So I have 200 acres.. I got it in spring.. I’ll just assume its all woods? Correct? And spring is kind of general Atlas.. can I shed hunt it? Is it early enough for this or is it pretty green when I get this piece? Is this piece close to home? I mean.. if its far away I’ll only hunt it 1-8 days the entire year.. that changes lots of things… and thus REALLY affects how I would go about the scouting and the hunting. This is how I roll. (as vanilla as this piece has been given). I prefer to walk a property first.. before ever really looking at an aerial.. but I prefer to walk it with a topo if I got that available (assuming this land is even hilly). I pay special attention to the boundaries of this piece… mentally noting what surrounds me on all sides. During this walk.. I look for basic mumbo-jumbo.. as in.. what the ground cover has.. food sources like Oaks and berry trees.. the browse on the forest floor (I consider very important).. any of last years rubs left over.. even any community scrapes I may find. Community scrapes are always important for my needs when hunting. Then I go home. At home I’ll compare aerials and topos of what I just walked.. and even more importantly how my new piece FITS with the surrounding lands (I consider this of utmost importance for developing an idea of when I should even hunt this new ground).. mentally and physically noting what I found in the first walk. As in.. thicker undergrowth.. more open woods.. small areas with just grasses growing… funnels.. funnels with sign (rubs etc.).. saddles.. saddles with sign.. benches… benches with sign. ETC ETC ETC. Again.. during this walk.. I’m just mentally noting OBVIOUS sign.. not getting into smaller details now. Then I like to go back and walk it again.. this time getting in and walking every inch I can.. re-teaching myself what I saw from the first walk-through.. what I saw at home.. and what I’m looking for now… which is sign in areas sign SHOULD be in.. as in certain funnels.. corridors.. bedding areas.. likely doe bedding areas.. ETC ETC ETC. All this as my new piece will relate to the surrounding acreage. This second walk is then followed by several more walks repeating over the next couple weeks.. when its green I’m out of the woods for good til next season begins.. or likely when its time to trim some trees for stand sites. I do not do any summer scouting.. no cameras.. no anything except an occasional drive-by to look if any deer are moving about. I can’t give anymore.. since I have no idea what this land even looks like.. whether its swamp or woods or mostly fields.. these will all play an important role as to what I would do next. It would play an important role to what I would even do first.. but this is as general as I can get or give on when I start from scratch.. which is every year somewhere. (you and me both JZ) I believe in in-season scouting.. and when the season rolls in.. I’m looking for VERY specific sign and I know where I should find it... but that’s a whole nother topic.
Duke, I have rarely ever seen a large community scrape. Where are the most likely spots for those things? Thanks!
Likely spots for a community scrape? I don't know that their are likely spots.. but usually they are close to action. As in near where deer tend to "gather" more or less to feed.. socialize.. even where just a bunch of trails meet etc. And not all community scrapes are large.. but that depends on your translation of the word large.. I've seen many that are no bigger than 2 or 3 feet.
Funnels count. I was in a hurry to summarize my post. Terrain pinch for the purpose of this example is ANYTHING that forces a deer to walk a particular lane or trail, even if for only 5-10 yds. It could be the stereotypical funnel of woods, saddle, ridge, island in a swamp, etc etc. Sometimes it could be as subtle as a small depression that doesn't even show up on a topo. Could be a cluster of blown down trees forcing deer wide.
Drive around first. Do some google earth and then walk a bunch. Try to survey fields on the place and nearby lands. Got to figure out what deer are doing and when. It's not rocket science.... it just takes some leg work to get within bow range. 100 acres, you'll be better the second year. By the end of year 2 you should have them dialed in and be ready to move with changes.
If it's this time of year I'd be walking the property looking for sign of trails, beds and potential food sources. I'd also be taking into consideration the terrain and how it will be effected by the weather etc... More importantly I'd be checking out the type of property around the new land, is it mostly farm land or timber etc...This will help me with deciding where to put up my stands in the fall. I'd probably put up a couple stands where I felt my best opportunity would be then adjust from there once the fall rolls around. I always approach new land this way, seems to work pretty darn good for me.
Just a couple hundred acres I would just walk (naked and barefott of course), sniff the trees, taste the dirt, and determine immediately where the deer feed, sleep, bed, reproduce, and just simply relax. It is that easy. Right?
If you have spent some time putting trails, bedding areas, rubs, scrapes, etc. on a topo map it can give you a good idea how the deer use the terrain. Then, when looking at topo's you can recognize those particular areas and have some idea of how the deer may be using them before you even walk the ground. Looking at the topo's first also help me determine how I am going to walk the ground.
