In-season scouting

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nor' easter
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby nor' easter » Mon Oct 08, 2018 6:22 am

A springtime injury didn't allow me to scout, so in season is all I have this year. I just keep checking known and suspected bedding with my stand on my back. I'm hoping that if I keep checking a few spots each day it will keep stacking the bucks into the unchecked spots and I'll be in the money by week's end. No clue if it's going to work, but I'm learning a ton about how deer are using the properties since I'm not tip toeing around and staying out of certain areas.


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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby Nelson87 » Mon Oct 08, 2018 2:35 pm

Yesterday I spent 20 min scouting a spot and what I learned reinforced everything I've read on here about the importance of in season scouting. I'll copy what I posted in live from the field thread.

I've been eying a pond that's in the middle of a corn field. It has a 20 yd strip of trees/thick brush including red oaks and persimmons on the back side of the dam and an overgrown waterway that goes 150 yd to the woods. I've been waiting for a day that's windy enough for me to slip in through the corn and set up along the waterway to see if anything is bedding behing the pond.

Finally had the wind I wanted today but the landowner txd me around noon and said they shelled the corn yesterday. So I went there to scout and see if my suspicions were correct. Definetly was bedding there, but no fresh rubs or poop, which makes me think they moved elsewhere a week or 2 ago.
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My bow is 58" unstrung.

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Found a few more beds and rubs.

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This bed was right on top of the dam. He can see a long way from here.
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I didn't bump anything out of there so if I would have hunted this today I would have been out of the game. O well, I had a hunch there was bedding there and I was right, so I guess that's progress.[/quote]

I'm so glad I took the time to check this spot out. Spring scouting is important, but if I would have waited until march to find this, I would have had no idea that it was dried up already less than a week into the season.

Noone else hunts this property, so I don't think the buck/ bucks moved because of pressure. Once the corn came down they lost some security cover, but they obviously moved before that happened. And the backside of the pond and the waterway are plenty thick. So I'm guessing a food source took them elsewhere. So I'm wondering if the pressure picks up on the neighboring properties if that might drive them back at some point.

That's the bad part about small properties. That pond and waterway and a treeline are the only cover I have and all I can do is drool over the block of timber and the couple acre area full of willows with several nice fingers jutting into the beans in a low spot on the neighbors.
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby Hatchet Jack » Thu Oct 11, 2018 1:27 am

Ive found a few thousand acres of steep rugged public mountains with crop fields on top that have no road access for public hunters. All the crop fields are privately owned. The only way to access the public is shooting class 5 rapids that last for a few miles. I have watched youtube videos of running the river and it looks like blast to do but im not doing it in a canoe lol. Pretty sure no one runs this river in November to hike 1000' gain in a quarter mile to hunt but im just crazy enough to try it. Only question now is kayak or deck boat???
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Fri Oct 19, 2018 3:26 am

I got out for an in season scout a few days ago to an area I had wanted to scout in the off season. I'm sure glad I did. The water level seemed to be at a level that the bedding was being used. Some of the areas I've been hunting the bedding is under water and the deer aren't using them.

Also found three big scrapes on the mainland and a few fresh rubs. Definitely going to hunt this area in a week or so. Well worth the walk. I didn't take any pictures, but it was worth getting out there to see.

If the high water levels have disrupted your normal areas get out there and scout to find the spots they are using.
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby Kraftd » Fri Oct 19, 2018 7:58 am

I've really dedicated myself to in-season scouting this year. Thus far it hasn't paid off on finding any real honey holes, but it has saved me what would have absolutely been wasted sits in past years by moving on to keep scouting when sign was not evident. In a couple of cases I was able to check pre-scouted beds and confirm nothing was home. As recently as last year my strategy would have been to sit these areas hoping for a deer to be home.

Half of my weekday hunts this year have turned into scouts. Over the last week and half I've stopped bringing my stand and just ground setting if I find sign. I've gotten on a few deer doing this, and much easier than death marching with a stand.

