Last minute scouting questions

Discuss the science of figuring out our prey through good detective work.
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Jimimacck
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Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby Jimimacck » Thu Aug 19, 2021 1:46 am

So I got a big surprise a a few weeks back. A work friend of mine invited me to join his hunt lease with his longtime hunting buddies. I was so excited about it that I didn't ask many questions, just agreed to join as the lease wasn't too expensive and its a lot of acreage for 6 guys to hunt. That being said, the other guys tend to hunt out of box blinds and ladder stands at the top of the ridge and at the edge of the powerline clearing that runs thru. Its mostly lob lolly pine in the ridges, older hardwood in the bottoms. The final ridge of the property that was old growth oak and hardwood was clear cut logged 3 months ago, leaving dirt and weeds. I am tempted to spray down woth deet and walk as much as I can before season starts. I hung some cams at timber transition areas but only found doe. What would be your next step? And depending on what one does or doesn't find, what would be the step after that? Thanks so much everyone!


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Re: Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby SILhunter » Thu Aug 19, 2021 8:37 am

I would start with cyber scouting it, topo maps and google earth at different times of the year to see the oaks and pines. Next make a good map of the place that shows roads, trails, blinds, food plots, other stands, neighboring food sources(ag fields), and water holes. After that you should be able to see where areas are that don't see much activity and need to be looked at. If I was going into scout it I would make it a one trip deal, find the bedding, travel routes, acorns ect.., mark the trees that look good, what wind you would need to hunt them and your entry/exit routes, hang some cams if you can/want to. After that do some glassing in the evenings if possible to see where they might be coming from. Good luck.
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Re: Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby KLEMZ » Thu Aug 19, 2021 11:55 am

SILhunter wrote:I would start with cyber scouting it, topo maps and google earth at different times of the year to see the oaks and pines. Next make a good map of the place that shows roads, trails, blinds, food plots, other stands, neighboring food sources(ag fields), and water holes. After that you should be able to see where areas are that don't see much activity and need to be looked at. If I was going into scout it I would make it a one trip deal, find the bedding, travel routes, acorns ect.., mark the trees that look good, what wind you would need to hunt them and your entry/exit routes, hang some cams if you can/want to. After that do some glassing in the evenings if possible to see where they might be coming from. Good luck.


Good advice SILhunter!
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Re: Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby Jimimacck » Thu Aug 19, 2021 12:38 pm

AWESOME! Thanks SILhunter.
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Re: Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby SILhunter » Fri Aug 20, 2021 3:01 am

Let us know what you find and how the season plays out, good luck
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Re: Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby Rich M » Fri Aug 20, 2021 5:50 am

I'm in the cover as much ground as you can camp.

Those guys are gonna shoot some nice deer out of those tower stands and permanent stands. I was on a lease in GA - the lease holder had stands in 6 spots on 500+ acres. Those stands gave up 95% of the mature bucks shot on the property. My stand gave the other 5%. It was tough to be the one doing the shooting tho - guy would be in the stand as soon as any bucks showed. tugh noogies pretty much for me. RUT was diff and more bucks wandering but mostly 2.5-3.5 yr olds.

What I'd do is see where everyone else has a stand and make sure i didn't get too close.

Then I'd walk the roads and look for the heavier crossing areas. Once you know where those are, you'll be in the game. That's when you can strategize or whatever you want to call it. That'll get you on some deer.
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Re: Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby Jimimacck » Thu Aug 26, 2021 3:44 am

Rich M wrote:I'm in the cover as much ground as you can camp.

Those guys are gonna shoot some nice deer out of those tower stands and permanent stands. I was on a lease in GA - the lease holder had stands in 6 spots on 500+ acres. Those stands gave up 95% of the mature bucks shot on the property. My stand gave the other 5%. It was tough to be the one doing the shooting tho - guy would be in the stand as soon as any bucks showed. tugh noogies pretty much for me. RUT was diff and more bucks wandering but mostly 2.5-3.5 yr olds.

What I'd do is see where everyone else has a stand and make sure i didn't get too close.

Then I'd walk the roads and look for the heavier crossing areas. Once you know where those are, you'll be in the game. That's when you can strategize or whatever you want to call it. That'll get you on some deer.




