Does anyone actually scout anymore?

[RedShaft]

I used too. all the time... there are to many ticks now! wait.. is that a new mole?  TICK!!!    :eek:  
yea.

[awbowman]

I enjoy scouting as much as I enjoy hunting, maybe more.

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Originally posted by awbowman:
I enjoy scouting as much as I enjoy hunting, maybe more.

X2! What ever keeps me in the woods    

Badwithabow, Thats what it's all about right there. Thanks for sharing the picks.

Tracy

[JamesKerr]

I scout occassionaly but the land I hunt is owned by my family and I and we have just about got it figured out.

[buckeye_hunter]

yup. Just set up a scouting trip for the Ohio Trad Deer Hunt.

[mcgroundstalker]

Very Good Question!!!

I remember a time when my cousin would tie a length of thread across a deer trail to figure out what time the game walked through... Had to check on it a few times a day... Imagine That!   :rolleyes:  

As to me scouting, not at all... I've been hunting the same general area of, say 500-600 acres for the past 40 years... My hunting style of cat and mouse seems to combine scouting and hunting together... Head to head or eye level sneak and peek gets my blood flowing... But that's just me...

... mike ...

[Tom Leemans]

I've been on property with cameras, but I've never used them. I just try to be really observant. It always boils down to cover terrain and food anyway. Then there's November...

[Arwin]

I scout all year with my digital camera and spray down with scent killer.    

[finkm1]

Just got home from my first scouting trip in my hunting area. Will be out there off and on till Oct 1st, then its game on!!!!

[WidowEater]

I think the average hunter, no matter how passionate they are about hunting, cannot find the time to both scout and hunt.

This is partially the reason I dont hunt anymore.  I no longer have access to the hunting grounds that were cheap, easy to access, and known to me so I just stopped hunting altogether because I did not want to have to drive 40 minutes out to public land and just set up somewhere to hope and pray.  That drive is too long to hunt from and definitely too long to scout from.

Not worth it to me.

[ethan]

I love scouting!!  I bought two trail cameras the other day. It's the first I have ever owned, but I don't plan on not scouting, to much fun!!

[Arwin]

Originally posted by WidowEater:
I think the average hunter, no matter how passionate they are about hunting, cannot find the time to both scout and hunt.

This is partially the reason I dont hunt anymore.  I no longer have access to the hunting grounds that were cheap, easy to access, and known to me so I just stopped hunting altogether because I did not want to have to drive 40 minutes out to public land and just set up somewhere to hope and pray.  That drive is too long to hunt from and definitely too long to scout from.

Not worth it to me.

I was in a similar situation when I first started. The closest state land was 40 minutes from my house and that was all I had access to. Along with that, I had to learn on my own since no one in my family hunted.

Just 1-2hrs a week can be enough to find yourself a good spot. Take a climber stand or climb up in a tree and glass from a distance.         It doesn't take a whole lot of time to get familiar with an area and 1-2 hours a week can be wasted on the couch, LOL!

I hunt public land 99.9% of my season and have bagged some very nice critters, mostly due to out of season scouting. I've taken around 30 deer in the last 12 years off public land, including one 100 inch 8pt and one 96 inch 8pt(exceptional animals for my area).
Pick up Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails by John Eberhardt. Some of the best reading you can get!!

Here are some pics from this summers ventures on public land. I took these while on the ground and a couple hiding behind my climber(got in too late, LOL.    The buck in the middle in last pic has a very wide spread if you look close.    

[RC]

I`ve killed many deer by walking in a "new" swamp with my stand on my back till I found a hot feed tree. Climb and sit no matter what time it is and killed deer. If I had to drive 40 miles I would. I would scout all morning and midday and hunt the best place I found. The next time I could hunt I would start there at daylite and then walk midday till I found something better.RC

[Medina1]

I hunt a small plot of land, about 100 acres, some woods but mostly fields. I scout a lot but probably 80% of my scouting is done right after deer season where even the smallest trails look like major highways!

The size of the farm allows me to scout it thoroughly but it's enough to not pressure the deer too much. I do a lot of my scouting midday when I'm sneaking around the woods and only maybe 1 month before season comes in, I like to keep the deer as relaxed as I can before season. Trail cams are a major help but being a high school student I don't have money to get a whole arsenal to put out in the woods. Squirrel season is a great way to go scouting and get a little practice shooting in before season rolls around. I'm getting anxious for deer season!