I'm going to stick to my guns of scouting until I find what I'm looking for. I will say, I'm always ready to post up, at least on the ground, when I'm scouting if the sign is right. Checking edges is fine to confirm if a buck is using the area when you have it pretty nailed down, but most of what I'm doing is more invasive. For that reason, I'm thinking in most cases I'm buggering the area so might as well hunt it then. I checked an area I scouted into and sat last week yesterday evening, and it had gone cold, whereas last week I was on deer.

For me this is about layering intel and getting a better understanding of my areas that is more likely to help me next year than this year. I have honed in on a few good looking spots for rut sits though. Targeting a predicted east wind next week for a sit at a post I checked out two weeks ago.
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby Bowhunter4life » Fri Oct 19, 2018 12:31 pm

So I haven’t gotten to read this thread but it is right up my alley. In season scouting is all I do. I stay on top of the deer and don’t go to spots hoping that I picked a right bedding area to hunt. I’ve done that in the past and I just didn’t see the results I wanted. Now I will literally walk the entire evening up to dark if I don’t find what I’m looking for. There has to be something fresh there telling me to set up there. Find the sign and relate it to bedding or guess at bedding if I have too. Could be any stitch of sign but there has to be something. It’s where the post season scouting comes into play, so I can relate the fresh sign to bedding i previously scouted.

I stay on top of the deer. I’m continuously scouting and reading sign. No doubt my style is very aggressive but I learn so much by doing this. It has paid off for me and sure I’ve blow areas up and never saw the buck return, tho I’m sure at some point he did. For me I hunt public so if I blow up and area and it doesn’t pan out I move on to the next. Not everyone can do that. Smaller pieces and such may not be the best way to go about it. Every situation is different and what works for one of us may not the other but I definitely believe in season scouting will definitely help out any hunters who are struggling to get on the deer.
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby MN_DeerHunter » Sat Oct 20, 2018 3:13 am

Bowhunter4life wrote:So I haven’t gotten to read this thread but it is right up my alley. In season scouting is all I do. I stay on top of the deer and don’t go to spots hoping that I picked a right bedding area to hunt. I’ve done that in the past and I just didn’t see the results I wanted. Now I will literally walk the entire evening up to dark if I don’t find what I’m looking for. There has to be something fresh there telling me to set up there. Find the sign and relate it to bedding or guess at bedding if I have too. Could be any stitch of sign but there has to be something. It’s where the post season scouting comes into play, so I can relate the fresh sign to bedding i previously scouted.

I stay on top of the deer. I’m continuously scouting and reading sign. No doubt my style is very aggressive but I learn so much by doing this. It has paid off for me and sure I’ve blow areas up and never saw the buck return, tho I’m sure at some point he did. For me I hunt public so if I blow up and area and it doesn’t pan out I move on to the next. Not everyone can do that. Smaller pieces and such may not be the best way to go about it. Every situation is different and what works for one of us may not the other but I definitely believe in season scouting will definitely help out any hunters who are struggling to get on the deer.


Question for you...Say you go to a property that you have history with or know from trail cameras that good bucks use the area at some point during the year. If you scout and cannot find the sign you want are you writing that property off for a week or two weeks and then coming back to check it again?

How often are you returning to the same spots or transitions to check for sign that a buck has moved in recently and is now bedding in the area? Or do you just forget it for the season and move on to the next property?
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby Bowhunter4life » Sat Oct 20, 2018 5:20 am

MN_DeerHunter wrote:
Bowhunter4life wrote:So I haven’t gotten to read this thread but it is right up my alley. In season scouting is all I do. I stay on top of the deer and don’t go to spots hoping that I picked a right bedding area to hunt. I’ve done that in the past and I just didn’t see the results I wanted. Now I will literally walk the entire evening up to dark if I don’t find what I’m looking for. There has to be something fresh there telling me to set up there. Find the sign and relate it to bedding or guess at bedding if I have too. Could be any stitch of sign but there has to be something. It’s where the post season scouting comes into play, so I can relate the fresh sign to bedding i previously scouted.

