What do you think the best conditions are to take a walk and do some scouting? I believe windy days are the best time to scout but I also always felt that when rain was coming it was good to get some scouting in because your scent would be diminished. After reading a little on this it appears that the rain may hold your scent longer and is just the opposite of what I had always thought.
Really? I always thought rain washed scent away. I always do my stand hanging and scouting on rainy days.
Feb/March are the two best months for scouting/trimming ... as for 'scouting', yea, I think rain does help, but I dont like getting wet .. used to set stands during the rain back in the day (it sucked) ...
This is true about rain/moisture holding scent. Most people who use dogs for tracking anything will tell you that the moisture will hold scent and its easier for the dog. I've heard them say that super dry conditions really diminish their ability to track Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk
Best time to run rabbit dogs was after some rain or a mist. The water definitely holds scent longer in the area. I know guys who brought their rabbit dogs to the southwest and it was a struggle to hold scent. Obviously different terrain makes it difficult as well, but they were really struggling to hold tracks. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That’s kind of what I always too. I guess we should rethink our strategy. I’m more referring to when walking out scouting on the way along the edges to find fresh deer sign during the season. Not just scouting in general where Late winter early spring is a good time.
That’s what led me to searching this out a little more. I was reading how tracking dogs are good at finding deer even after a night of rain. So stepping around scapes when the leaves are all wet has probably been the worst thing I have continuously done over time. Now I know not to do that.
This is another thing I've learned over the years. Alot really depends on what type of area you are hunting. For those of us who are hunting farm country, the deer are used to human activity in certain places and your intrusion there will be tolerated. But if you get off the path that they are used to having those encounters it changes things. Also if it's deep forest or very remote areas, they will have much less tolerance for human presence because they just don't encounter humans very often. Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk
learn something all the time. I always thought it was fog /mist that held the sent not true rains as in down pours.
Well a total downpour would be different. What I was referring to was just a regular rain or heavy dew. Certainly a heavy fog or mist would also help the scent remain. Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk
There seems to be a lot of people who feel rain will keep there smell from stinking up an area. When you search around the internet, it’s a common misconception in articles and forum talk. Just like all of the rain that just passed through, I would usually take the chance to go look for sign on the way to an evening stand thinking I wouldn’t leave behind any scent trails.
I always like to go before rain. Did a few miles today checking cameras but we are getting rain all night so it should wash my scent away Sent from my SM-G990U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Any chance you can is the best time to scout. In season scouting is, in my opinion, the absolute most important type of scouting. Deer change patterns constantly. Off season scouting is great and all, but it changes so much that its only a ball park starting point. I've been adopting more and more of "beast style" hunting into what i'm doing and it makes sense to me. Why predetermine where you are going and sit a "cold" spot, when you can always be scouting and sit what appears active? Its the 80/20 rule. Scout 80%, hunt 20%. I don't get as much time to hunt as I wish. I would rather have less, high quality sits on spots I find activity, than just random sits because I think this looks like a good spot.
Exactly! Nothing wrong with the killing tree type of stands but you have to take time to make moves to better the odds. Still have to be smart about it and I think I realized I might have done more harm than good with leaving scent trails under certain conditions.
Dude... for years and years, I have tip toed around trying to be as clean and leave the places I hunt as pristine as possible. It worked... for the most part. But I have to tell ya, I'm hunting a lot of mountain, public ground now that is impossible to scout without getting right in there and seeing whats going on, finding fresh sign, etc., its been a lot of fun and at times, eye opening. I make it a point now to scout my way to a predetermined spot by taking the "scenic route". If I happen across something that looks really fresh... well... up the tree I go there.
