Unread postby DaveT1963 » Tue Oct 08, 2019 5:47 am
My opinion, not that it counts for much:
1) - there is no right answer that works everywhere. Some areas and times are more conducive to scouting during the day and setting up on fresh sign. Others not so much.
2) there are many forms of scouting - boots on ground, aerial photos, cameras, observation sits, etc....
3) You have to be willing to blow it. I pushed my luck yesterday. Had a great gusty NE wind so I tried to move in close to a know bedding area. Got busted by some does on the fringe and they took the buck with them. It happens. Success can be a few mere yards more as Dan always says; but so can failure - you have to be able to smile and say you got me this time - then store it away in the noggin for another location or day.
4) Use weather to assist. Rain, fog and wind can be an asset - use it.
5) It Always works better for me the better I know an area. If you skip post season scouting to find beds, rut activity, food sources, don't expect to be able to overcome that 100% with in season scouting. You will NEVER know a piece of ground as well as a mature buck does. But the closer we come to that the better we know where we can look for "hot sign" without sending up an arrival notice.
6) Having some info is better than no info. If you are totally in the dark about a piece of property then by all means get in there and get after it. even if it means you risk not killing your buck. IMO it is far better to bust everything and get the info you need then to blindly hope for the best (if we are talking mature animals). If you need to go in and learn then do it, but be smart, do it once and do it thoroughly. You should walk out feeling like you found the 1-3 best tress to kill a mature buck from.
7) Do not underestimate looking at maps/photos and then making some assumptions and even guesses. It is surprising to me still that so often I can cyber scout a new piece of property, go in there and often my assumptions prove out and that is where all the sign led me. I suck at it compared to most, but it happens enough to get me doing it more consistently.
8) Humans are the only predators that feel like they need a plan rather than using their God giving abilities to hunt in the moment. we actually suck at hunting if we had to rely on our abilities rather than our tools. Learn to do both. Focus on and develop your God given abilities FIRST, then get the tools. Most hunters would be far better to focus on getting closer to their quarry rather than the current trend of a new tool to shoot further. If we are honest, most of our weaknesses are not related to the tools we have available.
9) there is no better time then to learn where pressure deer go then during season and immediately following season.
These are a few of my thoughts on in-season scouting. Hunting and scouting to me are a blurred line - to me its all hunting.... sometimes I just have a weapon in hand and a tag in my pocket. other times i am definitely thinking and planning for the times when I do.