I stay on top of the deer. I’m continuously scouting and reading sign. No doubt my style is very aggressive but I learn so much by doing this. It has paid off for me and sure I’ve blow areas up and never saw the buck return, tho I’m sure at some point he did. For me I hunt public so if I blow up and area and it doesn’t pan out I move on to the next. Not everyone can do that. Smaller pieces and such may not be the best way to go about it. Every situation is different and what works for one of us may not the other but I definitely believe in season scouting will definitely help out any hunters who are struggling to get on the deer.


Question for you...Say you go to a property that you have history with or know from trail cameras that good bucks use the area at some point during the year. If you scout and cannot find the sign you want are you writing that property off for a week or two weeks and then coming back to check it again?

How often are you returning to the same spots or transitions to check for sign that a buck has moved in recently and is now bedding in the area? Or do you just forget it for the season and move on to the next property?


Well this kinda depends on what else I’m running into when I’m scouting the other properties or areas for that matter. Have a situation here in Missouri this year and I’ve really been looking hard for a specific buck. In that case I’m making pretty regular scouts through that section. I ran some cameras around there in the summer and have done a lot of track checking well outside of the bedding area I know that buck has used the past two years. I haven’t found anything but also have not given completely up on him either. Just earlier this week I made a pass through there looking at sign and trying to find his tracks. He has a very large track so pretty easy to spot if he is in that area which he was not. So if I’m chasing a specific buck and have some history or intel on him about when he uses an area, I’ll slip through there say once or twice a week if I know I can read sign outside of the bedding and get on him. If I have to be more intrusive I may slip through once every other week so it is certainly situational.

Best way for me to answer that is to say if I know there is a great deer that I want to take and he uses a certain area at a specific time then I’m in there checking on things pretty often. Looking for sign to open up from that deer. If it is just a area I know bucks use during a certain time but I don’t have a specific animal I’m trying to take then I’ll make my pass through and if nothing, I’m on to the next area. For me I have a decent amount of public around I can hit and with limited time to hunt, I may never come back through the same twice in a season while hunting anyways. Check a lot of stuff out post season.

My thoughts are if you can check the sign outside of the bedding without getting right on top of the deer, then you can check that area out several times and really not hurt much as long as when you do find the fresh hot sign your ready to hunt it right then and there.
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby Rob loper » Wed Oct 24, 2018 9:22 am

Scouted outside of two different bedding areas today
Was really excited on the one spot where i see a prety nice buck is using a corner off some bedding with some white oaks. Gonna have too sneak up real close too the bedding too cut him off
It’s obvious Whats going on and im really finding in season scouting is key.
Then i hit this other small swampy bowl i found loaded with bedding this past post season
It is just off the road and really close too a parking lot.
Deer have hearing, sight, and scent advantage in this spot
the bedding is the lowest spot in this corner so its probably like an eddy before darm and thermals suck right down into it like a drain pie in a sink.
I walked thelong way around and just down the path i found some brand new trail markers going into or torwards the bedding area.
The trail is just totaly wrong for any west wind. Its like the hunter invested in scent control clothing or products and now totaly disregards the wind. Lmao. They must.

I was disappointed but then thought the bucks are probably still bedding here and are just keeping tabs on the corner and parking area and when they smell or hear something
They must just exit out theother side and totaly skirt the hunter who is in there.
The reason i say this is i looked on the east side of this bedding area and there are huge scrapes And some really nice rubs
So im thinking of throwing a sit at it this werk on a north west wind. Maybe even walking in the way the other hunters walk in then sneak all the way around in a huge circle and set up on the eadtern side where all the scrapes are. Almost like having thedeer smell me to the west help me get them too come out on the east side where all the scrapes and rubs are. We shall see
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby pewpewpew » Tue Oct 30, 2018 12:24 pm

Bud TN wrote:
Ghost Pointer wrote:Just read 9 pages of great posts.... :shifty: one question that I have is what time of day are you all doing your in season scouting? I would love to hear how some of you go through a given day? Are you staying in the woods all day? Hunting mornings, leaving, & heading back in early afternoon knowing you will be scouting some different spots? Not hunting mornings & heading in to scout midday, finding sign, hanging a stand, & sitting for 5,6,7 hours? How long would you all say you average sitting on stand?


