This IS the time to scout!
We had all our new fall 2010 locations picked for natural ground blinds by Feb.1.
We've timbered our place in stages over the last 15 years, so the deer travel is constantly changing, but our hilly/wet topography also funnels deer in some constant places too.
I would feel naked going into spring snowmelt without having walked the whole property at least once.
I have a rule at my property that all "on foot" scounting ENDS by Aug. 1, with one big bedding area being off limits year round, and it has proven to be very productive.
I typically like to have all natural cover "blind" locations scouted, up and assembled and trimmed by July 4, when time permits. Those spots are always selected in January.
I really can't stress how important post season scounting is. That's why I joke that "deer season never ends, only deer killing season does". Deer season goes on all year.
Come August, I'd suggest still scouting, but hands off scounting. A pickup truck, binocs or a spotting scope are your best tools then. And if scouting bucks, the crack of daylight with the cool temps is typically the best time for truck scouting. Dusk scouting in August can certainly reveal bucks, but my experience is like 15-1 buck sightings favoring the cool temps of the crack of daylight to the first hour of daylight.
If you opt for "on foot" pre-season scouting close to season and if you're banging around your hunting grounds in late August and September, you're bumping deer that you don't know are there and you'll never see.
I read a study I believe was either in Deer and Deer Hunting or the QDMA magazine where they had put radio collars on free ranging deer. They quietly bumped them out of bedding area's on purpose to see how far they went on average. The average deer went something like 600-800 yards before stopping and lingering, some well farther. Well, that's off most people's property unless they have a huge parcel. I also seem to recall almost none of the deer were scene by the bumpers.
The bottom line is, if you bump deer out of a bedding sanctuary they feel secure in now, there's no great harm 6 months from now. You do that in late August or even worse a week or two pre-season, you've done yourself no favors at that location.
The same is true for your scent being all over the locations. If a deer crosses your path now and blows the alarm, no big harm. Come Aug/Sept and you cross the secondary trail, that you didn't know was there but that deer uses every day and it blows the alarm, you might be watching squirrels come opening day, wondering why that great looking location never seems to produce.
And I am a fan of using spray scent eliminators even if they offer only marginal scent killing. But those sure aren't foolproof. If you spend anytime at all on or near a deer trail, even if you didn't know you crossed it, you're leaving scent. You walk into a thicket bedding area and you're pushing branches away from your face and branches are swiping your body as you go thru, you're leaving scent.
Topic: Post season scouting. Is it worth it? (Read 621 times)
