt, real close, this coming '26-'27 season. There's a huge chemical plant being built in the section to the west of me and I absolutely hate to see this kind of destruction of farmlands.
More destroyed habitat in the name of progress.
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2022
- Messages
- 7,085
In really hilly country this is what I look for. I want to find a spot that if they can't fly and want to get from spot A to spot B they have to go through that spot. In hill country those spots exist. I killed my biggest buck in a super tight pinch at 12 yards like that in Ohio. Whatever was coming through had to use that one spot.
Yeah I dont even bother with saddles out there, esp. if they are less than a mile from a road. They all have lots of people sign. There is one spot out there that has been funny to me. I have gotten lots of young bucks, does and hogs on cam there but only one mature deer, one time. The funny part is I could hit the truck with a pitching wedge from the cam. No evidence that it gets hunted at all and almost no visible sign there but get tons of pics. That whole place is so different than anywhere else I have ever hunted in that visible sign is almost non-existent even in spots that get tons of pics.
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I found a spot like that a few years ago. It's think, junky and overlooked. I actually found it while eating lunch back at the truck. It was midday and I heard tipping around off in there while siting quietly taking a break. The deer were right off a parking spot where a lot of folks park to walk way back. Sure enough, a roadside bedding area with a steep hillside on the back where a deer could lay up, listen to people at the trucks, and see them walking in.
Since everyone has scouting software, and there are so many media influencers telling them how to use it (the same way,lol) we are sort of back to where we started, where real boots on the ground is the advantage now. Scouting software was an advantage when few people had it and new how to use it. It just creates pressure spots now. The trick these days is you have to work for it again. There's no app for that.
You’re right there is a good amount of public in SE Ohio. From where I live that is also 2.5-3 hours from me too. I have a couple spots 40-60 min from me but they’re tiny. Yes I envy the guys that have space right out their back door too.
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It’s a great question, and there’s not an easy answer. Snow and cold definitely change deer behavior- the deeper the snow and the colder the temps the more it influences the deer. However the intel gleaned on the snow is tremendously valuable, so long as it’s followed up with scouting during other seasons and considered in the equation. The way I look at it, deer behavior is constantly changing throughout the year and it changes many times and very quickly during the rutting and hunting seasons. Any scouting is only a means to understanding the big picture. And at least here, but probably in many places, you can never assume that deer will follow the same script year after year.
Pinch points really stand out in snow. Individual deer, particularly big mature bucks really Stand out in the snow. Finding them in winter can sometimes help to locate them in the other seasons. Snow is 100x better than trail cams. You can get on a particular deer track and follow multiple days of his movement. He will take you on a tour of his favorite places and show you what his WINTER life is like.
One of the best things about snow is that it helps me break my own patterns and beliefs. Followinf a track will lead you to small details and locations that you’d orherwise ovwrlook - especially in the places you think you already know very well.
Swamp Fox__On The Run
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So what y'all are saying is that there will soon be youtubes on how to beat e-scouting, huh?
If there aren't already ... LOL
Behind a pay wall, baby!!
mschultz373
Well-Known Member
my post-season scouting plans
- scout as many times as I can with a local killer on the NWR; he is a kind guy and I hope to glean some things from him that may help cut through the noise of my own perceptions
- scout for other places to move when our lease is up and relocate where there is better hunting
- scout as many times as I can with a local killer on the NWR; he is a kind guy and I hope to glean some things from him that may help cut through the noise of my own perceptions
- scout for other places to move when our lease is up and relocate where there is better hunting