First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
- willsk85
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First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
Hey Guys,
I had my inaugural beast mode scout yesterday. It's an area not far from my home. It's a 700 acre marsh. I only scouted the northern portion just due to limited time. I do have some questions and would love some insight based on what I saw last night. In the trees you see out in the marsh, that shows a trail between the two, it all had about 2-4 inches of water sitting in them. It has rained quite a bit over the last few weeks. I realized its pretty easy to see the houses and the houses can easily see where I was scouting and they are only 200 yards away. I felt like there were no definitive trails as I walked through the cattails, no buck sign. However, just south of the island of trees, it seemed as though there could have been beds in the cattails that were raised up a bit, but as I walked on them, water would come up. Where I show a possible buck bed, I didn't see any buck sign or many tracks and they looked like doe tracks. Overall, it just didn't seem like I found anything outstanding that would make me say its worth a sit?
Question 1: Will deer move back into an area if after it dries out?
Question 2: Will deer bed in any sort of water, even if its just a small amount?
Question 3: What do you guys do when you scout a spot like this that looked like it could have been decent from the aerial, but when scouting it just doesn't look like it did in the aerial? Still sit it? The aerial shows what look to be trails, but when I went there, there was nothing that stood out.
Thanks guys!
I had my inaugural beast mode scout yesterday. It's an area not far from my home. It's a 700 acre marsh. I only scouted the northern portion just due to limited time. I do have some questions and would love some insight based on what I saw last night. In the trees you see out in the marsh, that shows a trail between the two, it all had about 2-4 inches of water sitting in them. It has rained quite a bit over the last few weeks. I realized its pretty easy to see the houses and the houses can easily see where I was scouting and they are only 200 yards away. I felt like there were no definitive trails as I walked through the cattails, no buck sign. However, just south of the island of trees, it seemed as though there could have been beds in the cattails that were raised up a bit, but as I walked on them, water would come up. Where I show a possible buck bed, I didn't see any buck sign or many tracks and they looked like doe tracks. Overall, it just didn't seem like I found anything outstanding that would make me say its worth a sit?
Question 1: Will deer move back into an area if after it dries out?
Question 2: Will deer bed in any sort of water, even if its just a small amount?
Question 3: What do you guys do when you scout a spot like this that looked like it could have been decent from the aerial, but when scouting it just doesn't look like it did in the aerial? Still sit it? The aerial shows what look to be trails, but when I went there, there was nothing that stood out.
Thanks guys!
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Re: First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
I don't think it matters if the area is wet or dry..but there needs to be some sign and I'm pretty sure they will not bed in water
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Re: First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
Question 1: Will deer move back into an area if after it dries out?
YES
Question 2: Will deer bed in any sort of water, even if its just a small amount?
NO
Question 3: What do you guys do when you scout a spot like this that looked like it could have been decent from the aerial, but when scouting it just doesn't look like it did in the aerial? Still sit it? The aerial shows what look to be trails, but when I went there, there was nothing that stood out.
I scout a lot of ground that don't have potential... I keep moving and don't look back. Circle that marsh and look at everything along that edge, and if there are bucks in there, you will find them... In some spots there won't be a lot of buck sign, if there are a lot of beds (new or old) its probably worth looking at unless you have a lot of spots...
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Re: First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
I wouldn't get discouraged and disregard this spot yet....looks like you still have quite a bit of ground to cover. Next time out I would do as Dan mentioned and continue looking for sign on the transition edge heading further back into the property, from the aerial it looks to be a good spot imo
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- willsk85
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Re: First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
Thanks for the insight guys. What I scouted was only the tip of the iceberg on the far north end. However, I went down the road a littler further to another parking spot that is more excluded from houses and a major highway. I just wanted to walk down towards the lake to glass around the corner to the south and I just took the human trail that people take to get on the lake for duck hunting. When I got to a part in the trail just before the cattails started (Green dot), I cut a recent buck track. Measured a little over 4 inches in length. The buck track was headed south - southwest. So, that gives me a heads up that a buck is in the area. My guess, bedding somewhere in this area of the marsh.
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Re: First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
Are those deer trails on the bottom left corner?
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Re: First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
Are those deer trails on the bottom left corner?
- willsk85
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Re: First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
ihookem wrote:Are those deer trails on the bottom left corner?
ihookem,
To answer your question, yes and no . The one's being pointed out by the red arrows I don't think are, but will confirm this weekend. The one's pointed out with green arrows I believe have a higher likelihood of being deer trails. I will be scouting this weekend and post pictures and updates of what I found.
