Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

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headgear
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Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby headgear » Thu Dec 06, 2012 5:51 am

I still got a tag and late season hunting is on my mind but more and more I am thinking about scouting for next season and I am looking for some advice. I've got a lot of experience hunting beast style now I have a pretty good idea of what I am doing but I want to up my game for next year. Land access is not an issue, I have more land that I know what to do with. However the quality of the land can vary greatly and I am learning some of my best spots may not have been as great as I first thought. I have about 20 chunks of public land I have scouted, some big and some small but most of them are in the 500+ acres area and 6 of them are 1500 acres and over. They all hold some mature bucks but the numbers are not all that high due to pressure and low a deer population, the smaller properties can go dry and come back to life depending on how many mature bucks are in the area.

So the big question, if it were you and you had all this land would you focus more on learning every square inch of the land and find every bed so when a mature buck is in the area you can really go after him. Or with this being public land would you rather spread yourself out more, find new land and only hunt the prime bedding areas all season long in hopes of upping your odds?

I've thought about both options and I was leaning one way but recently changed my mind. I would certainly love to do both and will in the future but with 3 kids under 5 time is major limiting factor so I need to bring my A game to both my scouting and my hunting.


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Re: Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby PLB » Thu Dec 06, 2012 7:22 am

I've had the same issues. Now I take my best area of public and try and learn every inch of it. Sometimes I think you can spread yourself out too far with too much land and too many stand options. I have several spots picked out in my best public area and hunt it when conditions are right.

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Re: Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby Dewey » Thu Dec 06, 2012 11:27 am

I like to learn every square inch of my public spots and find that it really helps when a deer is out of range but you know where he is headed for instance a food source or another bedding area. The only way you know this is by having previously figuring it all out by intense scouting. I have adjusted and set up later off that knowledge and seen or killed a great buck.

I have quite a few large areas I learned litterally every square inch of ground over the years in the offseason and keep adding to them every year. I do some speed scouting and when I find the right sign I totally focus on that spot learning everything I can.

I do think you can spread yourself too thin and are better off focussing on a few key spots with many stand options.

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Re: Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby dan » Thu Dec 06, 2012 11:40 am

I think it really helps to know your hunting land intimately... But with that said, I would still focus on both. With time restraints, no one ever said you have to do it all in one year.
I am always scouting new ground when I have time, and often I go scout a property I somewhat know because I have an hour or two to spare... I would decide where I am scouting based on where I think I have the best chance at getting a buck, or where I have time to scout any given day.
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Re: Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby headgear » Thu Dec 06, 2012 3:41 pm

Thanks for the input guys. My initial thought was learn the land I know it inside and out and really fine tune my setups and knowledge of these areas, no doubt it is a smart way to hunt. However something Dan said in another thread kind of had me look at things differently, he had talked about scouting an swamp but only finding one good area to hunt. It got my thinking about a lot of my setups this year, I was hunting buck beds for sure but I think a many of them were the secondary kind of bed and not those primary areas. When the time and the wind was right to hunt my best spots I just didn't connect or even have encounters like previous years. It kind of got me thinking about my whole approach to public land, not that I couldn't someday kill a nice buck on some of my secondary beds but are my odds higher only hunting the priemium bedding areas and hopping around?

Between last spring and a couple scouting trips in late Nov I really tore apart a 1000 acre swamp, found lots of buck sign and a lot of beds, dozens of buck beds. However if I just look at the best of best spots for buck bedding/buck sign there are 3-4 that are screaming hunt me! The rest look good, quality sign for sure, but I wonder if my time would be better spent elsware.

I am certainly going to give this some more thought. There are certainly some spots I hunt already I plan to scout again, I just need to learn them better or gain just a little more intel. At the same time there is so much land out there I am drooling over it hard not to think what else could be out there. It seems every year I find even better areas than the year before. Just last week I walked a new island like I had never seen before, the place was torn up with buck sign and beds. I can't help but think what if I had 10 spots like that, skip the good spots and hunt the great spots.

Anyway thanks for your input, going to let this stuff simmer for a while and get back to late season hunting. We finally got some cold weather here.
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Re: Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby Stanley » Thu Dec 06, 2012 4:22 pm

I assume you are ultimately scouting to kill a mature buck. You have spots that you are confident in for late season if I'm reading correct. I cannot relate to scouting during hunting season if you feel good about your chances in spots already scouted. I personally never intentionally scout during hunting season. That doesn't mean I don't keep my eyes open for a possible opportunity (that happened this year, Halloween buck). Another thing to remember you can't do it all in one or two years. It may take 5 years, or more to really know and understand a property. I am more successful in the properties I know very well, and you will be also. My thought process is; you scout to find good places to set up and hunt, you hunt to hang one on the wall. For me it would be a no brainer, hunt the late season and scout when you are done hunting. Your success rate will also go up if you are hunting good to great spots rather than poor to fair spots. Good luck.
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Re: Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby dan » Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:59 pm

