Big Game Hunting > Deer Hunting

Scouting west side

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Jarredhs:
Been scouting setting up trail cams for a week at a time with no luck. I’m a beginner black tail hunter. (I’m a full time duck hunter and part time turkey hunter).
I’ve been walking the gated logging roads on dnr land while looking for sign as in game trails coming off the road to a clear cut or off the road into timber.  I then will set up my game cams at the entrance of what looks to be a game trail from the road to what looks to be a path.
Also I’m not 100 percent sure it’s a game trail most of the time because tracks seem to be non existent unless in sand or mud in a ditch. This leads me to my main concern of what to look for and how.
MY MAIN QUESTION IS:
When scouting do you just walk in the actual timber and bush whack a path till you find sign? As in just randomly walk off the road into the woods and start looking? If so do you do a grid pattern, or walk just strait in and just walk a few miles straight through hoping you see something?
Or do you walk through the overgrown old clear cuts and bushwhack trails through them for hours till you find sign?
I’m confused on how to scout because people say to look from the road for sign then follow it, while others say go into the timber or clear cut and look for sign. But idk how to walk and find sign in a vast amount of timber or even a giant overgrown old clear cut without just hours of walking aimlessly. Especially since any tracks get covered in brush and stuff.

kodiak06:
The first thing to figure out is are you gonna sit in a blind or stand OR are you gonna spend your days walking and glassing? The coast range has deer all over and if you're walking deer trails set cam up on intersections. Also, they like to stick to cover so I typically find clear cut corners and look for trails inside the timber line skirting the corner in the timber.

MADMAX:
If you don’t have private land or timber company permit
Find some public land a few vantage points and use optics dawn and dusk
Figure out your weapon type as well
2 cents
Good luck

brokentrail:
Deer, like almost all animals, will travel the path of least resistance.  They also like to stay hidden.  If you are around clear cuts and roads, look for a clear cut that is 3 to 5 years old.  This will have grown up enough to give them cover in the clear cut.  Now find the part of the clear cut that you can't see from any road.  Start looking for deer trails and sign in that part of the cut.  If you find sign, follow the trails to the timber edge and about 20 to 30 yards inside the timber, you will usually find a trail that skirts the clear cut.  Set up some cams and start your scouting.  Hopefully that gives you a place to start.

Sundance:
What weapon and season are you planning to hunt? Strategies for blacktail are based on that answer IMO.

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