What is "fresh sign"? I hear people always saying, "fresh sign". How do you use that fresh sign to your advantage once you have found it? How do you find it in the middle of the hunting season? I bet everyone has different answers and that is great. ? ? ?
right now I like to focus on heavily hit trails leading to crop fields, I like to look for large tracks on these trails and set up trail cams to see when there being used, still have to wait alittle bit for the rubs to start showing up when they start shredding off their velvet.
My question is how would the enviromentalists feel about the damage to that tree? Who do these deer think they are damaging the environment that way?! As for "fresh sign", I think the obvious answer is that it tells you the deer (or elk) are in the area or at least have been. You have to use your head a little bit to verify that the fresh sign is indeed fresh. That tree for instance, was the sap still wet or has it dried? Was the dirt kicked up moist and "fluffy" or has it had time to settle. These are some things I would look at to determine how "fresh" it is.
I think searching for fresh sign in season is often overlooked. I know sometimes its tough to "scout" when you want to be hunting, but sometimes sacrificing a half day can show you to the hot area that the deer(or buck) are using at that time.
absolutely agree, I am always scouting (even while hunting) and looking for fresh sign. I am not afraid to change plans if I think an area has gone cold, but I think elk move around a bit more than deer.
To me fresh sign is sign that has been made within the last 24 hours. If it is the right kind of sign, I may try to set up and hunt it immediately.
Agreed and that is what I am thinking of doing this year. Instead of only hunting the afternoons from 2-dark or so in October, I am going to take a few hours in the am to walk some of my hunting grounds periodically, checking for fresh sign then readjusting either that same day or the very next. I am just trying to figure out a system.
Fresh Sign to me is evidence that deer are currently using that area. Currenlty, droppings, trails, tracks, etc. The types of evidence change as the seasons change. When I see fresh sign I try and decide why that deer was there, where is he/she going to, and what is this telling me in the overall deer behavior of the area. Typically some fresh sign this time of year likely indicates a food source change.
it's always exciting when you start to see the leaves falling, leaves on the ground all kicked up with big rubs and scrapes in the area. smellsssssssss like a shooter about to be lungbusted!
take that nice deer track you took a pic of then put a deer leg in it.. now that would be fresh sign...:D
dark green poop that's still soft and scrapes that still reek of urine are more pieces to the puzzle of how and when the deer are using the area.
Fresh sign to me Is tracks, opened scrapes, freshly hit tree's with In the last 2 or so hours. Fresh sign rocks!!!
The #1 fresh sign to me is an area that is littered with fresh scrapes. When you pair that with heavily used trails, and an area that you would expect a buck to be looking for does, then you have the spot. Hang a stand and if possible hunt it right away. I found a killer spot last year while scouting during midday, but wasn't able to return for a few days. The morning I hunted it, I had 6 bucks respond to calls.
Scott I found fresh sign this past year on a finger of a ridge. I found 6-8 nice sized scrapes coming down the runway close to a doe bedding area. I hung a stand immediately and had a nice 2.5 year old 8-9 point come walking by 5 minutes before dark, right down the scrape line. I think I will be using my time in the woods more wisely this year in terms of scouting on my down time from the woods.
each area is different for me, on the 325 ac track that i spend most of my time.there is maybe 20-25 arces of woods that are spread out in ditches and funnels separated by crop fields the largest one maybe is five acres.so the deer sign is heavy in the wooded areas but the thing is the deer run out the other side in you start any time you try and enter them, so i hunt the small funnels that lead in and out to the next woodlot in some ways it's very easy to hunt but there is almost no deer sign in these areas,if i hunt one spot today i simply move to the other side of the farm on the next hunt,keeps the deer guessing and i see a lot more deer doing this. on this piece of ground i wait until oct 31 before hunting the best spots. after hunting this kind of ground i will go to my brothers place that is all wooded and say to him "How do you hunt this" so i know what some of you are up against.
