Scouting Questions

[police women of America]

So today I got my first feel of hunting fever. Which tells me it's coming closer to hunting season and I better start studying. I'm very new to scouting, so I'd appreciate any advice. First question, do I scout if I already have a spot picked out? We have a nice spot from one of my dad's friends. We saw a nice 2pt buck last year but he escaped thru the trees before I could get him.
Question two, when to scout? I hunt modern firearm so hunting starts Oct. 15th for me, so should I go a couple weeks before or way before hunting starts?
Thanks for any advice! P.S. I will be hunting blacktail on the west side

[JakeLand]

To be honest the best time to scout is right after the season is over when they are in the peak of the rut first 2 weeks of November! But that's past so if I'm looking at a new area I would be looking all year for rub lines,beds and just looking at travel patterns, like when you see deer either bucks or does watch where they go and what they are doing because bucks will come to where does hang out.
  Now if you have a area get very familiar with that area now for the next couple
Months see where the beds are ,escape routes,feeding areas and look for pinch points where they would get funneled through. Maybe put in treestand or blinds if you choose ( tree stands work great for blacktails)
  So for the short yes go learn your hunting area very very well and get that area prepared for hunting season well ahead of time . Hopefully this helps

[Eric M]

I think July is a good month for seeing the bucks. They seem to be in the open a bit more when their antlers are velvet.

[deerhunter_98520]

 
although Nov is a good time to see them, i think june - first week of aug is the best time....there's no pressure on them...they will be right out in the open more often than when they are hard horned and they know the season isn't open and will stand there and feed with not a care that you are there 

This was was out at noon on a bright sunny day recently with the spike below him



One thing I do when I find an area is I sit and glass and watch and study. alot of people say blacktails are unpredictable and to an extent that's true but they are a creature of habit...the does will frequent the same feeding area time and time again if there not pressured. I have a few spots where there's deer in them everyday and eventually when the bucks start looking for does they will start frequenting these spots looking for the hot does...if you find a spot with alot of does but no bucks don't get discouraged and keep that spot in mind...you can go all summer with no bucks spotted but they are there or will be there in the fall. It's nice to see them but not necessary this time of the year , for every buck you see there's probably 5-10 bucks you don't and won't see ...there hasn't been very many bucks I've seen scouting that I've harvested in modern season

[msg]

I am with a couple of these other guys, July and August will make a believer out of you. You can see nice bucks hanging out with their buddies in the open with not a care in the world. Then in October you can spend weeks trying to figure out where in they went.

[police women of America]

Thanks for the tips!! These are really helpful

[brush hunter]

Yep now is the time, right after bow season is a great time to scout also. What you have seen earlier may have been taken by a bow hunter.  What game unit?

[JakeLand]

Blacktails change areas in October the bucks on cameras in the summer will move come October in our high areas

[police women of America]

Yep now is the time, right after bow season is a great time to scout also. What you have seen earlier may have been taken by a bow hunter.  What game unit?

663

[Okanagan]

What you can do right now is to learn details of the terrain where you plan to hunt.  It is far enough before the season that you probably won't bother deer in any lasting way, if you just walk through a few times.   Learn how to approach good areas, note trails, subtle breaks of ground,  good places to glass or to stop and watch for awhile.  You can learn how to move from one ridge to another most efficiently and quietly, etc.  If I am pretty serious about hunting a particular spot, I may take some garden pruners and improve the environment a bit by clipping noisy brush from an approach trail, improve the view from a spot, etc.  Hunting a new area where we did not know the details of the ground has cost us two fine animals.  Each was in an easy place to stalk within shooting range had we known the terrain.

Last week while picking wild blackberries I happened on a heavily used deer bed in the middle of a grown up clear-cut but which is visible from a ridgeline 150 yards above it.  Classic blacktail bed in red rot on the point of a little bench knob on a steep hillside.   I haven't gone back to the bed but have checked out how to climb the back side of the ridge out of sight and hearing of a deer in the bed, learned where to leave the road to approach, and picked out a boulder on the ridge that marks the spot from which I can see the bed.  Maybe only a doe beds there but it is going to get a look from me come hunting season.  I saw a fork horn blacktail in velvet a couple of hundred yards from the bed.

Just go mosey.

[police women of America]

What you can do right now is to learn details of the terrain where you plan to hunt.  It is far enough before the season that you probably won't bother deer in any lasting way, if you just walk through a few times.   Learn how to approach good areas, note trails, subtle breaks of ground,  good places to glass or to stop and watch for awhile.  You can learn how to move from one ridge to another most efficiently and quietly, etc.  If I am pretty serious about hunting a particular spot, I may take some garden pruners and improve the environment a bit by clipping noisy brush from an approach trail, improve the view from a spot, etc.  Hunting a new area where we did not know the details of the ground has cost us two fine animals.  Each was in an easy place to stalk within shooting range had we known the terrain.