For YEARS I had a horrible habit of just sitting in one stand ALL day long from 1.5hrs before daylight to an 1hr after dark. I would move stand locations from day to day, but I would still sit there all day :angry-banghead: . I had always just rationalized it by telling myself it was necessary for my area since the deer density is very low (WRONG). It never occurred to me until years later that I was completely backwards. Because of the low density, I really needed to move MORE because they had such a massive home range to cover in order to find food and to find “the girls”. So over the last 6-8 years, I have started doing more in-season scouting and have had much better success as a result.

My all day sits USED to focus more around the end of October/November time. But i find myself doing more mid-day scouting as of the past couple years due to having good success from it. For instance, sit on stand till 9-11am, scout during belly time, then sit from 2-4pm till dark. The thing I keep in mind is "You can't kill them, if you're not in the woods" so I never leave the woods until i'm going home for the day.

Early season I will do some morning sits here or there if I know exactly where I’m going and I am confident that I won’t spook deer. In a low density area i rarely spook deer (i spook more bear and hogs).
Late season I’ll admit that I still struggle with how to manage hunting times. I do a mixture of morning, all day and evening hunts (I go whenever I have time to go really).
Late season I have always heard folk talk about hunting the food. In a big woods - mountainous area, I struggle with finding "the food". This is where I need to take a dose of my own medicine and really focus on the mobile aspect and still hunt more.
I myself am still learning and I’m going to try a lot of new things this season as result of my own history, this forum and Dan's videos.
I am going to scout in-season more, use my new found beast skills and be more aggressive this fall.

If I don’t kill anything, fine, at least I’ll learn something. If I do get one , GREAT! But, I’ll still learn something. So, why not just try!?!? That’s my plan anyways :D :lol:


I’m also hunting low-density mountains. I’d love to hear more about what kind of sign you’ve found most helpful.

The only thing that gets me excited is piles of poop in thick cover. Everything else, I assume it’s night sign.

With low density, you really can’t count on deer observations to give you a good picture. Seeing 2 deer a day is a days good hunt for me.
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby headgear » Tue Oct 30, 2018 1:03 pm

Bowhunter4life wrote:So I haven’t gotten to read this thread but it is right up my alley. In season scouting is all I do. I stay on top of the deer and don’t go to spots hoping that I picked a right bedding area to hunt. I’ve done that in the past and I just didn’t see the results I wanted. Now I will literally walk the entire evening up to dark if I don’t find what I’m looking for. There has to be something fresh there telling me to set up there. Find the sign and relate it to bedding or guess at bedding if I have too. Could be any stitch of sign but there has to be something. It’s where the post season scouting comes into play, so I can relate the fresh sign to bedding i previously scouted.

I stay on top of the deer. I’m continuously scouting and reading sign. No doubt my style is very aggressive but I learn so much by doing this. It has paid off for me and sure I’ve blow areas up and never saw the buck return, tho I’m sure at some point he did. For me I hunt public so if I blow up and area and it doesn’t pan out I move on to the next. Not everyone can do that. Smaller pieces and such may not be the best way to go about it. Every situation is different and what works for one of us may not the other but I definitely believe in season scouting will definitely help out any hunters who are struggling to get on the deer.


Good stuff right here B4life, been trying to do the same and it has been a real eye opener. Like magic said in his bigwoods/tracking podcast, its kind of shocking how few big bucks are out there so you really need to be on them to have a chance. I still ended up hunting a fair amount this year on average sign but spent more than a few nights walking until dark and then back to the truck and honestly it felt great, wasn't the least bit worried about missing out on anything. Having a reason to setup on a spot makes a lot more sense to me and with all the kids in school this year I put on a lot more miles. This past weekend I scouted a ton and even blew through some bedding areas only to find they were all empty and the sign was old or non existent. What I am finding is more overlooked stuff that really has the light bulb turning on. Some areas I know are holding bucks but I know I am missing some other key bedding in these area, it will take some time but I will find them.
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby pewpewpew » Tue Oct 30, 2018 9:34 pm

AWESOME THREAD!

