This is a small block that I hunted yesterday.. where you see the markers are stands in the only y’all timber...The light color is about 4 year old cutover.. the larger dark green is 8-10 year old pines, very thick... saw a couple of does but there were very traces of deer in there and yet we kill a ton out of in gun season every year.....So how important are these things to your stand location? Do look for the area that has the most? Do you hunt an area that has few of each but not overwhelming but you know deer are there? Do you no attention it at all? what are you looking for when you scout.. I thought would be good to discuss how we approach this. Personally, I scout a ton and the way the deer move in my area is mostly browsing and in 1-3 to a group..rarely a herd of 5-10.. bucks seem to be alone most times.. they don't make a ton of scrapes or rubs at least outside of the bedding areas.. sparse droppings every now and then but unless there acorns, which there are not many oaks at all on 7,000 acres I hunt, think pine plantation and cutovers. so a random pile of droppings is what I see.. Tracks vary depending on the moisture, in the swamps, you see tons of tracks.. basically, I cruise the swamps, the few oaks we have and the many tall timber pines between cutovers where there are creeks looking for sign and hanging cameras.. it's always a 50/50 deal. What do you do?
If I actually have the time to scout like I should, I look for fresh, and a lot of it. You can be in all the sign in the world but if it’s a few weeks old in a field or oak flat or bedding area that they aren’t utilizing at the moment then it’s hit and miss. I’m looking for fresh tracks, poop, rubs, and scrapes and beds that are being made and used now. If I can run cameras and confirm all of the above then that’s icing on the cake. Sometimes I have limited time and have to rely on historical data from previous years. This is flipping a coin.
I know that feeling! I always like the freshest poop I can find and fresh tracks...everything else is a bonus!
Fresh scrapes , hands down! Ive had very good luck huntin scrapes ( the right ones) Best times to hunt them late evenins and mid day. From last two weeks in Oct and first couple weeks in Nov.
I start by looking at a map, I look for funnels, pinch points, fingers, potential bedding areas, feeding sources exc. exc. Then, same as you, I put hours and hours and hours of foot work in. Get to know the land like the back of my hand. Find those spots where all the trails merge onto what I like to call, The ALPHA trail. One single trail that is usually going through a pinch point, where the woods narrows down, and then after while widens back out. Also, look for those doe bedding areas, and then hunt the downwind side of them. Youll get bucks cruising through and checking the area for receptive does. The bucks like to be able to stay on the move as they cruise for does, they dont wanna have to go into each and every doe bedding area they come across, unless they smell a hot doe in there. So they cruise the downwind side of those areas. These can be hot spots during the chase phase of the rut. Scrapes are exciting to find, and are good spots for a trail cam, but most of these scrapes are only visited during the night. Scrape hunting is either really good, or really dead in my experience. Your either hunting a hot scrape or your not. In my opinion, your better off hunting those high traffic areas or bedding areas during the rut, unless you know a particular scrape is being worked in the day time. The basic truth during the rut is find those does, and youve found the bucks. Also, remember that deer are relatively lazy, what I mean by this is that they will always take the path of least resistance. This is why a broken spot in a fence, for example, becomes a funnel. I like to walk along fences, creeks, exct. and find those spots where the deer cross. Youll usually find several spots, but it helps to narrow down where they are going. Hope some of this might be useful.
