Does anyone actually scout anymore?

[jonsimoneau]

Not trying to make this a thread against trail cams guys.  I LOVE trail cams.  Just something I noticed.  Maybe I'm all wet.  Just seems like tons of hunters in the woods during season, and less guys out trying to do the detective work.  But then again...since I mostly hunt public land, I like it that way!

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

I scout first, find a spot I wanna hunt, THEN I put the camera out.  I just like looking at whats around when I'm not.

[Big-un08]

Originally posted by Bjorn:
I scout as much as I can; cameras are a good tool and work well in conjunction with scouting.

x2. Very well said.

[Roadkill]

In Nevada we draw for all tags.   Areas are hundreds of miles from our homes, so do the best we can.  Often our scouting is diligently asking questions of previous tag holders, and, of course, watching for weather to determine where the rai n id falling.  Our animals roam, migrate or just move.  A ravine good this year may have few deer in it next.  Antelope are constant.
Physical scouting in July may not mean anything in  Oct.  We pack in or go fishingbin remote areas, but few are lucky enough to live where they hunt.  The area around Reno has fewer than a hundred tags.  I wish i were back in whitetail country

[Over&Under]

Originally posted by joe ashton:
yes absolutely, as often as possible.
I walk the trails just to see why they are there, h2o or food or cover.  check the water holes for tracks and, well, I need the exercise. Elk live in very high and steep country.....
Also I get to shoot stumps...

A big ditto for me.

[Hunter74]

I spend 2-3 days scouting to every 1 day hunting. It's a year around thing for me.

I love trail cameras! Not so much to use, yes I put a few out in select areas to take inventory and see what's using a piece of property. But the best part is other people using them! I've watched first hand about every person I know that has and uses trail cams ruin there area through the use of trail cams. The story typically goes, I had this big buck on camera 3-4 times and when I hunted the spot a bunch I never saw him. My response is usually the same, well if you had the camera any where near your stand you messed up from the start. Second if you got these pics and didn't go in right that very same day you missed your chance because that deer new you where there by the next day and isn't coming back during daylight. Call me greedy but that sort of activity has pushed a lot of big bucks into more and more reclusive patterns where I can sneak in for the kill

[bornagainbowhunter]

I love to scout because I love to get close to good bucks.  When I go on an out of state hunt or a hunt far from home, I might scout 75% of the time I have for the area.  I have found that the more scouting and less hunting a person does, the richer that hunt will be.

A friend(a monster buck killing machine)told me one time that if I had 4 days to hunt, I had better scout 3 of them.  I started seeing more and better deer when I took him up on his advice.  He also told me that I could not kill big bucks if I kept shooting good bucks.  That also has proven true.  

God Bless,
Nathan

[KentuckyTJ]

Not sure about anyone else but I have to scout to know where to put my cameras. I am constantly trying to find new locations. I see most my bucks in the fields with my bino's in this early season before I get a picture of them.

To find deer sign is one thing. The cameras tell you what's making it. If I were simply hunting a doe I wouldn't have a need for a camera.

[RC]

I scout full time. The land I hunt is covered with all kinds of feed trees. Some feed some don`t. I seldom hunt the same tree two years in a row because it may not have feed. I have to walk to find a primary feed tree to sit on and that changes weekly sometimes.
  I hunt certain funnels and creek crossings every year without much scouting because some of them have yeilded as high as ten deer kills from the same tree through the years.
  Hunting primary feed trees though is the most enjoyable to me. If you have done your homework and see a deer in the swamp you know its coming to dine right under you. Great feeling of satisfaction when that happens.RC

[huntin_sparty]

Originally posted by Bjorn:
I scout as much as I can; cameras are a good tool and work well in conjunction with scouting.

Right on, here too.  The cameras actually get me out scouting more often swapping sd cards and moving the cameras.  While out there I check if game trail use has changed, create little natural hides for still hunting, and my favorite stump shooting.

[toddster]

I prefer to scout.  Trails cams work for some people, but for me I want to get out and see where and why the animals are moving, over the course of time.

[Mint]

The cameras are stolen on the public land i hunt so i scout. I do most of my scouting post season since the ticks are so bad on Long island where I hunt. I want the nymph phase to be over so i don't scout until september and then get set up for the Oct 1st opener and keep scouting right up to the pre-rut.

[NEB]

I only use cams at artificial feed locations or scrapes and have never used one at my stand locations.  I scout with boot leather and put out cameras as an added bonus.  But, for the last several years my bow season has been my scouting time.  Guess what, I kill deer with my guns but none with my bow (yes I am a gun hunter, too).  This year my schedule has been more flexible and I have been able to get away and do some scouting and my confidence is high.  Stay tuned for harvest pics...

[rolltidehunter]

i scout alot. i also use trail cameras all year as well. i dont consider putting a trail camera out as SCOUTING. more like spying!

[Rick Perry]

I read an article written by a televised expert bowhunter the other day . He claims to have between 35 and 40 trail cams out at all times . Somehow that many cameras crosses the fair chase line in my mind. Not to mention the fact that the cameras he pushes are $500 or so each. You do the math .

 Its sad what we have let happen to this sport . it seems to me its more important these days to have money to pay for hitech advantages than it is to have skills and woodsmanship.

sheesh ................. anyone remember thinking it was cutting edge technique to string black thread across a deer run ????

[Badwithabow]

Heck yes I still get out there and now I have the best scoutin buddy in the woods!!
 
 
I got a few cameras but to be honest I enjoy takin my boy out there w me to check things out

[longbowray]

In AZ I do glassing  , to fine the deer then set up where I see them the most . It like 3  day of glassing for good stop to set up my hind .

[Orion]

I don't think use of trail cams, or not, has had much of an effect on time spent scouting.  But I'd wager that fewer people scout, or scout as much as they used to, if they use bait and/or food plots. There's no need then.

[centaur]

We camp about every week, and somehow seem to often end up in my elk area. Last week I spent 3 days scouting some good elk country. I live 5 minutes from my whitetail spot, and my truck seems to know its way over there, and I spend some time wandering around there. A trail where I often hike and mountain bike is another place where I sometimes hunt whitetails and turkeys, and I am on that trail 5 to 6 days a week, minimum. So yeah, I guess I do some scouting. It is all part of the enjoyment of the outdoors to me.

[BowHunterGA]

I begin scouting within a few weeks of the end of season. Continue all the way up to the week of opening day. Whenever I have some free time I am in the woods somewhere.