Would you mind elaborating on "It was tough to be the one doing the shooting tho - guy would be in the stand as soon as any bucks showed. tugh noogies pretty much for me" as this might enlighten me some more about how to hunt this lease
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Re: Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby szwampdonkey » Thu Aug 26, 2021 4:55 am

Stay way from the permanent stands, find a few spots close to bedding, and hunt there. Id not walk the whole property i’d only go to the spots i thought looked promising on the maps that i’d actually be hunting when the season opens.

That’s all i’d do being a new guy to a lease with limited opportunity to scout.
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Re: Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby Rich M » Fri Aug 27, 2021 1:01 am

Jimimacck wrote:
Rich M wrote:I'm in the cover as much ground as you can camp.

Those guys are gonna shoot some nice deer out of those tower stands and permanent stands. I was on a lease in GA - the lease holder had stands in 6 spots on 500+ acres. Those stands gave up 95% of the mature bucks shot on the property. My stand gave the other 5%. It was tough to be the one doing the shooting tho - guy would be in the stand as soon as any bucks showed. tugh noogies pretty much for me. RUT was diff and more bucks wandering but mostly 2.5-3.5 yr olds.

What I'd do is see where everyone else has a stand and make sure i didn't get too close.

Then I'd walk the roads and look for the heavier crossing areas. Once you know where those are, you'll be in the game. That's when you can strategize or whatever you want to call it. That'll get you on some deer.




Would you mind elaborating on "It was tough to be the one doing the shooting tho - guy would be in the stand as soon as any bucks showed. tugh noogies pretty much for me" as this might enlighten me some more about how to hunt this lease




What happens is that the lease holders an original lease/old friends/family members usually feel entitled - especially if they are local and live close. In my case, this guy lived 3 miles from the lease.

I lived 6 hours from the lease and hunted 3 or 4 weekends per year. Asked that they leave a stand alone so I'd have a fresh stand when would show up for the rut hunts. He ran cams and would shoot the mature/larger bucks as soon as they showed on camera.

I quit due to the cost (lease + travel + lodging + license cost more than an out west adventure hunt) and that his kid started hunting alone. They rearranged "my stand" for the kid to hunt out of. Went from seeing lots of bucks (sometimes 20 or more - lotsa 1.5 and 2.5 year deer in a weekend) to seeing 3 this past season (I shot 4 does and my dad shot a small 4 pt last year). He had also told me that I couldn't come up opening weekend last year cause he, his buddy, and his kid would be hunting and he didn't want too much pressure. His lease, his prerogative. It was time to go.

Thing is that I been on say 6 leases and all were like this in one way shape or form. Lots of guys get real competitive and do stupid stuff to other folks in order to kill a buck.

All I ever wanted was to be able to hunt 1 stand that no-one else hunted, see a few deer and shoot a couple.


Here's what I'd do - find the road and trail crossings to get on deer quickly - use beast techniques to find the bedding areas from there. Run a few cams and set up trees to hunt out of and stay mobile. Keep your findings to yourself - anyone asks, you'll have a few pics of small 4 point or 6 - show em those. You tell these guys you are on a nice buck and someone will shoot it for you.

Hope your experience is totally diff than mine have been.
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Re: Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby szwampdonkey » Fri Aug 27, 2021 2:01 am

Rich M wrote:
Jimimacck wrote:
Rich M wrote:I'm in the cover as much ground as you can camp.

Those guys are gonna shoot some nice deer out of those tower stands and permanent stands. I was on a lease in GA - the lease holder had stands in 6 spots on 500+ acres. Those stands gave up 95% of the mature bucks shot on the property. My stand gave the other 5%. It was tough to be the one doing the shooting tho - guy would be in the stand as soon as any bucks showed. tugh noogies pretty much for me. RUT was diff and more bucks wandering but mostly 2.5-3.5 yr olds.

What I'd do is see where everyone else has a stand and make sure i didn't get too close.

Then I'd walk the roads and look for the heavier crossing areas. Once you know where those are, you'll be in the game. That's when you can strategize or whatever you want to call it. That'll get you on some deer.




Would you mind elaborating on "It was tough to be the one doing the shooting tho - guy would be in the stand as soon as any bucks showed. tugh noogies pretty much for me" as this might enlighten me some more about how to hunt this lease




What happens is that the lease holders an original lease/old friends/family members usually feel entitled - especially if they are local and live close. In my case, this guy lived 3 miles from the lease.

