The summer months are perfect for finding new hunting property, taking inventory of deer nearby, and adding to your treestand arsenal.
Most bowhunters generally know what types of areas and sign to look for, but they don’t always consider the mitigating factors that could kill an otherwise awesome opportunity. And finding hunting ground that checks all the boxes gets exponentially more difficult — and more important — for public land hunters.
Rather than making mistakes that could cost you come fall, do summer scouting right with these guidelines:
Break Out the Maps and Apps
Putting boots on the ground is incredibly important, but sometimes you need more intel before you even know where to get started. Take advantage of aerial maps and e-scouting tools to locate potentially promising areas, determine boundary lines, and gather landowner info for knocking on doors.
Use Trail Cams Wisely
Leaving trail cameras out — whether on public land or your own back 40 — always opens you up to theft. Minimize the risk by hanging them high, locking them up, and camouflaging them as good as possible. Resist the urge to trudge through and check cameras every couple days and instead limit foot traffic with less frequent camera pulls — or invest in a cellular trail camera for the off-season.
Avoid Pressure
While you’re searching for scrapes, rubs, and bedding areas, also look for sign of other hunters — trail markers, trail cameras, treestands, etc. If the area already gets a lot of hunting pressure, keep moving.
Locate Low-Impact Entry Points
Rather than first looking for the perfect tree to set up a stand, focus on finding good entry and exit routes to your target area where you can travel to an ambush site with minimal deer disturbance. Determine how they’re moving to and from the area and how you can get by undetected.
Give Yourself Options
Don’t get so hyped up on a single spot where you found lots of sign that you neglect to secure a few alternative ambush sites. Give yourself options in case that primo spot underperforms, the wind is wrong to hunt it, or hunter pressure pushes you out.
Keep Expectations in Check
Get excited about the opportunities you find and the season ahead, but keep in mind that summer scouting only provides a limited perspective. Summer bachelor groups will break up, and bucks will move their home range so you may have to expand your hunting area. On the other hand, trail cameras can’t show you everything, so the hunting might be even better than you imagined.
How Bully,
On the trail! But where were you going with this last paragraph?
“Keep Expectations in Check Get excited about the opportunities you find and the season ahead, but keep in mind that summer scouting only provides a limited perspective. Summer bachelor groups will break up, and bucks will move their home range so you may have to expand your hunting area. On the other hand, trail_____”
Mule and whitetail both need water along with food and shelter. Depending on your local conditions Off Season Scouting based on the current location of the prey can be almost a total waste of time. The deer will move their range to get what they need to survive. Hunting pressure will push them to the places you won’t go and they will be out when you aren’t or don’t want to be: rain, wind, snow, and right after most novice hunters give up for the morning (between 9:00-11:30AM) or maybe for the day…LOL! Most big Bucks are taken when most hunters have gone back to camp or their pickup truck.
BUCKS travel IN creeks and streams to travel to the doe’s bedding areas quickly. Surprising (most hunters) they are excellent swimmers so don’t just look in the shallows. I run into them in my river kayak all the time and they are fast to boot!
shootski
Shootski
You are absolutely right regardless of the hunting tool one uses. In truth, the best reason to do summer scouting is just to get into the woods. Get the habit ingrained so that you will be more likely to put more hours in the woods in the fall. Not to mention getting the younger generation more easily involved when they are freezing their adolescent arises off.
It’s all about getting out there. Any reason is a good one.
Ed
EdLee,
My thoughts exactly!
Clothing choice is really much more than CAMO or PLAIN and comfort is easily attained without bulk and weight with modern clothing systems. There is even a place for Wool but never Cotton as wet Cotton kills when temperatures drop.
Also: ran out of REPLY on your post on the Webley Mk VI Blog so I added a new answering reply below your last.
shootski
Scouting and setting up good spots is like 80% of the success. And once you’ve decided on a spot, another 15% is making yourseulf comfortable(getting nice warm apparel and footwear – if it’s not too cold I’m usually sticking to some Sitka jacket+pants and whatever comfortable footwear I’ve got: last time I’ve tried clogs by Haflinger Slippers from https://gritroutdoors.com/haflinger/ and it worked out pretty good for the stand. But if you plan to move a lot, stick to some typical outdoor boots). After all of that it leaves like 5% to the shot itself. Don’t underestimate preparation!