Nothing. I can honestly say given my skillset and fast paced life that I did what I could. I put in over a hundred hours of on the ground scouting last off-season. It did not pay off in a big buck, but it did pay off in that I was able to get within bow range of deer on nearly 80% of my hunts. I have already started to scout and I am changing a few things up and adding to what I learned last year.
Yep, less time scouting and more time chasing turkeys. I love to turkey hunt and I gave up a few hunts last year going to scout properties for deer that do not hold turkeys. I usually scout those areas in Feb, then move onto the properties that hold turkeys in March, that way if they are gobbling i hunt them, if they are'nt I scout and listen for a gobble. I know that answer is not quite what the topic is about, but it is my true answer.
I plan to do this while trying to weed out a few piggies in my deer woods Michael. Nothing wrong with that kinda scouting in my book. Seems to make it more fun when you have a chance of bringing something home.
I hunt in a pretty unique place Bobby. Although the area is large (45,000 acres able to be hunted), portions of the base randomnly shut down for sometimes days and weeks at a time. So areas I have scouted and want to get onto given a specific wind or time of the year may not even be open(happened to me relentlessly this year). Certain areas of the military base are open a lot more than others, which means I have the ability to hunt them with more consistency. That also means that those areas receive a lot more hunting pressure. So in order to access and hunt an area with more consistency and reliability I have to compete with more hunters. That is something I am starting to accept in order to get more familiar with the older bucks. Specifically in terms of scouting I am going to be looking for the converging hub areas that Gri22ly talks about a lot as a good starting point in one's scouting. I am going to map out all of the converging hubs by walking all of the likely buck bedding spots around them. I have said this a long time. Where I hunt, if you do not know where a big buck beds with regularity, then you are hunting a needle in a haystack. Sure, we have guys that get lucky each year and kill slammers. But relatively few guys consistently put them down. And the one's that do, talk about finding shed antlers in the off-season, then finding the larger buck beds....then simply hunting those bucks down and killing them. I want to scout more swamps this year in place that most other people will not go. And hopefully I can find some really nasty thick swampy areas in spots I can hunt with more consistency. I found my first buck bed last week in a really neat hub area that linked up with a serious edgeline that had mountain laurel, very young small stem oaks, and a pine thicket all coming together.
Nothing. Then again......It would be extremely difficult for me to scout less. I'm gonna look for a stand site (I swear), while I'm squirrel hunting, Saturday.
Not a whole lot. IF, big IF, I gain more property, I have a few things I would like to try out (topo checking first, then hitting the ground second...I've never actively done it this way, and I think it would be most beneficial if I tried on unfamiliar ground that I've never set foot on before).
I really cant do more, I put in many miles and hours in the off season, I have come to know my land 800 acres like the back of my hand. The only thing im going to different is put out some mineral licks in the off season summer months.
Keep shooting lanes trimmed a bit. Maintenance to stands. After hunting the same 120 acres for 30 years how much scouting needs done? I think you can over scout especially if you do it at the wrong time. I always enjoying getting out after season and looking at all the past Rut sign. Dan
Nothing really but put more trail cams out. I had the best year I have ever had! 6 Deer killed with 4 antlerless and an 8 point with shotgun and an 11 point with bow. My first Pope & Young!
I wouldn't say spend more time scouting, but spending the time I do more wisely. Try to find the little holes on our farm where I don't normally venture into. I've also got a farm bordering ours, and another across the river in a different county on my radar for next fall. If I am lucky enough to get permission to either one then I will definantly have to put some miles on my boots.
I found two new caves on my ground this year,I am going in boys. light and a long rope. as far as deer go i am going to take a new look at sites my trail cam got lots of pics but are hard to get into, so i will be working on entry trails to these spots and the thermals around the new stand sites. maybe drop a couple of trees to funnel them a little closer to me.
my scouting would have payed off this year, the only thing i did wrong was not take the first week of bow season off work. but i will do a few things different this year. (public land) i'm going to spread out my scouting to a few areas instead of patterning a few deer in 1 area.
I plan on setting up more stand sites. This past year I only set up enough trees that I had stands for. This year I will be trimming a lot more sites, so when the time comes to move I will be able to do so without a lot of disturbance. All my stand sites are prepared as soon as the snow melts off.