Last week while picking wild blackberries I happened on a heavily used deer bed in the middle of a grown up clear-cut but which is visible from a ridgeline 150 yards above it.  Classic blacktail bed in red rot on the point of a little bench knob on a steep hillside.   I haven't gone back to the bed but have checked out how to climb the back side of the ridge out of sight and hearing of a deer in the bed, learned where to leave the road to approach, and picked out a boulder on the ridge that marks the spot from which I can see the bed.  Maybe only a doe beds there but it is going to get a look from me come hunting season.  I saw a fork horn blacktail in velvet a couple of hundred yards from the bed.

Just go mosey.

Thanks! I'll have to figure out where the spot is exactly on my map and start marking hot spots.

[fishnfur]

You might want to consider looking for a hunting partner to scout with during the summer - someone with some knowledge/experience in the Capitol Forest.  Going out with a hunter who knows the area and knows what he/she is doing may save you years of trying to figure it out by yourself.  Make a post in the hunt swaps/partners section of the main forum page and you hopefully you'll find just the right person to team up with.

Good luck!

[Okanagan]

What you can do right now is to learn details of the terrain where you plan to hunt.  It is far enough before the season that you probably won't bother deer in any lasting way, if you just walk through a few times.   Learn how to approach good areas, note trails, subtle breaks of ground,  good places to glass or to stop and watch for awhile.  You can learn how to move from one ridge to another most efficiently and quietly, etc.  If I am pretty serious about hunting a particular spot, I may take some garden pruners and improve the environment a bit by clipping noisy brush from an approach trail, improve the view from a spot, etc.  Hunting a new area where we did not know the details of the ground has cost us two fine animals.  Each was in an easy place to stalk within shooting range had we known the terrain.

Last week while picking wild blackberries I happened on a heavily used deer bed in the middle of a grown up clear-cut but which is visible from a ridgeline 150 yards above it.  Classic blacktail bed in red rot on the point of a little bench knob on a steep hillside.   I haven't gone back to the bed but have checked out how to climb the back side of the ridge out of sight and hearing of a deer in the bed, learned where to leave the road to approach, and picked out a boulder on the ridge that marks the spot from which I can see the bed.  Maybe only a doe beds there but it is going to get a look from me come hunting season.  I saw a fork horn blacktail in velvet a couple of hundred yards from the bed.

Just go mosey.

Thanks! I'll have to figure out where the spot is exactly on my map and start marking hot spots.

Enjoy your summer scouting and make it fun.  FWIW I don't mind telling you exactly where that deer bed is.  It is 75 yards above the old logging road and halfway between the low spot full of blackberry vines and the clump of maple saplings.   Just don't tell anybody else! 

[police women of America]

What you can do right now is to learn details of the terrain where you plan to hunt.  It is far enough before the season that you probably won't bother deer in any lasting way, if you just walk through a few times.   Learn how to approach good areas, note trails, subtle breaks of ground,  good places to glass or to stop and watch for awhile.  You can learn how to move from one ridge to another most efficiently and quietly, etc.  If I am pretty serious about hunting a particular spot, I may take some garden pruners and improve the environment a bit by clipping noisy brush from an approach trail, improve the view from a spot, etc.  Hunting a new area where we did not know the details of the ground has cost us two fine animals.  Each was in an easy place to stalk within shooting range had we known the terrain.

Last week while picking wild blackberries I happened on a heavily used deer bed in the middle of a grown up clear-cut but which is visible from a ridgeline 150 yards above it.  Classic blacktail bed in red rot on the point of a little bench knob on a steep hillside.   I haven't gone back to the bed but have checked out how to climb the back side of the ridge out of sight and hearing of a deer in the bed, learned where to leave the road to approach, and picked out a boulder on the ridge that marks the spot from which I can see the bed.  Maybe only a doe beds there but it is going to get a look from me come hunting season.  I saw a fork horn blacktail in velvet a couple of hundred yards from the bed.

Just go mosey.

Thanks! I'll have to figure out where the spot is exactly on my map and start marking hot spots.

Enjoy your summer scouting and make it fun.  FWIW I don't mind telling you exactly where that deer bed is.  It is 75 yards above the old logging road and halfway between the low spot full of blackberry vines and the clump of maple saplings.   Just don't tell anybody else! 

Thanks that will be awesome! I'll have to check it out this weekend