Heading out!

[xpauliber]

Getting my gear together for a nice Sunday scouting trip!

Got a cam to pick up that was on a bench on a hillside I scouted with my younger brother last week. There were 3 benches on this hillside with the middle bench having the most tracks connecting a thick stand of pines on one end and a field on the other. Excited to see what's on the cam.

Also going to tackle a large point in the big woods that has frustrated me ever since I've been hunting it. The top of the point is mature open hardwoods consisting of red oaks, rock oaks, and maple trees, with little to no underbrush so you can see for a couple hundred yards in some spots. I can't see a mature buck walking freely in the open during daylight. The sides of this point however are covered in laurel that drops down on both sides into creek bottoms choked with laurel. I've hunted these creek bottoms but ALWAYS got busted by the swirling winds. In most instances, it was just before dark and I only heard deer snorting and never got a visual to see what the deer was. I'm going to comb the 1/3 elevation on this point and look for beds and/or better ambush spots.

Taking a camera so I'll have some pics to share later.

[Jackson Marsh]

Good luck!

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[PLB]

Awesome!! Good luck!!

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[Dewey]

Good luck! Snow is getting pretty deep around here again so I am going to stay in and watch the Daytona 500 today!

[Stanley]

Let us know how it went.

[Darin]

Good luck! Pic heavy!

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[xpauliber]

Started my scouting trip by heading to pick up a trail cam. Found a pretty nice transition line between pines and some hardwoods with young growth. It was slightly down off the top of the ridge and looks like a good place to catch a buck:



Doesn’t get any fresher than this. It was almost steaming on top of the snow.



The snow had started to melt last week and then refroze making a crust. Anything within a mile could hear me tromping through the woods. I bounced some deer but wouldn’t have known it without the tracks in the snow. Only had to follow them about 30 yards to their beds. Five beds, no sheds.




Grabbed the cam. Had a few doe on it. Left there and headed to the point that has been my nemesis to try and unravel how to kill bucks there. When I first got there, I came across a turkey 4-lane haha



Headed down to cross the creek. Here’s a pic after I crossed the creek before I headed up onto the ridge:



Shot of the creek:


There is something about the sound of running water in the wintertime with snow on the creek banks. I took some time here to soak it all in:



Some large rocks in the area:


There wasn’t a lack of deer tracks but I only saw one track that even got my attention all day and it wasn’t even that big:


I ventured to a tree that I have hunted out of before. This tree means nothing to the rest of the world, but it has a special bond with me. Visiting a tree in the off-season that you hunted out of before is like seeing that person that used to be your best friend at one point in your life. Even if you haven’t talked in years, when you do meet up, the memories are still there and you pick up right where you left off:


Out in the middle of this mountain I discovered this home-made climber made out of solid steel. It’s no wonder the guy left it, I can’t imagine how much it weighed. Historically, I have found that if I find a rotted board nailed to a tree or some other sign of an old treestand, that area usually has deer activity there. This was no exception, there were tracks all over. Ancestral deer trails are amazing and some of the better spots I have are near old abandoned tree stands. If this stand could talk, what would it tell me?





I noticed an odd set of logs wedged into a cluster of trees right behind this metal stand. Perhaps the guy that left this stand still comes back and hunts this spot by standing on those logs?



A hand-warmer wrapper confirmed that it was indeed used in some type of hunting capacity. I don’t understand why people leave garbage.



Here is a view from on top of the “log stand”


A small rub along a trail. It’s always neat standing where you know a buck at one point in time stood:


I am always on the go and when I get out in the woods, I have to force myself to slow down and take it all in, especially when I’m scouting. The duties of everyday life seem to have you going a million miles an hour. I came across this bit of leaves dug up on the snow from a squirrel digging up one of the nuts he hid. I had to wonder if I had seen this squirrel sometime during the season when I was perched 25 feet up. In October, he may have helped keep me entertained when the deer sightings were rare, gathering nuts and burying them for the winter. Now, he again has entertained me and brought me full circle as he reaped what he had sown. I couldn’t help but feel that by scouting now, I was sowing, and come October, I will reap what I have sown. The great dynamic of the outdoors was being shown to me in the little things that most people never get to experience. I feel bad for those people.


Found about 10 or 12 different beds in one area on the outside bend of the creek but in amongst 10 foot tall laurel. Couldn’t find a single track that looked like a buck:





A view from the beds with the creek to my back and looking towards the top of the ridge:


Here’s the highlight and coincidentally, the low point of my trip. I stopped and talked to a guy that lives adjacent to this area and he found this buck the other day that he suspects was shot in rifle and not recovered. Where it was found was surrounded by rifle stands and camps. This is one of the biggest bucks I have ever had my hands on from my area:




I learned more about this area, but didn’t find any buck beds or anything to put me onto a buck yet. I will have to get back in here after the snow melts and see what else I can find. Overall, a great trip! Thanks for reading.
-Paul

[Edcyclopedia]

Nice write up Paul, good luck, it looks pretty good and deer love the Mtn. Laurel!

[ttsbuck]

Paul thanks for taking us along on your scouting today, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Dewey]

Looks like you had an interesting day! Thanks for sharing!

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[xpauliber]

Nice write up Paul, good luck, it looks pretty good and deer love the Mtn. Laurel!

They do indeed love the mountain laurel and over the years, I have gotten trail cam pics of some whoppers and the buck I just held today excites me but also frustrates me because I KNOW good bucks are on that mountain in the laurel, but it seems they can bed and feed all within the security of the laurel. There were a lot of tracks, but they seemed to meander through the laurel anywhere they wanted to.

Deer & bear also move silently through that stuff where I'm sure I sound like a freight train trying to move through it with a stand and my gear. I guess it would be similar to going through cattails though?

[Darin]

Paul thanks for taking us along on your scouting today, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

X2

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[Stanley]

Very cool pics and notes to go with it. I think you should take that steel climber, ditch your LW stand and use it next year. Now that would be Beast style.

[xpauliber]

Very cool pics and notes to go with it. I think you should take that steel climber, ditch your LW stand and use it next year. Now that would be Beast style.

Haha I'm sure it would be just as if not quieter.

[Jackson Marsh]

Good write up! Is it normal to have that many green leaves attached this time of year?