I’m guilty of looking at the wind direction and throwing a dart at the map for a stand location, regardless of sign. I rotate stand locations pretty aimlessly, hoping for intel. I do scout on my way to the tree.

I’m also paranoid of stand access routes and ground scent, so I’ve tended not to putz around the woods looking for sign.

I do spend a great deal of time spring scouting. There is almost no ag where I hunt, so I feel that the spring sign might hold a little more value.

Ticks, 90% humidity, and briar up my eyeballs, keep me out of the woods May—September. I’ll throw up a trail camera in the summer, which often just gets consumed with vines, if I don’t place it correctly.

A few questions:

Guys scouting with a stand on your back, a what speed are you moving? How far are you normally covering? How cautious are you about noise?

I’ve always heard the saying “Don’t chase sign” or “Don’t be a sign hunter”, especially referring to sign that was mostly made at night. How do you distinguish night sign from shooting light sign? Proximity to bedding? I find so many rubs, they don’t hold much value to me.

About food sources, OUTSIDE of ag, what food sources do you come across that really get you excited? Oaks are so prevelant, that I don’t even consider them. I do find honey locusts and persimmons, but I don’t know how much they really affect deer movement. I tend to hunt in areas choked with honey suckle.

As far as tracks and deer trails. The only ground I find rutted with tracks is made at night, on access trails. With low deer population, I rarely find a exit/entry trail to bedding that looks beat down.
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby NYBackcountry » Wed Oct 31, 2018 1:34 am

pewpewpew wrote:AWESOME THREAD!

I’m guilty of looking at the wind direction and throwing a dart at the map for a stand location, regardless of sign. I rotate stand locations pretty aimlessly, hoping for intel. I do scout on my way to the tree.

I’m also paranoid of stand access routes and ground scent, so I’ve tended not to putz around the woods looking for sign.

I do spend a great deal of time spring scouting. There is almost no ag where I hunt, so I feel that the spring sign might hold a little more value.

Ticks, 90% humidity, and briar up my eyeballs, keep me out of the woods May—September. I’ll throw up a trail camera in the summer, which often just gets consumed with vines, if I don’t place it correctly.

A few questions:

Guys scouting with a stand on your back, a what speed are you moving? How far are you normally covering? How cautious are you about noise?

I’ve always heard the saying “Don’t chase sign” or “Don’t be a sign hunter”, especially referring to sign that was mostly made at night. How do you distinguish night sign from shooting light sign? Proximity to bedding? I find so many rubs, they don’t hold much value to me.

About food sources, OUTSIDE of ag, what food sources do you come across that really get you excited? Oaks are so prevelant, that I don’t even consider them. I do find honey locusts and persimmons, but I don’t know how much they really affect deer movement. I tend to hunt in areas choked with honey suckle.

As far as tracks and deer trails. The only ground I find rutted with tracks is made at night, on access trails. With low deer population, I rarely find a exit/entry trail to bedding that looks beat down.



Great questions, your first question I have been pondering quite a bit and focusing on lately. What I have been trying to do when scouting with my stand is to avoid "still hunting", sometimes I notice myself moving at such a slow pace i'm almost not even scouting anymore. One thing I've done to combat that is plan a rough route before hand. In my mind, the last thing I want to do is move around the woods as if I'm actively hunting while I have my stand on my back. My goal is to check areas close to suspected bedding or to look for new bedding, and in order for me to do that I need to move at a decent pace. Keep in mind this all depends on where I am, some areas its a quick walk, the parcel isnt large enough to move quickly. If I am up north in bigger woods, I've covered 3-5 miles or more in a days time. I try to be as quiet as I can without notifying every deer in the woods i'm there. I think sound travels less distance than we think, especially when foliage is still up. An example, if I am scouting looking for sign that a leeward ridge or point is being used, I'm scouting it downwind, and just trying to stay out of sight, basically looking at areas that look like funnels or "entrances" to the ridge ideally I find decent tracks, if that makes sense.

