Where to scout

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Rynamo
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Where to scout

Unread postby Rynamo » Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:18 am

I’m looking for some insight on where to start looking for sign. I’ve been putting in lots of time, and lots of miles trying to find fresh sign, and generally failing. I’ve spent hours looking at aerial photos and topo maps, picking out places to scout and when I get there I’m finding most of the islands and points sticking out into the cattails underwater. I’m not familiar with this piece of property, and I don’t know anyone that is, so I don’t know if it is normally like that, or if this year is just really wet. Are there any suggestions on things to look for? Types of vegetation, or anything that might suggest higher ground in the marsh? I’ve found a few rubs here and there but all the bedding cover I have found near them is under water. I haven’t found a scrape yet. It’s getting very discouraging to slug through flooded wood lots, and cattails to find the island I saw from the photos and find it flooded and iced over. Any thoughts/suggestions are very much appreciated.


The Mediocre Hunter
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Re: Where to scout

Unread postby The Mediocre Hunter » Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:43 am

Rynamo wrote:I’m looking for some insight on where to start looking for sign. I’ve been putting in lots of time, and lots of miles trying to find fresh sign, and generally failing. I’ve spent hours looking at aerial photos and topo maps, picking out places to scout and when I get there I’m finding most of the islands and points sticking out into the cattails underwater. I’m not familiar with this piece of property, and I don’t know anyone that is, so I don’t know if it is normally like that, or if this year is just really wet. Are there any suggestions on things to look for? Types of vegetation, or anything that might suggest higher ground in the marsh? I’ve found a few rubs here and there but all the bedding cover I have found near them is under water. I haven’t found a scrape yet. It’s getting very discouraging to slug through flooded wood lots, and cattails to find the island I saw from the photos and find it flooded and iced over. Any thoughts/suggestions are very much appreciated.


I don't know anything about marshes and swamps but what I can say is that if that bedding is flooded they'll naturally go to the next bedding that is not. That's where your topo map comes in handy. If you know a particular elevation on your map is flooded, color everything from there down as flooded and work your way up. Then cross reference it with your arieals and start the process again. Positive thing about that is in the future with similar water levels you'll know right where to go. Don't get discouraged though. It sucks to go a long ways to someplace you cyber scouted to only find out it was a bust. Have done it many times and am still trying to learn. Just my 2 cents though.
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Boogieman1
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Re: Where to scout

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Tue Nov 26, 2019 7:16 am

Here’s what works for me. The easiest thing for me to find is food source. I start there and work backwards. When vertical trails start branching off horizontal stop and smell the roses. I then find another one and do the same thing. Then another etc... Depending on time of year u can either set up where things start going horizontal with the best sign or look for a corridor connecting the bedding areas u just found.
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kdawg_901
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Re: Where to scout

Unread postby kdawg_901 » Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:48 pm

Boogieman1 wrote:Here’s what works for me. The easiest thing for me to find is food source. I start there and work backwards. When vertical trails start branching off horizontal stop and smell the roses. I then find another one and do the same thing. Then another etc... Depending on time of year u can either set up where things start going horizontal with the best sign or look for a corridor connecting the bedding areas u just found.


Do you think this would work in a big woods setting? Thats if I can identify a food source which im not 100% on.
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Re: Where to scout

Unread postby andy » Wed Nov 27, 2019 3:03 am

kdawg_901 wrote:Do you think this would work in a big woods setting? Thats if I can identify a food source which im not 100% on.


I was just talking with an experienced bowhunter in my area last night, and we were discussing how different big woods can be, especially the further north you go. I have tried busting through the little swamps and marshes around here, and the deer certainly work them, but it doesn't seem like they bed in them very often. They are more likely to be in thickets and fir stands, especially after snowfall. It's probably a lot different in primarily hardwood forests, but in the mixed woods I hunt, there is a ton of bedding and the food is the limiting factor. No ag and few fields. They guy I talked to starts with acorns and apples if he can find them, and works back toward bedding.

I'm not saying that's 100% everywhere, and I certainly don't have the knowledge that most of the guys on this forum have. But big woods are just different, especially when it's thick, nasty woods that provides endless bedding options. I have had a heck of a time trying to apply the tactics Dan is talking about, and I'm at the point of abandoning any interest in marshes and doing what Boogieman is talking about: find the food source and work back.

If anyone else has any better insight than this and wants to call me out, feel free. I'm not sure I know anything anymore haha.
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Drenalin
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Re: Where to scout

Unread postby Drenalin » Wed Nov 27, 2019 4:34 am

kdawg_901 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:Here’s what works for me. The easiest thing for me to find is food source. I start there and work backwards. When vertical trails start branching off horizontal stop and smell the roses. I then find another one and do the same thing. Then another etc... Depending on time of year u can either set up where things start going horizontal with the best sign or look for a corridor connecting the bedding areas u just found.


Do you think this would work in a big woods setting? Thats if I can identify a food source which im not 100% on.

I struggle to find consistent food sources in big woods. It seems like the primary food source is browse, and it changes constantly, and it's everywhere. I haven't solved the equation.
Rynamo
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Re: Where to scout

Unread postby Rynamo » Wed Nov 27, 2019 5:56 am

Thanks for the replies. There are a few cut cornfields surrounding one spot and one cut bean field. I’ll start looking for trails leading into the cover from the field edges. Looks like more rain for this area today, so things shouldn’t change anytime soon. Thanks again.
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Boogieman1
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Re: Where to scout

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Wed Nov 27, 2019 6:24 am

kdawg_901 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:Here’s what works for me. The easiest thing for me to find is food source. I start there and work backwards. When vertical trails start branching off horizontal stop and smell the roses. I then find another one and do the same thing. Then another etc... Depending on time of year u can either set up where things start going horizontal with the best sign or look for a corridor connecting the bedding areas u just found.


