Just a little background history. I'm from Alabama and like many of southern bow hunters I travel to the Midwest to try to harvest a high scoring buck on public land. Me and my hunting partner made a pack many years ago that we would stick together and hunt public land which is about 6 hours away from my home and we have harvested several good bucks. This year he can not go so I will be hunting solo come this November. I will be going to do some scouting this weekend and trying to find some new spots. I would like to get y'all opinion on what type of scouting I should do? For instance should I be looking for what is planted in the closest crop field, or old rubs and scraps from last year, the thick cover for beading or just some good travel routs. All of this scouting will be for November. Thanks
All of that intel can benefit you, but if you're trying to prioritize which types of habitat to hone in on, I'd first start by getting both an up to date aerial image and topo map of the area you're hunting. Do this before you scout on foot, and it will help maximize your time spent scouting. November is the month when the most pressure is placed on public deer so I would prioritize deep, hard to reach areas. After finding these places on the maps, determine likely deer trails, feeding areas and bedding by looking for water, pinchpoints, cutovers, pine plantings, major creek bottoms, and crop fields or edges if no crop fields nearby. After finding such features on an aerial image, look at these same locations on the topo maps. Deer like to bed on south facing slopes a lot so if you find a cutover, thicket, or overgrown field on a south slope, mark it as bedding. For morning stands in November, bucks love to cruise ridges and down wind of bedding, so if you find a thicket on a ridge, mark it too. After marking these spots, determine if you can access them with minimal disturbance. This takes creativity since these spots you're looking at are so deep on public land. Again the topo map comes in handy. Using ditches and drawls you can sometimes slip in undetected visually and audibly since the rain keeps ditches moist(not noisy) and the walls of the banks provide scent and visual obstruction. ONLY hunt the prime spots you've marked if you have good access. Using mountain bikes and canoes or kayaks can be great for some spots by saving time and effort and also for stealth. Public is a lot of work so having the right gear is important as well as being in shape. But the payoffs are awesome! Hope this helps. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Thanks for the info. We have some great locations that we have hunted in the past which get heavily pressured during the rut. One of the things that I'm going to look into this weekend of scouting is places that are deep in the woods and thick. I ment to have the post in the bow hunting section not the review section sorry for my ignorance. If any one knows how to move this thread fell free thanks