Lets look at the marsh behind my house for a second... I that marsh inside out and have been in every inch of it many times. I know where all the bedding areas are... There are hundreds of bedding areas... BUT, 95% of my big buck killing there happens in one of about a 1/2 dozen bedding areas.
Find those primary bedding areas where the big bucks bed when ever there in a certain section and your golden.
The more I look at my success in different spots and analyze it, the more I feel the need to find more primary beds in more places and spread out. If I had about 50 spots that duplicated the 1/2 dozen great ones, I would shoot multiple monsters every year...
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Re: Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby headgear » Fri Dec 07, 2012 1:19 am

dan wrote:Lets look at the marsh behind my house for a second... I that marsh inside out and have been in every inch of it many times. I know where all the bedding areas are... There are hundreds of bedding areas... [glow=red]BUT, 95% of my big buck killing there happens in one of about a 1/2 dozen bedding areas.[/glow] Find those primary bedding areas where the big bucks bed when ever there in a certain section and your golden.
The more I look at my success in different spots and analyze it, the more I feel the need to find more primary beds in more places and spread out. If I had about 50 spots that duplicated the 1/2 dozen great ones, I would shoot multiple monsters every year...


This is exactly what I was talking about, especially the part highlighted in red. It is probably far more important on public land to be hunting only the absolute best bedding areas. Now there probably comes a point where you need to know a place inside and out to find all those great buck bedding areas but for now I think I need to skip over the marginal beds and just hit my best spots every time I'm in the woods. No doubt it can't all be done in one off season but I am looking for a plan going forward, I really have no plans to ever stop scouting at any point down the road.

Stan this whole thread was more focused on next year, I have been doing some scouting lately with the muzzy in hand and still hunting some bedding areas. Still plan to hunt late season but thinking about next year already.
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Re: Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby oneflag » Fri Dec 07, 2012 4:03 am

Good thread because I’m in the same boat. I hunt public hill country and several years ago decided to focus on mature bucks and not just deer hunt. Well it was like starting from scratch and I’m still learning. Public hill country can be overwhelming at times and I feel I know enough to be dangerous. What I mean by that is too often I bump mature bucks from their bed. I’m limited on time like most folks and I also have a young daughter that likes to hunt. So when I take her I can fall back in the zone of just hunting deer and hunt field edges, hunt in ladder stands, ECT. But when I’m focused on a mature buck the gears change and the work begins.

So to kind of answer your question; this is what I’m going to try. Next season I hope to have my great spots on one piece of paper and forget about all the maps, Google earth, gps points and all the notes scattered on my work bench. Have a one pager posted on the wall with maybe 20 spots that I feel I have a chance at a mature buck. I will probably nickname the spots so I can remember details of the buck bed. For example; Smith road buck bed, early season, west wind, bean field. Maybe Im weird but I think this will help me to slow down and focus on that one spot when the time is right.
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Re: Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby Swampthing » Fri Dec 07, 2012 5:18 am

I'm kinda in the same boat I just checked my GPS and I now have 50 + different areas I have either partially scouted or whatever. I,m thinking I need to make some adjustments as well. I am just addicted to scouting that I can't help myself. Just last night I found another spot I just have to check out.
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Re: Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby MN Legacy » Fri Dec 07, 2012 9:38 am

Well I hunt one piece of public and really enjoy it. It's about 1,000 acres and still find the need to or the desire to check out more spots and what there potential is. I still hunt some private, but some of that is not vary good and receives too much pressure so this off season I think I'm going to look for some knew spots, it's kind of nice to explore new places.
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Re: Scouting Crossroads? Public Land Advice

Unread postby Stanley » Fri Dec 07, 2012 10:29 am

headgear wrote:
dan wrote:Lets look at the marsh behind my house for a second... I that marsh inside out and have been in every inch of it many times. I know where all the bedding areas are... There are hundreds of bedding areas... [glow=red]BUT, 95% of my big buck killing there happens in one of about a 1/2 dozen bedding areas.[/glow] Find those primary bedding areas where the big bucks bed when ever there in a certain section and your golden.
The more I look at my success in different spots and analyze it, the more I feel the need to find more primary beds in more places and spread out. If I had about 50 spots that duplicated the 1/2 dozen great ones, I would shoot multiple monsters every year...


This is exactly what I was talking about, especially the part highlighted in red. It is probably far more important on public land to be hunting only the absolute best bedding areas. Now there probably comes a point where you need to know a place inside and out to find all those great buck bedding areas but for now I think I need to skip over the marginal beds and just hit my best spots every time I'm in the woods. No doubt it can't all be done in one off season but I am looking for a plan going forward, I really have no plans to ever stop scouting at any point down the road.

Stan this whole thread was more focused on next year, I have been doing some scouting lately with the muzzy in hand and still hunting some bedding areas. Still plan to hunt late season but thinking about next year already.


Most of what I have learned came from yesterday not today so I can fully appreciate your thought process. I guess like in my case with a lot of sand through the glass, understanding filling this years tag could be the last tag ever filled. Good luck with your scouting.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.


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