Scouting Efficiently

Discuss the science of figuring out our prey through good detective work.
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rbuckleyjr1
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Scouting Efficiently

Unread postby rbuckleyjr1 » Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:18 pm

I was hoping to get your guys opinion on how you would game plan for the scenario I'm going to be facing this winter/ spring scouting season. I work second shift and almost always work Mon-Sat. This doesn't leave me a whole lot of time to get out. My main window of time will be during the week after I drop my son off at school. I'll have roughly 3 hrs a day to cover as much ground as possible. I will be cyber scouting and trying to find areas to key in on. Each trip will need to fulfill a purpose or I will be spinning my wheels come season.

So I guess my question is how would you prepare to get the most out of such a short trip?


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justdirtyfun
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Re: Scouting Efficiently

Unread postby justdirtyfun » Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:53 pm

This is my approach to scouting.


Don't go scouting without a written plan. With a good reason behind each spot.
Property X at location Y for rut stand.
And so on.

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hunter_mike
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Re: Scouting Efficiently

Unread postby hunter_mike » Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:36 pm

I usually draw out the actual path i plan to take when i walk, starting at the parking lot. The path i draw follows all of the best looking transitions out to suspected bedding. Usually end up straying from the plan but doing this helps you think things through.

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backstraps
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Re: Scouting Efficiently

Unread postby backstraps » Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:51 pm

You can cover a lot of ground in three hours.

I would cyber scout as much as possible. However, in my opinion when you narrow your search of property to look at, mark the wind tunnel on your map. Scout that wind tunnel first.

That should tell you plenty about the property to either move on or scout more thoroughly.
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Re: Scouting Efficiently

Unread postby seazofcheeze » Thu Dec 24, 2015 11:57 pm

As others have said, cyber scout first. To me, that means looking at topos first. If there are elevation changes or topo features on the property you are scouting, I like to scout the topo features first (draws, saddles, benches, etc.). I do this in caltopo and add markers to my map in the topo view. Then I like to pull up the aerial view on the topo map, and another internet browser tab with bing.com maps. For some areas, the bing birdseye maps show much greater detail. On those maps, I will look for transition lines (field edges, swamp to woods, hardwoods to pines, inside corners, etc.) and mark those areas as well. Once you get the topo points you want to scout, and the aerial points you want to scout on a map, connect the dots. That is the path to take through the property on the scouting mission. It also really helps to have a GPS. Then you can connect the points you cyber scouted in google earth and export that route to your GPS. You will have an idea of how long your route is, and a rough idea of how long it will take you to navigate it. For me, my scouting speed is about 1.5mph because I like to really look around and stop often to make sure I'm not blowing by sign.

When I find areas in the field that I am interested in, I mark them on the GPS. If it is an area I want to hunt, I pick out a tree(s) to sit in and think about my access to the stand. It helps to write down notes, ex. "Stand site 1, access from the south along the creek, come straight east up the draw and sit in the maple tree. Need east, northeast, or southeast wind to hunt this spot" If you end up finding 10-20 potential stand locations in the spring, it can be hard to keep them straight without notes like that, at least for me.

Another thing that has help me is paying attention to where I am finding beds while scouting. I have found that in my general geographic area, I keep finding beds in similar terrain. For me, one of the most consistent locations has been small pockets of cedars/pines with 3-5 inch diameter trunks, especially if they are in otherwise more mature timber or along a transition edge. Now, if I see an area like that while scouting, I always thoroughly investigate it.
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Re: Scouting Efficiently

Unread postby Jphunter » Fri Dec 25, 2015 1:24 am

One thing I do is mark off all the areas that I think are getting a fair amount of pressure. Sometimes This cancels out some of the closer over looked spots, but after a little time in the area you can probably figure out where the over looked areas are.

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Re: Scouting Efficiently

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Fri Dec 25, 2015 4:35 am

seazofcheeze wrote: Another thing that has help me is paying attention to where I am finding beds while scouting. I have found that in my general geographic area, I keep finding beds in similar terrain.


I find this a lot as well... when you find a good buck bed, think to yourself, "where can I duplicate what I am looking at right here in other areas?" This will lead you to other great buck bedding if you can find it. I have done this many times.
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Re: Scouting Efficiently

Unread postby ihookem » Sat Dec 26, 2015 2:48 pm

Most of the time I am a very inefficient scouter. I am fine in the areas that have hills, valleys and woods. When I am in the marsh, it is a maze. It all seems the same, there are no hills, or anything. I just walk where it seems like likely places where a buck would be. Where I have been hunting this fall is new to me. It is high grass, willows, and Dogwood. There are scattered elms , Ash and Willows in the area. There is really no rhyme or reason for a trail to be here or there. This winter I am going to scout my but off. The land is a whole 4 -7 mi. away and ( get this) I never took it seriously cause it was so brushy. High grass so thick you can't walk. Then there is the fallen branch that is buried and ya trip. Oh well. I thick getting to know an area is the most important, get to know it so good it seem like your back yard and are not intimidated walking out at night.
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Re: Scouting Efficiently

Unread postby fishlips » Sun Dec 27, 2015 2:14 pm

Three hours a trip should allow you to cover some ground. As hunter_mike said, lay out your path before you get out there. The one thing I have learned after reading it 100+ times on here is focus on transition. Any transition. It may not have the exact sign you are looking for, but it will likely have a starting point for you. I am starting to look more and more for any sort of break or change in terrain and focusing on that. Some transitions are better than others, but until I got some time in, I had to look at a lot of different ones to kind of get an idea.


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