Your second question, I still struggle with. I think you made a good point regarding scat in thick cover. In general the only way I distinguish night sign in my own mind, which may be wrong, is proximity to cover. The further from cover, the less likely I think a decent buck is going to hit it during the day. I struggle with the whole rub thing, I also find a decent amount in certain areas but the part i struggle with is how often is a buck hitting one single tree if it's not right in his bedding area? Scrapes are a different story, I love early season scrapes near cover. With a combination of no pressure ad good cover nearby I see lots of action on them early.

As far as food, I hunt some places where Oaks are rare and some where you cant even walk without breaking your ankles from all the acorns. In the areas where oaks are plentiful, I like apple trees.
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby pewpewpew » Wed Oct 31, 2018 12:03 pm

elk yinzer wrote:Haven't read this one yet, going to go back when I have time, but I think in delving into the Beast way of hunting, I became overly paranoid about scent and burning out areas.

I sort of took the first sit theory as gospel, and last year it resulted in my inseason scouting to decrease dramatically. I did a lot of scouting with my stand on my back, but I didn't feel that was as productive as a careful Sunday stroll simply because I couldn't cover enough ground to really pick an area apart.

I still feel I need that scouting besides hang and hunt.

I won't crash into known bedding, I'll stay on the periphery and try to avoid wind bumping.

A lot of times, it's areas I scouted last offseason and noted some good sign, and then I want to go back and confirm that buck survived and the same indicators are showing up.

Or I may have a hunch a certain buck is hanging out in an area I don't really know, and I need to go learn it.

Maybe an area I need to confirm acorn production, or check progress of a cut area, a lot of scouting for food in big woods.

Some other things like doe bedding and scrapes, that tends to be more predictable.

Plus, Sundays in the fall are just made for scouting (we can't hunt Sundays in PA...yet).


I believe you are into saddle hunting this year? Do you think it will be an advantage for run and gun, based on in season scouting?
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Re: In-season scouting

Unread postby elk yinzer » Wed Oct 31, 2018 2:02 pm

pewpewpew wrote:
elk yinzer wrote:Haven't read this one yet, going to go back when I have time, but I think in delving into the Beast way of hunting, I became overly paranoid about scent and burning out areas.

I sort of took the first sit theory as gospel, and last year it resulted in my inseason scouting to decrease dramatically. I did a lot of scouting with my stand on my back, but I didn't feel that was as productive as a careful Sunday stroll simply because I couldn't cover enough ground to really pick an area apart.

I still feel I need that scouting besides hang and hunt.

I won't crash into known bedding, I'll stay on the periphery and try to avoid wind bumping.

A lot of times, it's areas I scouted last offseason and noted some good sign, and then I want to go back and confirm that buck survived and the same indicators are showing up.

Or I may have a hunch a certain buck is hanging out in an area I don't really know, and I need to go learn it.

Maybe an area I need to confirm acorn production, or check progress of a cut area, a lot of scouting for food in big woods.

Some other things like doe bedding and scrapes, that tends to be more predictable.

Plus, Sundays in the fall are just made for scouting (we can't hunt Sundays in PA...yet).


I believe you are into saddle hunting this year? Do you think it will be an advantage for run and gun, based on in season scouting?



The saddle packs up more compact and I carry it in a very nice (expensive) backpack, so if anything it makes hiking in deep a little more pleasant. It carries through brush easier.

It ain't all unicorns and rainbows but it's a nice system once you nail down all the moving parts. I don't take the ounce counting approach but I have a system down that is really functional and better than carrying a treestand.

Once you hang and hunt with a treestand the process is 95% the same and it is a natural transition to try a saddle. Going from climber to hang and hunt last year was a harder transition for me.
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