ma_hunter

I have a question for the group, maybe I could get some understanding of what I am missing. The situation is I have an area I have been scouting every 5 days or so for the last 6 weeks, now the area has an apple orchard and corn fields, as well as a number of creeks and a pond. I have seen deer track, and scat, and can roughly assume where they are travelling. The question is concerning the fact I have yet to see a deer. I have been there at dawn and dusk, pre-dawn and middle of the day and have not seen a single deer, fawn,doe or buck. So I am questioning whether this spot will yield anything. Part of the issue is with the water and private lands I only have one way into this location. If I set up a stand early and wait, should I expect to see something?

ostdc

Right on....get in as quietly as possible and sit and wait!
-ost

trapperDave

I personally think you're spending too much time in there before season, lay low for awhile, hunt it only when the wind is perfect for seaking in and be patient, they will come. Try to be on stand a good hour before first light and when hunting PM get in there around 1 or 2 when the deer are most likely bedded.Good luck

MOSSY_HORN

This is a problem I used to have when I first got serious about deer hunting. You can't just go find a bunch of tracks and scat (your term, not mine!) and set up shop. You are concentrating on where the deer were at in the past, not where they are when you hunt. This may be a an oversimplification but hunt them where they ARE, not where they've been. Don't get too hung up on tracks. They only tell you where deer have been. For all you know, they may have been made at night. Don't get me wrong, tracks are helpful in understanding how deer have moved through an area. But there is more to picking an ambush site then finding tracks.


Hunt hard or go home !

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IrishLad32

Are there any rubs in the area? Where are the food sources and where do they go to water? I agree with Mossy Horn in that tracks tell where the deer were, but I disagree in their usefulness in scouting. If you find an area with both old and new tracks, that tells me the deer frequent the area. If they're old, the deer may not be using the area at the present. If they're new, they might just be passing through. However, if there are old and new, that shows they're there often. If you find a spot along one of the creeks/ponds with a mass of old and new tracks, you can count on the deer being there. Deer, like people, are creatures of habit. Eventhough there are a plethera of places to go drink, they tend to use the same areas. Yesterday and the day before I was out stumping on some public land. The first day I saw a number of tracks; some fresh, some not. The second day I saw a lot of tracks that weren't there the day before. That tells me that deer frequent the area. My suspicions were confirmed when I rounded a corner and saw a deer running away. Find the trails and the funnels if you can. Try to find an aerial photo of where you hunt, if you haven't already. Find the lines and check them out; deer like edges. It may also tell you something about the land you don't already know. Hunt where the deer are going to be and what they have to do to get there. Are the deer going to the apple orchard to eat or the corn fields? Find where they enter the orchard/field and try to put the puzzle together. If you can find where the deer are going to, you can find which way they go to get there, then you can follow that to where they came from. If you eventualy jump a deer, find out what it was doing and not the direction it ran off to. Referencing the direction they ran to with a map of your area might tell you something you're missing. Finally, if I make no sense at all, sorry for rambling <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

God bless,
Brandan

ma_hunter

I guess I have thought about this with regard to some of the answers, I have gotten. And I guess what I wonder is when you all scout do you walk through the area or just go in sit down and watch from a distance. I am walking through since I figured the deer would forget about me in a couple of weeks, and it is only way to follow the track that in there. From most folks response I guess I am being too invasive in my inverstigation, thank you for the feedback.

Tazman

ma_hunter some good advice given so far, but maybe I can give my two cents worth, when I scout I try to be as noninvasive as possible and try to do my scouting and stands well before season. I look at the overall lay of the land, looking for funnels, fence lines and the like, anything that may be a possible travel lane between bedding areas and food/water.

When scouting a field, I look for fences and tree lines, particurally ones that follow a low spot in the field. Deer like people take the path of least resistance so whether it is a fence or a tree line I look for places deer can easily go through either without jumping or a lesser jump. I check these places for tracks, if they are being used on a regular basis I will setup a stand on both sides to allow for wind changes. I do not revisit these until the season opens.

When scouting wooded areas I look for travel lanes that intersect with other travel lanes. I locate the thickest stuff in the area and than locate the largest group of oaks/acorns in the area checking for feeding activity. Once I have located these two areas I setup at least 2 stands to the side of the travel lanes between these areas. I also check for rubs and scrapes of course and will take them into consideration when setting stands.

There is more I check for depending upon whether or not there is a stream or a pond, but I try and set my stands well before season and stay out of the area, I will if possible sit at a distance and glass the area though.

The Tazman aka Martin Price
Founder and President of
Virginia Disabled Outdoorsmen Club

DaveH

I'm in agreement about leaving the area as undisturbed as possible. In the areas I frequent, I try to get in there about 2 months early to see where the sign is, where likely bedding/feeding areas are, etc. I make predictions about where I might set up and clear shooting lanes and so forth in advance. Then I try to leave the area comletely undisturbed until just before the season when I make a midday, scent-conscious trip in to set up my stand, and clip away away twigs that may have grown across my shooting lanes or approach routes. You can (and will) scout some as movement changes during the season.

Today's small bucks are tomorrow's trophies.