Scott/IL

As some of you know, that our family farm is currently being sold and I began looking for new ground for next year.

I have 3 new areas to hunt that seem very promising already (2 private, and 1 public).

One is a 300+ acre tract with no bowhunters on it, but is shotgun hunted by a few men.I know nothing about this land other than that I saw2 big bucks a few miles from it the other day while working.

Another is a 250 acre tract that is not bowhunted by anyone, but is shotgun hunted VERY hard. I have shed hunted this land, and small game. It looks very promising, but I was not looking for deer sign at the time.

The public land, is a flooded river bottom that is THICK, and trust me I meanreally THICK.

I was wondering on when you thought the best time to scout these areas were. Previously, I had always scouted out areas in August, and adjusted from there on. This was on land that I had a pretty good idea on how the deer traveled though.

These 3 areas are new to me and I have only hunted on one of them before in my life.I was thinking it would be better to go in and scout these areas over my vaction time during Christmas and throughout the late winter and early spring.

What are everyone elses views?

Red Lion

I have read that it is usually better to scout very early spring, as deer sign from the previous year fall should still be fairly present when the snow first melts, thus giving you a decent idea of how/where deer are moving and hanging out.

wi_buckstomper

I like to scout in the winter after the season is over. Its best with some good snow cover to see where the deer are concentrated. An added bonus of scouting late season is that if you do bump a big buck he will have long forgot about it by next season. The only scouting i do in the spring is glassing.

nodog

Definetly. If you have some hunting time left spend it there. I scout best when I hunt a new place.

One of the things I like most about hunting is it can't be done in a life time.