Let’s talk deer sign & scouting

ABBD

ABBD

Ten Pointer
Contributor
After every deer season I find myself reflecting on the season itself as well as looking forward to learning from off season scouting trips. To be honest... I get almost as excited to begin the off season scouting trips as I was on opening day. It’s the anticipation of finding new travel corridors, bedding, rubs, scrapes and getting a step up on next years hunting opportunities. I will start at the end of February and continue through March so that shed hunting will also be apart of my strategy. As of now I have 13 gamelands spots planned and 3 private grounds pinned on aerial maps to scout. The majority of the gameland areas will be new grounds to me and some will be old haunts.

Part of the outdoor experience for me is trying to figure out how deer use a particular area and why and when they are doing so. I fail to do so on some occasions, however, it’s these times that drives me further into my scouting journeys. It can be both exhausting and exhilarating trying to put the puzzle pieces together. I have 30yrs of hunting experience and enjoy learning something new every time I’m out scouting. Currently.... I’ve been trying to work on my vegetation and tree identification beyond common species which I lack at a level of embarrassment. So many things to learn in the classroom of the great outdoors!

Feel free to chime in and share your experience of putting your deer sign puzzle pieces together. Whether it’s a harvest or increased sightings of a target buck. Share your tactics that help you close the distance.

I’ll share an experience that came together for me this bow season that led to harvesting a mature buck on public ground...
 
ABBD

ABBD

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Pre Boots on the ground:

Last summer I located an area on public grounds that showed promising potential. At this point all scouting was by aerial maps and talking with local biologist/wildlife agents.

Highlights

1). The particular spot was a 2 mile walk back from parking area. Felt that it could be un pressured and perhaps an overlooked spot

2). White oak/ red oak mast crop potential.

3). Thick cover nearby

4). Water nearby

5). Good typography with natural funnels coming into the block I was intending to scout.

6). Entry and exit route possible without blowing the spot out.
 
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ABBD

ABBD

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Scouting trip(s)

Initial scouting trip:

After deciding that it was an area I wanted to scout I made the first trip in July. I confirmed all of the highlights I suspected were present and located several rubs from the year before leading from bedding to feeding. Identified several main travel trails and more importantly the crossing trails that intersected them. I also found a matching set of shed horns from a 2.5 year (guess) eight point left from last year. I felt confident someone would have picked those up if they were back in that area... so that was encouraging.

2nd scouting trip:

I planned another trip in for October to hopefully gain some fresh insight and verify any new deer sign. I immediately noticed that acorns were plentiful and the deer were on them. Not so much the whites to my surprise but a particular grove of red oaks. The red oaks were located close to a transitional area of thick cover and open timber. Fresh droppings were scattered throughout. Scrapes and rublines where plentiful but what peaked my interest was the calling card at one rubline in particular. It was on nice diameter sized trees and tine marks visible on trees located 14”-16” behind and to the side them. I knew the buck making them had a set of tall / wide antlers. I identified several sets for different wind directions and knew this was the area I wanted to hunt in hopes of catching this deer. Below is a pic of one of the rubs...
 
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ABBD

ABBD

Ten Pointer
Contributor
The day I ended up killing this deer was Nov. 1st on the first sit. It was after the big cold front that moved through on Halloween. After the front moved through it offered the perfect wind to hunt the area as well as a 20 degree temp drop. I got settled in 45min before first light and ended up shooting the deer at 9:45am working a scrape line.

I don’t think I would have paid much attention to the spot if it wasn’t for the added sign seen at that particular rub line. It added some confirmation and confidence knowing there was a big buck utilizing that particular block of woods.... and I wanted to chase him.

Blessed it all came together.
 

ncstatehunter

Twelve Pointer
I honestly hardly scout outside of season anymore (when I do it’s summer) but plan to stop that and start with scouting now through Turkey season and then again closer to season just to make sure they are still utilizing those areas I like. Stand on my back and weapon in hand, I have spots in mind from aerial scouting that I go directly too paying attention to sign as I go. For me, hot sign warrants setting up, jumping a deer warrants setting up (especially if it doesn’t blow and just runs or eases off), etc. I do better on my out of state hunts with this mindset and a day to scout prior to the start of my “season” there, but lately have struggled in-state because it’s 1-2 days of hunting total at a time vs a block set aside for 7 days straight. I’ll cover more ground in one day out of state than I do in the months leading up to the season here and that’s the issue. It’s not even about having to find spots, I have plenty I hunt already and plenty more picked to check out. Just need to put boots to ground before I go in to maximize what specific areas in a block to focus on.
 
sky hawk

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Winter is definitely the time to scout. Visibility is excellent and it's cool. Right now is good because the sign is still semi-fresh. Wait until March and you'll have a lot better chance at finding sheds, but some of the scrapes and rubs will be harder to see.