I lived 6 hours from the lease and hunted 3 or 4 weekends per year. Asked that they leave a stand alone so I'd have a fresh stand when would show up for the rut hunts. He ran cams and would shoot the mature/larger bucks as soon as they showed on camera.

I quit due to the cost (lease + travel + lodging + license cost more than an out west adventure hunt) and that his kid started hunting alone. They rearranged "my stand" for the kid to hunt out of. Went from seeing lots of bucks (sometimes 20 or more - lotsa 1.5 and 2.5 year deer in a weekend) to seeing 3 this past season (I shot 4 does and my dad shot a small 4 pt last year). He had also told me that I couldn't come up opening weekend last year cause he, his buddy, and his kid would be hunting and he didn't want too much pressure. His lease, his prerogative. It was time to go.

Thing is that I been on say 6 leases and all were like this in one way shape or form. Lots of guys get real competitive and do stupid stuff to other folks in order to kill a buck.

All I ever wanted was to be able to hunt 1 stand that no-one else hunted, see a few deer and shoot a couple.


Here's what I'd do - find the road and trail crossings to get on deer quickly - use beast techniques to find the bedding areas from there. Run a few cams and set up trees to hunt out of and stay mobile. Keep your findings to yourself - anyone asks, you'll have a few pics of small 4 point or 6 - show em those. You tell these guys you are on a nice buck and someone will shoot it for you.

Hope your experience is totally diff than mine have been.


Public land sounds much more preferable to that scenario you painted. And it’s free and close to home.
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Re: Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby Rich M » Sat Aug 28, 2021 2:59 am

szwampdonkey wrote:
Rich M wrote:
Jimimacck wrote:
Rich M wrote:I'm in the cover as much ground as you can camp.

Those guys are gonna shoot some nice deer out of those tower stands and permanent stands. I was on a lease in GA - the lease holder had stands in 6 spots on 500+ acres. Those stands gave up 95% of the mature bucks shot on the property. My stand gave the other 5%. It was tough to be the one doing the shooting tho - guy would be in the stand as soon as any bucks showed. tugh noogies pretty much for me. RUT was diff and more bucks wandering but mostly 2.5-3.5 yr olds.

What I'd do is see where everyone else has a stand and make sure i didn't get too close.

Then I'd walk the roads and look for the heavier crossing areas. Once you know where those are, you'll be in the game. That's when you can strategize or whatever you want to call it. That'll get you on some deer.




Would you mind elaborating on "It was tough to be the one doing the shooting tho - guy would be in the stand as soon as any bucks showed. tugh noogies pretty much for me" as this might enlighten me some more about how to hunt this lease




What happens is that the lease holders an original lease/old friends/family members usually feel entitled - especially if they are local and live close. In my case, this guy lived 3 miles from the lease.

I lived 6 hours from the lease and hunted 3 or 4 weekends per year. Asked that they leave a stand alone so I'd have a fresh stand when would show up for the rut hunts. He ran cams and would shoot the mature/larger bucks as soon as they showed on camera.

I quit due to the cost (lease + travel + lodging + license cost more than an out west adventure hunt) and that his kid started hunting alone. They rearranged "my stand" for the kid to hunt out of. Went from seeing lots of bucks (sometimes 20 or more - lotsa 1.5 and 2.5 year deer in a weekend) to seeing 3 this past season (I shot 4 does and my dad shot a small 4 pt last year). He had also told me that I couldn't come up opening weekend last year cause he, his buddy, and his kid would be hunting and he didn't want too much pressure. His lease, his prerogative. It was time to go.

Thing is that I been on say 6 leases and all were like this in one way shape or form. Lots of guys get real competitive and do stupid stuff to other folks in order to kill a buck.

All I ever wanted was to be able to hunt 1 stand that no-one else hunted, see a few deer and shoot a couple.


Here's what I'd do - find the road and trail crossings to get on deer quickly - use beast techniques to find the bedding areas from there. Run a few cams and set up trees to hunt out of and stay mobile. Keep your findings to yourself - anyone asks, you'll have a few pics of small 4 point or 6 - show em those. You tell these guys you are on a nice buck and someone will shoot it for you.