Do you think this would work in a big woods setting? Thats if I can identify a food source which im not 100% on.


Man don’t get me lying I don’t have a clue :lol: Big woods to me is anything over 100 acres of continuous timber. I hunt a mix of farm and river bottoms and aside from acorns they feed in the fields. I suspect this makes finding the hot food source a heck of a lot easier than in a legitimate big woods setting.
Life is hard; It’s even harder if you are stupid.
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kdawg_901
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Re: Where to scout

Unread postby kdawg_901 » Wed Nov 27, 2019 7:04 am

Drenalin wrote:
kdawg_901 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:Here’s what works for me. The easiest thing for me to find is food source. I start there and work backwards. When vertical trails start branching off horizontal stop and smell the roses. I then find another one and do the same thing. Then another etc... Depending on time of year u can either set up where things start going horizontal with the best sign or look for a corridor connecting the bedding areas u just found.


Do you think this would work in a big woods setting? Thats if I can identify a food source which im not 100% on.

I struggle to find consistent food sources in big woods. It seems like the primary food source is browse, and it changes constantly, and it's everywhere. I haven't solved the equation.


Do you have a thought of where to start in the big woods then? I might get to hunt some late season in an area I bow hunt in early November and Im trying to figure out how to get on sign.
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Drenalin
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Re: Where to scout

Unread postby Drenalin » Wed Nov 27, 2019 8:13 am

kdawg_901 wrote:
Drenalin wrote:
kdawg_901 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:Here’s what works for me. The easiest thing for me to find is food source. I start there and work backwards. When vertical trails start branching off horizontal stop and smell the roses. I then find another one and do the same thing. Then another etc... Depending on time of year u can either set up where things start going horizontal with the best sign or look for a corridor connecting the bedding areas u just found.


Do you think this would work in a big woods setting? Thats if I can identify a food source which im not 100% on.

I struggle to find consistent food sources in big woods. It seems like the primary food source is browse, and it changes constantly, and it's everywhere. I haven't solved the equation.


Do you have a thought of where to start in the big woods then? I might get to hunt some late season in an area I bow hunt in early November and Im trying to figure out how to get on sign.

I don't have any really good advice. Where I've found good concentrations of deer has been in the rare instances where I can find a good hard edge, or at some creek crossings. Finding food and bedding have been tough for me. Not that it can't be done, I just haven't figured it out.
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Drenalin
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Re: Where to scout

Unread postby Drenalin » Wed Nov 27, 2019 8:23 am

Drenalin wrote:
kdawg_901 wrote:
Drenalin wrote:
kdawg_901 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:Here’s what works for me. The easiest thing for me to find is food source. I start there and work backwards. When vertical trails start branching off horizontal stop and smell the roses. I then find another one and do the same thing. Then another etc... Depending on time of year u can either set up where things start going horizontal with the best sign or look for a corridor connecting the bedding areas u just found.


Do you think this would work in a big woods setting? Thats if I can identify a food source which im not 100% on.

I struggle to find consistent food sources in big woods. It seems like the primary food source is browse, and it changes constantly, and it's everywhere. I haven't solved the equation.


Do you have a thought of where to start in the big woods then? I might get to hunt some late season in an area I bow hunt in early November and Im trying to figure out how to get on sign.

I don't have any really good advice. Where I've found good concentrations of deer has been in the rare instances where I can find a good hard edge, or at some creek crossings. Finding food and bedding have been tough for me. Not that it can't be done, I just haven't figured it out.

I should add, I don't imagine the big woods I'm hunting is exactly the same as up north. I'm talking about fairly mountainous terrain with miles of hardwoods and seas of laurel. So probably similar, but with some differences.
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kdawg_901
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Re: Where to scout

Unread postby kdawg_901 » Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:46 am

Drenalin wrote:
Drenalin wrote:
kdawg_901 wrote:
Drenalin wrote:
kdawg_901 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:Here’s what works for me. The easiest thing for me to find is food source. I start there and work backwards. When vertical trails start branching off horizontal stop and smell the roses. I then find another one and do the same thing. Then another etc... Depending on time of year u can either set up where things start going horizontal with the best sign or look for a corridor connecting the bedding areas u just found.


Do you think this would work in a big woods setting? Thats if I can identify a food source which im not 100% on.

I struggle to find consistent food sources in big woods. It seems like the primary food source is browse, and it changes constantly, and it's everywhere. I haven't solved the equation.


Do you have a thought of where to start in the big woods then? I might get to hunt some late season in an area I bow hunt in early November and Im trying to figure out how to get on sign.

I don't have any really good advice. Where I've found good concentrations of deer has been in the rare instances where I can find a good hard edge, or at some creek crossings. Finding food and bedding have been tough for me. Not that it can't be done, I just haven't figured it out.

I should add, I don't imagine the big woods I'm hunting is exactly the same as up north. I'm talking about fairly mountainous terrain with miles of hardwoods and seas of laurel. So probably similar, but with some differences.


True different terrain for sure. Hardwoods that feed into swamp lowlands, some hills, but flat compared to your environment. I'm thinking perhaps walk swamp edge and see what happens.


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