2019 Scouting Reports

[tgreeno]

I've been out a handful of times. I've found some good looking bedding, in 3 different areas. Now most of the snow is gone and it's prime scouting conditions! I'll be out as much as I can. The high water is slowing me down a little.

[greenhorndave]

He's giving you a look like he knows you hang out with Dan...

[MN_DeerHunter]

I made it out yesterday and probably put on about 6 miles walking some public and private lands. Felt GREAT to get back out but man am I sore today! I was kicking deer left and right in the swamp and got some awesome intel for this fall

[greenhorndave]

Here's a good one...

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[MN_DeerHunter]

Put in about 8 miles walking today. Scouted three separate parcels looking for big buck sign from last year. What a bust. I found maybe two spots that looked decent and not much for good bedding at all. It’s crazy how you think a spot will be good by cyber scouting then find jack squat while actually scouting.

Back at it tomorrow

[Lockdown]

I had plans to scout tomorrow, but the water levels around here are crazy I know of roads under water yet. The other problem is supposedly the fish are biting I didn't get out much this winter and I hate to pass that up, but missing out on a partial day of scouting sucks too. Will probably make a spur of the moment decision tomorrow. I haven't done anything whitetail related since December 30th and depression is setting in

[greenhorndave]

I had plans to scout tomorrow, but the water levels around here are crazy I know of roads under water yet. The other problem is supposedly the fish are biting I didn't get out much this winter and I hate to pass that up, but missing out on a partial day of scouting sucks too. Will probably make a spur of the moment decision tomorrow. I haven't done anything whitetail related since December 30th and depression is setting in

Sounds like it's wet enough that you might as well take advantage of chasing the creatures with fins. My intel is way better around here with a little less snow and water. Long way to go before green up. you probably won't miss much by skipping a day of scouting right now.

[Jackson Marsh]

A buddy and I put on a few miles this weekend in the hills. Weather was perfect. Saturday and half day today we covered over 11 miles. Hit multiple ridges, and found some good bedding areas, a lot of scrapes and some rubs. Rub sign was kind of ho-hum, but on most of the ridges we did cut big tracks in the frozen mud, so there must be a few decent bucks around.

My buddy found a 4 point shed from a 2 yo....I forgot to take a pic.

One of the tracks.





JAB on top of the world.



JAB is getting a little long in the tooth, but he did well in the steep hills and his mind and eyes are still sharp.

[JAK]

Decided to scout some tamarack swamps this weekend. Thinking that the area i hunt nobody goes into these areas. So there for the bucks must be big right ? . Found some pretty good bedding not sure if i can get close enough to it or not to pull off a treestand sit. And on another point found some really big sign and absaloutly pounded trails. Couldnt pinpoint bedding with how wet it was but takeing a educated guess. Lots of big rubs from lastyear and older .

[MN_DeerHunter]

Did some scouting at a new property today and thought I would share some pictures as I may not get back here this fall anyways. Below is a willow/ dogwood marsh island inside a decent size cattail marsh. This is what it looks like during green phase with leaves on (summer and early fall):



Here is what it sort of looks like now. Notice along the outskirts of the edges of the trees, this is all red dogwood and smaller willows. Its sometimes hard to decipher what dogwood looks like with the summer and winter pictures but something I have gotten much better at over the last few years.



Here are the best bedding locations I found and main trails leading towards the higher ground and also out into the major portion of the cattails.



The interior of this island is so thick with dogwood and willow that I could barely crawl through it. With that, the majority of the bedding was on the edges where there were some slight openings. No oaks on this island, but there are some larger white oaks on the high ground, and tons of agricultural fields. This island is so small and thick I don't think sneaking out to it is even possible without blowing everything up. Might be a place to watch from the mainland from a distance to get a visual on something, then set up on the edge of the cattails and mainland near one of those main yellow trails. Unlikely that anything would reach the mainland in daylight though..

Here's a picture of the only confirmed buck bed I found on the island - notice all the rubs on the willow.



Something had been in here recently, notice the hair on top of the ice. I imagine that this ice froze overnight as it has been above freezing all week:

[hunter_mike]

Pulled a camera this morning after a 5 month soak. and did some good scouting in the area. Got some good pics and intel. Already have scouted this area once, feel like I have the bedding dialed in pretty well and have multiple setups picked out. Funny, I never even was able to get a hunt in back here last year. Too many places not enough time. Oh well maybe someday

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[Lockdown]

Nice work fellas! MN Deerhunter, that island looks like an opening morning of slug hunting spot

I finally hit the woods today for the first time in 3 months. Felt good!! My goal was to put some pieces together for some early season bedding at my best spot. I answered a few questions but a few more popped up so I guess we’ll call it a draw

It’s a bit frustrating figuring this spot out. It’s very random with lots of options for bedding. Satellite deer are a big issue as well as very few bullet proof set ups. Either I wind bedding getting to my set, or there are high probabilities of does and little bucks getting down wind as they head to food.

Will go back again later this spring to reassess.

[hunter_mike]

Nice work fellas! MN Deerhunter, that island looks like an opening morning of slug hunting spot

I finally hit the woods today for the first time in 3 months.Felt good!! My goal was to put some pieces together for some early season bedding at my best spot. I answered a few questions but a few more popped up so I guess we’ll call it a draw

It’s a bit frustrating figuring this spot out. It’s very random with lots of options for bedding. Satellite deer are a big issue as well as very few bullet proof set ups. Either I wind bedding getting to my set, or there are high probabilities of does and little bucks getting down wind as they head to food.

Will go back again later this spring to reassess.

I know the feeling! Life has been demanding lately. I had a good scouting trip planned for last weekend and a work emergency popped up. I have a few more trips planned for the coming weeks.

[burtle]

I'm going out Monday-Wednesday to scout a new area on public ground

I'm hoping to find some good sign and places to set up for this season

[VilasCo]

Put on a bunch of miles in northern WI the past two days. Snow cover varies from 0 to 30 inches. Travel is pretty good, but there are some soft spots out there. "Fell in" waist deep a couple of times. Only one casualty of winter was found: a very fresh coyote kill right on the road. The ice and heavy snow was actually a benefit for the deer. The fallen hemlock boughs were browsed very heavy. All the bedding found was on points looking over open areas or hunter access. Mapping trails and bedding is easy due to the snow and seeing what the deer sees from the beds could not be better. The turkeys were gobbling this morning. It feels great to be out there again.