How do you guys go about scouting this time of year. Do you just do minimal scouting on the way back to the truck. Do you wait until it's going to rain and go cover ground. What are your scouting walks like and what are you looking for the most?
This late in the season I'll only scout if it's raining, or a few hours before rain is supposed to come in. even then it's still risky if you stumble into bedding areas. I scouted all day yesterday in the rain and wind.
Actually, I've seen what I need to see by late Oct. I don't like to do much galavanting at this time of year.
I don't even bother to scout any more. There are many placer near me to hunt that are public and often times not hunted, I hunt based on terrain and what I see.. ie trails/scrapes,bedding,food sources. Seems to work out, I also do most of my hunting still/stalking so scouting happens while hunting. If a place is quiet I'll hunt another property next time out. You guys are lucky and hunt actually woods, most places I hunt are only 1 mile x 1 mile often times a little less and rarely bigger than that so not very big places, but the deer population is high, luckily.
You can combine scouting and hunting during rut hunting. In fact, some of the best action I get into each fall revolves around adjusting my set ups away from other hunters and using the terrain to pinch deer down based on the wind. I used to be really scared to scout from late October on and now I tread lightly, but continuously. If you hunt the afternoon, slow scout your way in using the terrain and other hunters and mental map. Find the hot sign...set up. Repeat.
If I am scouting this time of year, it is with my bow and a stand on my back and I'm going in to hang a stand a kill a deer that same day. Sent from my LGLS992 using Tapatalk