Hope your experience is totally diff than mine have been.


Public land sounds much more preferable to that scenario you painted. And it’s free and close to home.



It all depends - we need quota permits for much of the hunting around me. I can hunt a WMA an hour from home for 3-5 days about every 3 years per weapon - archery, ML, rifle. Otherwise I'm driving 2-2.5 hrs each way to hunt an area that requires no permit. FL is lacking like that. This year I have all 3 permits and need to turn one or two back to be able to hunt next year.

So - one hunt on free land = 4-5 hrs of driving (there & back), that's about a drive up to GA and I was seeing 10+ deer per trip to GA vs maybe seeing a deer or two w more effort in FL.

When I lived up north we had many places we would hunt public, mostly without a permit being required. Different world.
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Re: Last minute scouting questions

Unread postby szwampdonkey » Sat Aug 28, 2021 6:56 am

Rich M wrote:
szwampdonkey wrote:
Rich M wrote:
Jimimacck wrote:
Rich M wrote:I'm in the cover as much ground as you can camp.

Those guys are gonna shoot some nice deer out of those tower stands and permanent stands. I was on a lease in GA - the lease holder had stands in 6 spots on 500+ acres. Those stands gave up 95% of the mature bucks shot on the property. My stand gave the other 5%. It was tough to be the one doing the shooting tho - guy would be in the stand as soon as any bucks showed. tugh noogies pretty much for me. RUT was diff and more bucks wandering but mostly 2.5-3.5 yr olds.

What I'd do is see where everyone else has a stand and make sure i didn't get too close.

Then I'd walk the roads and look for the heavier crossing areas. Once you know where those are, you'll be in the game. That's when you can strategize or whatever you want to call it. That'll get you on some deer.




Would you mind elaborating on "It was tough to be the one doing the shooting tho - guy would be in the stand as soon as any bucks showed. tugh noogies pretty much for me" as this might enlighten me some more about how to hunt this lease




What happens is that the lease holders an original lease/old friends/family members usually feel entitled - especially if they are local and live close. In my case, this guy lived 3 miles from the lease.

I lived 6 hours from the lease and hunted 3 or 4 weekends per year. Asked that they leave a stand alone so I'd have a fresh stand when would show up for the rut hunts. He ran cams and would shoot the mature/larger bucks as soon as they showed on camera.

I quit due to the cost (lease + travel + lodging + license cost more than an out west adventure hunt) and that his kid started hunting alone. They rearranged "my stand" for the kid to hunt out of. Went from seeing lots of bucks (sometimes 20 or more - lotsa 1.5 and 2.5 year deer in a weekend) to seeing 3 this past season (I shot 4 does and my dad shot a small 4 pt last year). He had also told me that I couldn't come up opening weekend last year cause he, his buddy, and his kid would be hunting and he didn't want too much pressure. His lease, his prerogative. It was time to go.

Thing is that I been on say 6 leases and all were like this in one way shape or form. Lots of guys get real competitive and do stupid stuff to other folks in order to kill a buck.

All I ever wanted was to be able to hunt 1 stand that no-one else hunted, see a few deer and shoot a couple.


Here's what I'd do - find the road and trail crossings to get on deer quickly - use beast techniques to find the bedding areas from there. Run a few cams and set up trees to hunt out of and stay mobile. Keep your findings to yourself - anyone asks, you'll have a few pics of small 4 point or 6 - show em those. You tell these guys you are on a nice buck and someone will shoot it for you.

Hope your experience is totally diff than mine have been.


Public land sounds much more preferable to that scenario you painted. And it’s free and close to home.



It all depends - we need quota permits for much of the hunting around me. I can hunt a WMA an hour from home for 3-5 days about every 3 years per weapon - archery, ML, rifle. Otherwise I'm driving 2-2.5 hrs each way to hunt an area that requires no permit. FL is lacking like that. This year I have all 3 permits and need to turn one or two back to be able to hunt next year.

So - one hunt on free land = 4-5 hrs of driving (there & back), that's about a drive up to GA and I was seeing 10+ deer per trip to GA vs maybe seeing a deer or two w more effort in FL.

When I lived up north we had many places we would hunt public, mostly without a permit being required. Different world.


Man I love Wisconsin


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