I don't scout in summer.
 
ABBD

ABBD

Ten Pointer
Contributor
sky hawk said:
Winter is definitely the time to scout. Visibility is excellent and it's cool. Right now is good because the sign is still semi-fresh. Wait until March and you'll have a lot better chance at finding sheds, but some of the scrapes and rubs will be harder to see.

I don't scout in summer.
Click to expand...

Yep. I very rarely ever scout in middle of summer. Other than glassing and running mineral sites.... I was behind the learning curve on this particular piece property and had to get a first look though.
 
TH7

TH7

Eight Pointer
I started scouting today. Great time of year to be in the woods. Can bring a squirrel gun along also. Run trail cameras to see what bucks made it through the year. If my operated on shoulder allows me to get the bow back out I will scout this summer to hopefully find what the bachelor groups are doing. More excited about this off season and going into next season than ever before.
 
Ol Copper

Ol Copper

Twelve Pointer
Agreed, I like to scout now to see what the deer were doing toward the end of season. It also lets you see how the deer moved in regards to pressure over the season vs. what you were seeing deer do at the start before they got bumped around. Couple that with what you see people do, and where they park to enter and exit, it can show you if a spot is truly being overlooked or not. Im speaking of public land....
Plus its nice and cool and bugs are down for now.
 

buckman4c

Spike
ABBD,
Thanks for the informative posts. your not alone, I too struggle with vegetation and tree identification outside of the obvious.

You pretty much covered the process I go through with scouting. I scout anytime I set foot in the woods but the majority of it is done in and after season until as you said March.

Only other big point I will make is map reading and using them to your advantage. I use maps for every property I hunt.

This past season, I rifle hunted a piece of public ground for the first time in NC (I'm from Pa) and chose my first stand location based on map reading and intel the public area was good for deer. My first day was the Saturday before Thanksgiving so I took into account the possibility of a lot of hunters and dogs running. I know the dogs were running and despite not seeing another hunter, they were obviously out too. I missed being exactly where I needed to be for escaping deer by about 40 yards. I didn't think that was too bad using a map and flashlight. If you know how to read maps, they can save a lot of time and point you in the right direction.

Despite finding this location, I spent most of my time scouting other areas to learn the area in general and look for other potentially productive stand locations. I believe in having multiple good spots to hunt for different conditions, especially wind direction. Some spots need a specific wind direction for the best access and seeing deer while other spots are good when hunting pressure is high and you just need to set up according to the wind.
 
Aaron H

Aaron H

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I only scout my best spots well after hunting season and then I usually do a walk through about the 1st week of March when I get out to look for shed antlers. From March through December I mostly don't walk more than necessary in my hunting places.
 

CAP305

Six Pointer
My off-season scouting usually starts around February and my goals typically are to pick out a few spots on the map that I haven't hunted yet, go in to look for sign, and to map out entry/exit routes. Additionally I'll go to some spots I've hunted in the past to see if anything changed. The first few years I hunted NC public it was a whole lot more involved but now it's more incremental.
 
JJWise

JJWise

Twelve Pointer
On public ground the #1 thing to me that correlates to more deer sightings is finding an area that’s overlooked. Especially in the areas I hunt, deer have a plethora of feeding and bedding areas which means that they can live nearly anywhere on the habitat and may not have to travel much to get what they need, making it that much more important that I try to find unpressured areas where the deer are more likely to be up during daylight.

As far as actual sign, deer trails are the primary thing I want to see, even more so if I plan to hunt from a treestand. Seems like anytime I try to hunt close to bedding I bump a few deer (or all of them) and feeding spots change quite a bit and may not be utilized until after dark, but if there are any deer in the area up and moving, you can usually bet on them using one of the beat down trails at some point. Same thing for rub lines, even if that buck isn’t making rubs at that time, you’re probably looking at a corridor he travels regularly throughout the season.