Caleb

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Yup, Jon, I spend LOTS of time in the woods but.....and I'll be the dissenter here.....NOT in the summer!  80% of my scouting is from the end of season 'till greenup in the spring.  Maybe 5% in the summertime - mainly now I'm spending time hanging stands - July/August.  Then the other 15% during the season.  I STAY OUT OF THE WOODS I want to hunt after Labor Day until season starts.  You can REALLY screw up your hunting area by being too enthusiastic with your scouting in the late summer/early fall.  Also, I couldn't care less what the deer are doing in the summertime.  It has zero effect on how I hunt, or where....I hunt deer in October, November, December, and the first bit of January...THAT is the time of year I want to know about what the deer are doing, not August.  I have a couple of cameras, but they have had no effect on where/how I hunt either.  I put them on mineral licks in the early spring, and feed situations in the winter after season to see what made it thru gun season, but a camera where I hunt is just another enticement to go in and stink up an area best left alone.

Ryan

[Hoyt]

I'm about 25 long steps from the land I hunt so I do a lot of piddling around in the woods year round.

Many years ago I would start my scouting about a wk before the season came in and set up stands over fresh buck sign about a day or two before the season after stomping all over everywhere. Never could figure out why I very seldom had any luck on opening day.

I do 99% of my hunting about 1/2mile to a mile back in and try to stay out of there till I'm going to hunt it. I may put a camera up a couple months before the season to see if I can get a pic of a big buck, but I'll pull it from my prime spots a month before the season and stay out.

Jan. through the end of spring gobbler season I do my main off season scouting for big rubs and trees I might want to trim to hunt a spot. Other than that most of my scouting is done coming and going in to hunt.

If I wasn't so sorry I'd crank the truck and look around at other spots during the summer. But when I found some and I would, I'd have to string and unstring my bow to drive to them during hunting season.

When I lived in Ga. I use to drive over a 100 miles a day..one way.. to hunt and had good hunting behind my house. Things change I guess.

[katie]

I do both. I am in the woods a lot right now. Check stands and natural blinds. See what has fallen or washed away to change movement patterns. Then I drop off before season.  Watch a lot from the field that last month. Just in and out to change cards in camera.
This year I will hunt over water. That is new to me, but the creeks are dry. So now I need to put in the work over at the pond site!
Blue Tounge is hitting us hard so the ponds are nasty right now.  I am not sure how that will effect deer. I would not want to drink from a pond with other deer laying dead in it! The poor warden can not keep up with all the calls.

[longbowman]

Don't own a camera and won't own one.  There's something about scouting and seeing that buck for the first time that makes my blood sizzle.  Knowing what's out there via cameras wouldn't change my hunting anyway.  It's like people look at the film and say, "That deer isn't good enough for me".  I believe every deer that I'm offered the opportunity to take is a gift from God and who am I to look down my nose at what He chooses to send me?

Those that I know who use the cameras haven't shot as many or as nice deer as I have but all they talk about are the big ones they are going after and the little ones they are going to let walk.  What ever happened to any deer taken in fair chase with trad gear being trophy?

[Bud B.]

Originally posted by WidowEater:
I think the average hunter, no matter how passionate they are about hunting, cannot find the time to both scout and hunt.

This is partially the reason I dont hunt anymore.  I no longer have access to the hunting grounds that were cheap, easy to access, and known to me so I just stopped hunting altogether because I did not want to have to drive 40 minutes out to public land and just set up somewhere to hope and pray.  That drive is too long to hunt from and definitely too long to scout from.

Not worth it to me.

If I lived in Savannah I'd be all over any close WMA. Hunt hogs and scout while hunting. No time in the woods would be akin to near death for me. I use squirrel hunting as scouting time. I drive 35 min to work. I'll drive a few hours for good hunting woods. A bad day hunting beats not hunting at all.

[Hoyt]

When I lived in Savannah, Ft. Stewart was my home field...seems like it was about 42 or 44 miles.

When I lived in Vidalia, still kept the home field..about 50 something miles.

Back then there wasn't anywhere else had a deer season in that part of the state anyway.