Dan,
Thanks for the confidence boost!
- willsk85
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Re: First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
Went to scout the area shown above yesterday. I realize another reason why scouting should be done late winter/early spring. It's 85 flippin' degrees outside and you don't get carried away by mosquitos. Put on about 2 miles yesterday scouting.
In the transition line between the cattails and wooded area, I found only 1 trail that resembled a deer using it, but what didn't make sense is that the directions the cattails were pushed down was walking towards the woods, and as I tried to follow it in the woods it is incredible thick and I lost the trail? Does that ever happen to anyone else? And, this trail only leads to one place, the water. Very strange.
Throughout the rest I scouted I found out the island of trees all had water in them and no reason to believe deer are using it as there was no trails leading to or from the area. The one spot that I came to as I was going on the east side of the woods, along the fence line. I came to an area that was sandy and muddy and fairly open with a bunch of oaks in the area and I was impressed with the amount of large buck tracks I found and not all the same track as there were some physical differences between a couple. My guess, bachelor group? They look fairly fresh, I would say from the last rain fall we had. Majority of them were in an 10 yds x 10 yds, as I got further away from this area, the tracks became less and didn't notice any buck tracks, just doe tracks. Then when I got to the north side, I found another large buck track headed north. Would the smaller area I found the majority of these tracks in be the spot that this buck crosses into the oaks? As you can see the better bedding is near or in the cattail marsh. Any thoughts fella?
In the transition line between the cattails and wooded area, I found only 1 trail that resembled a deer using it, but what didn't make sense is that the directions the cattails were pushed down was walking towards the woods, and as I tried to follow it in the woods it is incredible thick and I lost the trail? Does that ever happen to anyone else? And, this trail only leads to one place, the water. Very strange.
Throughout the rest I scouted I found out the island of trees all had water in them and no reason to believe deer are using it as there was no trails leading to or from the area. The one spot that I came to as I was going on the east side of the woods, along the fence line. I came to an area that was sandy and muddy and fairly open with a bunch of oaks in the area and I was impressed with the amount of large buck tracks I found and not all the same track as there were some physical differences between a couple. My guess, bachelor group? They look fairly fresh, I would say from the last rain fall we had. Majority of them were in an 10 yds x 10 yds, as I got further away from this area, the tracks became less and didn't notice any buck tracks, just doe tracks. Then when I got to the north side, I found another large buck track headed north. Would the smaller area I found the majority of these tracks in be the spot that this buck crosses into the oaks? As you can see the better bedding is near or in the cattail marsh. Any thoughts fella?
- willsk85
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Re: First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
Also, when looking at the aerial, don't let the openness deter you from thinking it couldn't be bedding. I was walking in minimum waist high, but mostly chest high grass. The fact that things are spread out, is what throws me for a loop and hard for me to concentrate on where they/he could be bedded, could be anywhere from the way I see it. Correct me if I am wrong.
Thanks again!
Thanks again!
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Re: First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
Im not understanding your post and question? I don't know where you saw the tracks, or if/where you found bedding?
- willsk85
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Re: First BeastMode Scout....Ever!
Sorry about the confusion Dan.
What my point was is that I didn't find anything that just stood out to me beds that get used often. I found a few areas of dead grass scattered next to trees, where the other grass around it was growing fine. I tried looking for tracks/trails around what I thought could be beds, but nothing that just popped out at me as a definitive trail going in any direction from these areas. The possible beds are in purple (doe?) and orange (buck?). The high amount of tracks is the green dot. My scouting kept me on the perimeter mainly and I didn't get very deep into the wooded area as I was trying to look for trails that led out into cattails but didn't have much luck.
Sorry, in my point of exhaustion from scouting and mosquitos feasting on me I didn't get good pics. The only one I got was of one of the many buck tracks and that one was sort of blurry.
What my point was is that I didn't find anything that just stood out to me beds that get used often. I found a few areas of dead grass scattered next to trees, where the other grass around it was growing fine. I tried looking for tracks/trails around what I thought could be beds, but nothing that just popped out at me as a definitive trail going in any direction from these areas. The possible beds are in purple (doe?) and orange (buck?). The high amount of tracks is the green dot. My scouting kept me on the perimeter mainly and I didn't get very deep into the wooded area as I was trying to look for trails that led out into cattails but didn't have much luck.
Sorry, in my point of exhaustion from scouting and mosquitos feasting on me I didn't get good pics. The only one I got was of one of the many buck tracks and that one was sort of blurry.
- willsk85
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