Tips for Scouting New Land

[ChumpMcgee]

#3172

This is the first year that I am really going to be hitting the whitetail deer season hard. I have maps of the land I will be hunting. I have scouted this area once this season and have seen good sign of deer. I plan on going on there several more times scouting before deer opener but I do not want to spook the deer. How many times should I go out and scout and for how long?

I also am planning on setting up some ground blinds early so the deer can get use to the new object and will not be cautious of it come this fall. Any other tips for a newbie hunter?

[skifrk]

#17228

Be careful in your scouting in that if you find an area they use for sanctuary or bedding not to spend to much time in for they will move on since they feel less secure. Also look for travel corridors that they take for ambush spots.

[Ireland]

#17292

skifrk wrote: Be careful in your scouting in that if you find an area they use for sanctuary or bedding not to spend to much time in for they will move on since they feel less secure. Also look for travel corridors that they take for ambush spots.

Excellent advice…Once that you find a main bedding area…do every thing you can to STAY OUT. I know very successful whitetail hunters that will completely stay out of main bedding areas. They will not look for sheds, mushrooms, etc. in bedding area.

Ireland

[Robin Conrads]

#17325

Knock, knock. Housekeeping! 😀

Moving this thread to the Campfire Forum.

Carry on

[ChumpMcgee]

#17343

That is great advice! I actually did find one bedding area when I was would walking the woods a couple of weeks ago and multiple HIGHWAYS and scat around there. I was thinking about heading over there this weekend to look for sheds but stomping around would not be the best thing to do. I will be hunting on the ground and what do you think a safe distance from there bedding would be to set up a ground blind?

[Ireland]

#17481

tkohlhorst wrote: That is great advice! I actually did find one bedding area when I was would walking the woods a couple of weeks ago and multiple HIGHWAYS and scat around there. I was thinking about heading over there this weekend to look for sheds but stomping around would not be the best thing to do. I will be hunting on the ground and what do you think a safe distance from there bedding would be to set up a ground blind?

Lots of variables for a “quick answer”. 1. Is it a morning stand or evening stand? 2. How far away is a major food source? I live in Iowa and beans and corn are the major food source. 3. Is it a doe bedding area or buck bedding area? 4.Is it pre-rut, during the rut, post rut, etc. when you are hunting? Look for pinch points and bottle necks leading into the bedding area for your ground blind. Set up multiple blinds for different winds. As a general rule of thumb, you can set-up closer to a bedding area in the morning because the deer are still in the fields feeding. In the evening, you will possibly jump the deer from the bedding area if you get to close. Set up more by the food source in the evening. In the morning, I’m in my blind exactly an hour before sun-rise. Try to stay 100 yards from the bedding. I know others that won’t go within 400 yards of bedding areas. It ALL DEPENDS ON THE SIZE OF YOUR WOODS. Now to really confuse you…during the peak of the rut, I’m right next/in doe bedding areas because that is where the bucks are looking for does.

Does that help at all?

Ireland

[Brennan Herr]

#17746

I am in the same spot as well. I have some new areas I am scouting as well. I have found that now is the time to hit the woods hard and build your blinds and pick your trees for the fall now. This will cause the deer some issues but will give them the next 5 months to relax again. Plus it is easy to see the rubs and scrapes of last year. If you find an area with nice rubs and a primary scrape that will be a good spot for end of October. If it is highly pressured area then I would find a number of good ambush spots inside the bedding area and not return to the end of October. I would use them as all day spots and get in 2 hrs before shooting light. I know it sounds nuts but in the one area I hunt there is 9 other tree stands near the giant swamp I am now hunting in. I used to hunt a farm on the other side of this public land and could never figure out where the deer went in the fall. I found out that they hang out and bed in the swamp area and then move out to feed on the farm when it gets dark. Too much pressure makes even the old does nocturnal. If you hunt an area with little pressure then I would also stay out of the bedding areas. good luck, enjoy and watch out for those damn ticks…they are out in PA again.

Brennan

[Jason Wesbrock]

#17774

There’s a lot of great advice above, but there’s one major point to consider as well: what do the surrounding properties look like? If you don’t have permission to walk the neighbor’s land (and I suspect most people don’t) look at satellite photos on Google Earth and Google Maps. Driving around and scouting with binoculars from the road this time of year will help you get a feel for other habitat in your area. Unless you’re hunting a very large tract of land, your hunting property will not make up the sum of any deer’s home range. Knowing what is happening around you (agricultural fields, ponds, creeks, bedding thickets, etc.) will help you understand what’s happening on your property.

[ChumpMcgee]

#18318

I have looked at Google Maps and make down areas of interest for me. I do not have permission to go on the farmers land at this time. I doubt I will be able to get permission on the other property either since they are a Gun Club :shock:. That is a big concern for me is once the first weekend of November happens here in Minnesota, prime rut, the deer season is not open to guns. I have heard that even though the guns come out does not mean the deer are harder to get. IF they are being pushed I might even be lucky enough to have the gun hunters push them right to me. Here is hopeing. I will be heading out this weekend to get to know the land alittle better. I am hopeing that once a month till I feel comfortable with several gound blinds set up in different locations will be enough for me so get my season off to a good start. Here is hopeing

[WICanner]

#21038

Take a puff bottle with you. Note general wind direction, then note wind direction of the potential stand site, and your route into the site too. Different? A milkweed fluff w/o the seed can also tell you all sorts of stories on wind direction for a given spot. Sometimes the wind goes straight up after hitting an obstruction or the lip of a small ravine. Straight up is good! Do this stuff now before the leaves pop on the brush, which should be similar to conditions in November. Especially on a ground blind setup. Now is the time to scout, scout, scout. Turkey seasons aren’t open yet, or at least not here in WI. You should have the woods pretty much to yourself.

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