Scouting For Deer -Part Two

The hardest part of scouting is finding hunt able deer sign.  You will never be able to hunt all of the sign so focus on the sign that was made during the daylight hours.   In order to scout effectively you need to look for the right deer sign.

If you are hunting big deer, you want to look for sign made by big deer.  You are looking for big tracks and droppings.  When I find sign of a big deer I start following the tracks.  This is best done before the season starts.  If you bump a deer out of his bedding area it could take a week before he comes back.

I am also looking for places where the deer can be hunted.  You want to find the bedding area and then look for trails out of there.  Keep in mind that you don’t want to get to close to where the deer is sleeping. 

Next I use a trail cam to see if I can get a photo of a deer.  You want to see what kind of deer live in your hunting area.  Once you find a deer you want to hunt, you have to get to know him.  Hunting a big buck is best done by trying to figure where the deer eats, drinks, sleeps, and moves around.

Start by setting up the trail cam in different areas you find his sign in.  You are only going to leave the camera there for a of couple days.  You are trying to pin point his bedding area.  Try to find out which direction he walks into and out of his bedding area.

Big bucks change their habitats during the hunting season.  They are going from their summer routine, to rutting activity, and then to their winter routine.  These routines have overlapping areas that the buck will utilize.  This will be his core area.  The core area is where the buck will return to time and time again. 

Trail cams can only do so much.  You will also need to track the deer.  You want to find and follow the tracks.  Look for feeding areas and also look for old rutting areas.  As a general rule big bucks make most of the rutting sign at night.  Knowing where the rutting areas are is always good to know because if your deer disappears (changes his routine) this will be a good place to start looking for him again.

Don’t get careless.  If you keep bumping him out of his bedding areas he will get wise to you and change his pattern.  As the season gets closer spend less time in the woods and only check you trail camera in the middle of the day and once a week.

As you are getting a good idea of his pattern you are now looking for a good spot to set up to kill him.  You must always keep in mind wind direction.  I always look for a couple of places to set up so that I can hunt no matter what direction the wind is coming from.

When the first day of the season starts you are ready to head into the woods to hunt.  If you are determined to get a big buck you are going to have to let other deer walk by.  This can be a tough thing to do.  It will not take a big buck long to pick up on your sign and to start to pattern you.  So for the most part you can only hunt a setup once or twice.

Now get into the woods a start scouting.  Get to know the bucks in the areas that you are hunting. 

Good luck,

Sean