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In-Season Scouting

Mountaineer

Mountaineer

Banned
661
0
WV
Fellows..

The day i arrived in ohio for my 5 day bowhunt back in november..I wanted to power scout a new chunk of area on the public. I never hunted that area so i decided to power scout it for a half day.
After a couple hours of hiking around i found a good scrape. So..I set the cam on it and figured id pick it up on my last day in ohio.

Here's the result of my cam being on a scrape in early novemeber. These 2 bucks.




Here's the thing..Those 2 bucks never returned to that scrape after they visited it the first time my cam was setup. My point is.. Is in-Season scouting a detriment?....I think it is...I wasnt planning on hunting this area..just wanted to see what was going on. Those 2 bucks smelled my scent and never returned.

I think winter scouting is the way to go..Ill be heading to Ohio next week to find a good tree in this new spot..So..when i come out next fall ill go right to my tree and hunt so i dont mess up the area by walking around and scouting.

**disregard date and time..i screwed that up..never set it(rookie)
 
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Mountaineer

Mountaineer

Banned
661
0
WV
Fellows ..Its hard to even say these bucks are alive..I dont know..I can only hope. However..I did find a funnel about a 1/4 mile from this scrape that i may sit for 4 or 5 days next season. I dont like the scrapes location as far as hunting..nothing is funneling them. I gotta find my tree now..its crucial. I gotta have the element of surprise or i wont have a chance in hell. The key for me is that i must find a way in that i think the deer arent using much..I cant walk through the area i think the deer are coming from..and i think ive found everything i need with the new funnel. fingers crossed.

Its kinda funny..the next picture of that wide buck is his ass as he was getting the hell outta dodge. lol
Man...these bucks are sensitive as hell.
 
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jagermeister

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,082
223
Ohio
I too place a ton of value in post-season scouting... However, I don't think in-season scouting is detrimental, if done with caution. Mountaineer, that cam was set up over a scrape during the rut. Those bucks may have been just passing through that night... who knows, they're normal home range could've been a mile away. I don't think that one event provides enough evidence for anyone to give up on in-season scouting.
 
Mountaineer

Mountaineer

Banned
661
0
WV
Jbrown..

Yeah..that's true your probably right..they could have been passing thru. However, I think its a wiser policy to assume they can smell everything a hunter touches and where he walks. The spot I took my buck this year was a spot I found last winter. I did no scouting when I got here in November st the area I actually hunted. Just went right to the tree I picked out the year before.
 
Gern186

Gern186

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,187
201
NW Ohio Tundra
Nice 2nd buck Mountaineer. I don't think you are alone in the fact that you only got single event pictures of bucks over scrapes at night in November. I have several different bucks that I only got pictures of one time also. I do agree that bucks are very cagy animals and learn how to avoid cameras. That doesn't mean those bucks won't still be in the area, it just means they are skirting the cameras.......

You can use this to your advantage if you think about it and believe that is what is truly happening. Put a camera or 2 in an area that you don't want the buck to travel, and put your stand in the area that he will go to avoid the cameras.
 
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Mountaineer

Mountaineer

Banned
661
0
WV
gern,
Thats a good idea...I just think cams can be really helpful and hurtful. I put one of my cams on video mode right behind our wall tent this year on a scrape. Its a silly spot but theres always a scrape there. It was unbelievable the reaction of the deer to my scent and the cam(must of been scent on that too). Since it was in video mode, i really got to see how they reacted..and it wasnt good. Just about every deer smelled my scent and they all freaked out. lol. A fellow can really see how they react when Video mode is on.
 
FredT

FredT

Junior Member
262
0
SE Ohio
I put a couple of cams out where I feed my does prerut and rut. I get some nice ones coming through the night. Even on IR/video it does not seem to bother them much. My aroma is all over the place, but so are all of the doe's. I do not hunt out there until I see a daytime pic of a good buck then I get right out there.
 
finelyshedded

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,896
260
SW Ohio
I always do most of my scouting during the winter or while shed hunting. Once in a while during the mid day during the in-season when movement was terrible I've still hunted while scouting. When doing it I tried staying just below a ridge top with the wind in my face checking my back trial or walking with a cross wind.
 
brock ratcliff

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,840
247
What I have found with cameras; some bucks are residents and never stray far. Some bucks are nomads and never seem to be in the same place twice. Scrapes will light up for a day or two, and then go cold for weeks. Nearly all scraping is after legal hours, as is most buck movement. I have essentially abandoned cameras this year. By that I mean I am not using cameras actually good enough to get thousands of pics of the same deer. I have some cheap cams that I will put out just because they are fun to check, but as far as using any info from them to determine where I will hunt...that's over. I did that for a few years. It is just frustrating because it shows just how randomly deer move, and how little they move during daylight - at least the ones we are interested in killing. Still, its fun to have pics of a couple of good ones. Rest assured though, these cheap cams do not show all that is in area...heck, the really good ones often do not either.

Having said all of that, I like in season scouting. On my best years I probably scout and move around more than I actually set in a tree. That's not to say I walk over the same ground day in and day out, but skirt the edges often. A new property I hunted this year has a steep ravine and creek that runs the entire length of it. I walked that creek several times as it was a low impact way of keeping tabs on what the deer were doing. I think you have to know the exact spot to be, and scouting provides that. Its one of the things I've learned hunting in areas where deer are so sparse...in the old days I didn't move around as much as I would see deer daily regardless. I was a lot lazier then.
 
Kaiser878

Kaiser878

Senior Member
2,633
97
ohio
For those who havent seen it, I recomend reading Lee Lakoskys new book....Very informative...There are a lot of good points that go over looked in there. THere is a lot that doesnt apply to every day hunters such as ourselves, but there is still a ton of good info in there!
 
Mountaineer

Mountaineer

Banned
661
0
WV
Leavin for Ohio around 3 pm today. My main goal is to find 3 or 4 trees in 3 or 4 different funnels. I need several spots in case another hunter will be in one of them next season.

Of course ill be looking for sheds, Not an easy thing to do on publicland. Ill try to take some video of anything i find intresting.

Now is the time to scout. Funnel hunting i think is by far the most productive way to hunt. I dont even care if there's buck sign there or not..it can be completely void of sign and that wont bother me one bit. Most hunters hunt the sign..I hunt the funnels.
 
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