Whitetail Gurus, I need some help

[Trumpkin the Dwarf]

Alright fellas. Here in Montana elk and mule deer are the usual prey    

I just don't have any idea of what makes a spot worth sitting. Is it possible to identify these spots mid summer? I'd like to figure this out cause I have lots of this terrain within 10-20 minutes of my house, and an afternoon of hunting is easy to squeeze in.

[John Scifres]

Find the food, find the beds and hunt the trails between them.  Mind your wind.  Rivers amongst large open areas are natural conduits for deer travel and should provide good action.  Don't overpressure an area.  I would scout in late summer and identify, from a distance, where deer are moving.  Then pattern them and idnetify good ambush spots with different winds.

[Biggamefish]

Look for the travel corridors with pinch points.  Where water brush blowdowns might funnel the deer.  Pick a tree off the trail 5 -10 yards off.  If you can't find off and are right on the trail get higher.  

  Also look for narrow crossing places in the river.  Deer are like humans and they will take the easiest route.  If you are going to use a treestand get one and shoot out of it that is the most important thing to do.

[Lordswarrior]

where there are rivers there is mud, where there is mud there will be tracks. like biggamefish said look for the crossings and sometimes it will look like a deer highway. set up just off the river along a trail leading to the crossing and by all means check the stand location for the right wind direction before you hunt it.
i hunt a small creek here in jersey and when the weather is hot it is the best spot every evening; two crossings split past either side of my stand and it works out great for me ( not so well for the deer!)

[VictoryHunter]

Ooh! River bottom land is good   :D  Find the food, find the deer. Look at a map for any possible pinch point that may funnel them to you. Since you are in river bottom land you should be able to find tracks and trails really easy hunt about 15 yds off of a trail. I like to set up closer to the food and further away from the bedding area just to be safe. Hunt the wind too that will make or break you, whitetail does don't mess around. If you are hunting from a tree stand, hang it on the opposite side you think the deer will approach from to give you the best shot opportunity. Sounds like you have a nice spot especially if it's that close! Keep us posted. Good hunting!

[Trumpkin the Dwarf]

I plan on using ground blinds. I don't have the money to buy a tree stand right now. Do deer mostly bed in the river bottoms and feed in the fields? I don't know if we have oak trees in our river bottoms here. It sounds like this is pretty much a travel corridor guessing game. Any Montana folks care to chime in?

[Gentry]

Hunting the Clark's fork? If you plan on hunting the opening weekend go sit on the alfalfa and glass a few evenings the bucks will be in bachelor groups watch where they enter the fields. From there you can walk the field edge look at the trails and follow them back into the bottoms 20 to 30 yards. You will see they fork and may even parallel the fields this is what I look for muture bucks will travel this buffer zone or staging area before entering the fieds. Now you have to find the spot you can set up your blind make sure you will have the wind. If you are going yo set up a blind do it well in advance of opening day and brush it in. Try to find a spot where they can't get behind you. A bend of the river a drop off bank something. You can block trails with brush To funnel by you. If you have two spots that are close where they  cross a fence to enter a field you can take twine and some ribbon and make the fence taller to get them to go where you want them. We have hung sweaty shirts in tree rows to keep them from going a certain way knowing when they smelled it they would go a certain way and we hung stands where the wind would be in our favor. Its more then a guessing game you can put your self into spots where you have a advantage and even manipulate how they move. And they won't always be on the bottoms they will come down out of the hills also. I hunted a side hill above a alfalfa field over on the cut off that had a bench about 300 yards above it where all the deer bedded. there where two easy spots down to the field and that's  where they all came down. I had 30 to 60 deer come by me every time I sat there.

[Trumpkin the Dwarf]

Yes I will be hunting the Clark fork, as well as the Bitterroot river. Is it pretty useless to go out now and start scouting? Do I need to wait till mid August or so?

[krink]

Deer, humans, and electricity have one thing in common.  They take the path of least resistance.  Established trails are established trails.  You know your way to work correct?  You may deviate from that path because of an accident or want new scenery but a majority of the time you take that same path.  What I have witnessed is deer do the same.  

If you can, watch the deer now.  See where deer are going in and out from.  It may change slightly when the leaves fall but I would guess they will stay somewhat the same.  The only time I have seen MAJOR deviations is during the rut and when it gets bitterly cold and they change routes to go to fattier food sources.  They may change the way they go into a field based on wind directions but nothing too crazy.

When I hunted Arizona for Coues deer I had the opposite.  There were areas that they did funnel into but nothing like a real forest.  They came from a general direction but didnt establish solid trails.  

This has just been my experience with Illinois whitetails and limited experience with Arizona Coues deer.

Like others have said find food (or water, if it is sparse) find the deer.

[stykbow67]

If it we're me I'd be in there mid-day this time of year looking things over just trying to get a feel for the area. If there's a fairly high number of deer using the area the sign will be apparent and pieces of the puzzle will start coming together! Ground blinds, Treestands and Still hunting on windy days are all good tactics,
Good luck and keep us posted!

Steve