Andre's In Season Scouting Tactics

[MOBIGBUCKS]

There are a lot of things that are similar about me and Andrae, and a lot of things that are different... Years ago, I can remember hunting the same vast areas and going in from a different direction and even though it was 1000's of acres, ending up at the same tree...
So, we go about our scouting different, but we seem to come to the same conclusions...
I think the biggest difference in me and him is that he has gone the rought of going after world class bucks by buying, leasing, or getting permission to hunt premium ground, where I have really stuck to the public ground and small over hunted farms... Sure, I have hunted some cushy managed land, and he has hunted some public.
Andrae would probably disagree with me on this, but I think the public land bucks need a little more respect in regards to there bedding... I do agree, that mature bucks can stick tight to a certain bedding area, but I think walking those bedding areas the day before I hunt them would hurt me more than learning them in winter and spring... Being that he is not just after a big buck, but after a certain buck, he feels he needs to lay eyes on it in order to kill it... He has done real well jumping bucks out of there bed and then hunting them there... I have done better finding the beds in spring and then figuring out where the buck is hanging and moving in for the kill. I do think it might be beneficial for me to try some of Andraes tactics on ground I don't know well... I did some of his tactics with good success in the past. I just do "most" of my premium scouting in winter/spring and he does "most" of his during hunting season.
I guess if there is a lesson here, its probably that sometimes you can get away with pushing the envelope.

That's a good explanation Dan. You guys are both shooting trophy's, but doing it on different ground with different types of hunting pressure.

Does he do much public hunting these days Dan?

[dan]

Does he do much public hunting these days Dan?

Not much, if any... When he shot the "bump and dump" buck for hill country, I was at his place hunting a booner just down the street on public... He new about it, and had no intention of going after it, and told me to try... I almost got it.

[Uncle Lou]

great insight dan. love reading how there are different ways of skinning the cat

[kwaldeier]

So much great info! Between this thread and the ask Andrea I have learned so much that it has not all sunk in. I will have to reread everything lol

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[Brad]

I see I need to break out the pen and paper again, there is good stuff here worth jotting down.

[Wlog]

Bump. This is a good thread. I've done more in season scouting this year and I think it's taught me a lot about the spots I am hunting. Some of the sign isn't so easy to find in march and April as it is within a month of when it was made or closer.

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[iowa whitetail]

I do all my visual scouting during the hunting season, while im hunting, ill glass during that time as well. I use cams during the spring, and summer seasons. I think its a very good tool to have. Although personal visual can never be beat but most people dont have the time it really takes for that. I separate all my pictures into the years they were taken cause i move my cams to diff locations so when i target a buck i can go back threw all the pics and see were that buck has been on cam the most. I also will hang a couple cams in the area to see if i can catch day time pics of him more often than other places, cause just a 100 yards can be the diff in day time pics, night time pics or no pics at all. When i go after the buck i will set in a tree back were i can see having no intention of killing him until i can see what he is doing, then go after him. I also keep my ears open to other people what they have seen, or what they hear other people have seen just seems if someone has taken the time to talk about a buck it might be worth checking into. Ill write notes about bucks, what ive seen, and heard from other people. Ill write the date, time, location of the deer and save the notes for next year. It comes in pretty handy cause the next spring its pretty easy to forget about a buck that just might be a nice deer that you have a shot at that could be forgotten about. One thing ive learned is there are more than one way to skin a cat. One thing that cant be argued with is if your going to kill mature bucks year after year is putting in your time. Good luck

[drew13]

Can someone please provide a link to the "Ask Andrae" thread that kwaldeier referred to? I searched but could not find it... Sounds like a must read.

Thanks very much,
Drew

[dan]

Can someone please provide a link to the "Ask Andrae" thread that kwaldeier referred to? I searched but could not find it... Sounds like a must read.

Thanks very much,
Drew

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14882&hilit=ask+andrae

[Stanley]

Can someone please provide a link to the "Ask Andrae" thread that kwaldeier referred to? I searched but could not find it... Sounds like a must read.

Thanks very much,
Drew

Welcome to the Beast.

[Buckfever]

I did a lot more in season scouting this year in the early and late season and my results we actualy pretty good to my surprise. To sum it up, I knew where there were a lot of good deer hanging out because of shinning. Most of these bucks were in areas that I never hunted before so I had to do some in season scouting. One of my biggest helpers were muddy cornfields. Whenever there would be a rain I would walk cornfields and look for where huge tracks were cutting into swamps or thickets. Most of the time it would be a faint trail where the big tracks cut in and I worked my way in and took it from there. I would walk this trail until it looked like it could be a bedding area and then I would set up. I had a few kinda close calls doing this. If I did not hear anything or see anything where I set up I would move in deeper the next night. One time, I moved in deeper and deeper like this three nights in a row and on the third night I ended up settin up too close to the bucks bed and jumping the buck.

I once thought that If you hunted a bucks trail out of his bed that he would smell where you were after you hunted that night and never come down that trail again. Im learning that that is not the case. I think these pressured deer are used to smelling human scent not in there staging area and your ok getting closer and closer until you get in his safe zone. THis is a new strategy for me that im going to play with because I think im onto something. Mybe Dan already talked aobu this at some time though.

Another example: Look at the buck Dan shot this year. A bunch of people were setting up over the bucks rubs that he made at night. I assume people just sat there waiting for the buck night after night. The buck knew the spot was being hunted and did not come thorough that spot till dark. But if someone would have followed the trail with the night rubs they could have gotten closer to the bed and mybe even saw the buck in the distance and made a plan of attack. I guess when I say this, Im speaking from the viewpoint of someone who is trying to figure the buck out. Not Dan who knew what the buck was doing.

I think you're right. I've been running black flash cams setup 11-12 feet up and a lot of things I thought about ground scent have not proven to be correct and I think I've been too careful. When I was younger I was much more aggressive and while I was sometimes too aggressive overall I think that forced more opportunities.

[chasemukluk]

Thanks for all the great info guys!

[MACHINIST]

Subbed

[Darin]

bump

[Hawthorne]

Good bump. I've been thinking about this subject lately cause I did'nt get the amount of spring scouting in I wanted. I actually have more time in season to do scouting.

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