Speed scout or go in blind

[Ryan549]

I’ve ruined more hunts than I care to share back in the day by running all over the woods a few days before an opener. Lesson learned.

[Hawthorne]

Northern Wisconsin so it’s big woods. Wait till opening day go tracking if there is snow or still hunt your way to your prescouted areas on onX. Shining before is a good idea

[Boogieman1]

Neither is anything close to ideal for me. I gotta have some serious confidence in a tree to sit still for hours and wait. For me neither would do that. But given just those 2 choices I don’t think a guy could pay me to set up in the dark blind. Think I would have better odds shooting one off my tailgate in the parking lot. Guess I would strategically scout my tail off from daylight until I found something high odds. Then drastically lower my expectations and shoot the first legal sucker who showed himself. I like what Dan said about the opener being at noon. Smart!

[naternate]

I won’t go in truly blind for a morning hunt ever again. Have done it a couple times and wasted time sitting a bad spot or hust off where I need to be and having to move. What hammers it home is scouting areas picked out on the map preseason that look like they should be great and boots on the ground turned up no sign worth a sit.

If you feel you have to hunt that morning, scout For a low impact area like a funnel or observation stand. Otherwise scout your way in for the first hunt

[Marshbuster89]

I agree with the guys saying to safely scout it.

I personally would do aerial/Topo map scouting til I was mentally exhausted, get on foot and physically scout the perimeters of food sources (field edges, big woods, etc.), glass from a safe distance (dont forget about this wind and thermals while doing so), shine, and observe where other people are going in to get there “stands” ready and stuff.

[KLEMZ]

You didn't say how long you were hunting. If you can hunt the week after opening weekend I would start Monday morning (after the masses have gone home) and walk areas you think could be good. You're talking northern Wisconsin, so there aren't a lot of deer, and those deer are only using 10% of all that land on any given day. You must find the 10% and hunt that. The 10% changes often, so you must scout everyday and hunt where they are.