In WV I would use the terrain more than anything but that’s sometimes difficult to do in the coastal plain of ENC. Benches along the side of hills and saddles in the middle of a ridge could be gold mines for funneling deer activity.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
my favorite scouting after season is after a snow. Found a matching pair of sheds once that stuck out like a sore thumb in the snow so there's that plus the tracking aspect.
I think i would have made a good Benoit. :)
 

shaggy

Old Mossy Horns
sky hawk said:
Winter is definitely the time to scout. Visibility is excellent and it's cool. Right now is good because the sign is still semi-fresh. Wait until March and you'll have a lot better chance at finding sheds, but some of the scrapes and rubs will be harder to see.

I don't scout in summer.
Click to expand...

I also do this because when spring foliage pops up travel pattern and feeding areas may change. Scout now to find out where the deer are eating and traveling to and from.
 
Deerherder

Deerherder

Ten Pointer
In addition to the tips suggested above, I like to take my dog on scouting trips. She shows me the trails that are being used by how excited she gets & how hard she pulls on the lead when we hit an active one. I find it really helps to have her along on a trip or two so I get an idea of the trails that are getting use. Then, I can start looking for places to set stands off those trails.
 
Rockhound

Rockhound

Eight Pointer
Awesome thread. I work outside and get to cover a lot of ground, including gamelands and national forest. I have been loading up my Gaia GPS app with rubs, scrapes, and trails. So much sign. I find cedars most abundant rub trees here in western NC. From my hiking, "big" ones are ~3" but maybe you guys are finding rubs on much larger timber?

In WNC, when should I expect deer to start shedding their antlers? April? What a good idea to use shed hunting as a scouting technique.
 
timekiller13

timekiller13

Old Mossy Horns
I scout heavily from January-end of March. More visibility in the woods and sign is still pretty fresh, especially signs of other hunters. Their bright eyes, flagging tapes and marks on the trees from their stands are still very visible during this time of year. Finding out where others are hunting is probably more important, to me, than finding deer sign. Why you ask? It's not hard to find deer sign, even on fairly heavily hunted public areas. I can walk 50 yds in the woods on any given piece of public land I hunt and start finding rubs, scrapes, tracks and trails. But, the majority of that sign will be made at night, if it's in a high pressure area. I want to find that sign that's also in an area where I am seeing little to no evidence of other people. To me, that means that I have a higher probability of seeing deer during legal shooting hours.
 
Redheadduck

Redheadduck

Eight Pointer
I scout all year, but I do most of my serious brush busting January-March. Where I hunt, it's thick and swampy. Mostly pines, gum trees, and bushes. A lone oak tree can be golden but I like seeing trails converging, even if it's in a pinefield. Anywhere I find several trails intersecting I look at very closely.
 
QBD2

QBD2

Old Mossy Horns
I don’t scout for deer. I do like finding new turkey ground, but I’m not looking for sign, just a rough idea of the terrain and timber.
 
Ceehawk37

Ceehawk37

Ten Pointer
I typically get out between now and turkey season to scout. Granted a lot of my trips after season end up eliminating more places than actually finding honey holes. I like to scout completely new terrain right after season goes out. Most spots I hunted during the season I know pretty well and in-season scout. I like to use the post season to stretch out and try to find new promising ground which I’ll typically bat .200 on finding a spot that really grabs my attention. On top of being able to see the deer sign, I like being able to see the human sign as well. Places that the pressure is light and the access points are good are usually on the top of my to go list. Once season gets close I’ll make a couple of quick trips into different places to see how the acorns are looking for the season then I stay out until the wind and conditions get right.
 
ABBD

ABBD

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Rockhound said:
Awesome thread. I work outside and get to cover a lot of ground, including gamelands and national forest. I have been loading up my Gaia GPS app with rubs, scrapes, and trails. So much sign. I find cedars most abundant rub trees here in western NC. From my hiking, "big" ones are ~3" but maybe you guys are finding rubs on much larger timber?

In WNC, when should I expect deer to start shedding their antlers? April? What a good idea to use shed hunting as a scouting technique.
Click to expand...

Not sure about western parts... but in central first of March “most” deer have shed their antlers.
 
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