Scout more parcels, or get more info on already scouted land

[Rutnstrut]

So I have scouted more public land this year than ever. I have scouted more land than I can hunt next season and there is still a lot of land near me that I haven't set foot on. My dilema is this. Scout as many new parcels before green up as I can. The other option is become more familiar with the new pieces I scouted earlier that I have only set foot on once. A lot of those places I found excellent set ups and buck beds. But I like to be more familiar with a spot than being there once if possible. So what do you guys prefer? Quantity or quality, yes I know both are prefered;)

[Hawthorne]

I have two pieces of private I could kill a decent buck off of every year. That said, I like scouting and finding different spots on public. I like the adventure. To many spots to hunt is a good problem. I also like hitting the public to keep the pressure off my private so I can wait till the time is right and do some bed hunts on public in early season. So its quantity for me.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Dewey]

I'm in the same boat with scouting out of state. At first I wanted to scout as many properties as possible but now thinking I should on focus on 2-3 and get to know them extremely well. The 3 properties I want to hunt add up to about 10,000 acres so should be plenty of land to keep me busy.

My thought is I can always do a blind hunt on another property if I want. Always enjoy doing a few of those every year anyway. Pretty easy to spread yourself too thin and then hurt your odds. Focussed scouting can really pay off since the details are easy to miss when cruising thru covering a bunch of ground. I always have to tell myself to slow down but admittedly it's hard for me to do but I'm getting better. Last weekend I was in a slow jog at times because I had so much ground to cover.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Jackson Marsh]

I think it depends on the property. If you know good bucks are in the area and there is a lot of prime public ground I would scout the best areas well.

If the properties only have a few good spots for the prevailing wind, then I would branch out.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Rutnstrut]

I have two pieces of private I could kill a decent buck off of every year. That said, I like scouting and finding different spots on public. I like the adventure. To many spots to hunt is a good problem. I also like hitting the public to keep the pressure off my private so I can wait till the time is right and do some bed hunts on public in early season. So its quantity for me.

[ Post made via Android ]

I have private land as well. But I also really enjoy scouting and like to keep the pressure low on our land and save it for my kids. Having hunted the same private land for 20 plus years and knowing that land so well, it feels a bit odd not knowing the land I am hunting. That's what is kind of pushing me twords becoming more familiar with the ones I have scouted once. But then I always have that feeling like that next property I was going to check out could be my next honey hole;)

[Rutnstrut]

I'm in the same boat with scouting out of state. At first I wanted to scout as many properties as possible but now thinking I should on focus on 2-3 and get to know them extremely well. The 3 properties I want to hunt add up to about 10,000 acres so should be plenty of land to keep me busy.

My thought is I can always do a blind hunt on another property if I want. Always enjoy doing a few of those every year anyway. Pretty easy to spread yourself too thin and then hurt your odds. Focussed scouting can really pay off since the details are easy to miss when cruising thru covering a bunch of ground. I always have to tell myself to slow down but admittedly it's hard for me to do but I'm getting better. Last weekend I was in a slow jog at times because I had so much ground to cover.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

The one reason I am thinking about checking out more properties is most of these properties are relatively small 70-360 acres. There is a lot of those smaller properties I have already checked out, but I figure they may burn out easier. So I am thinking the more options the better.

[Lockdown]

I think it depends on the property. If you know good bucks are in the area and there is a lot of prime public ground I would scout the best areas well.

[ Post made via Android ]

Pretty easy to spread yourself too thin and then hurt your odds. Focused scouting can really pay off since the details are easy to miss when cruising thru covering a bunch of ground.

^^^ AGREE 100% ^^^

I spent a TON of time in my best areas this spring. The extra effort paid off because the last time in I found a buck bed I didn't know about. To me it only makes sense to know every leaf and twig in your BEST bedding areas. If you've got plenty of solid bedding already laid out and you know re-scouting them (or inferior areas on the same property) isn't going to teach you much, then I'd head to something new hoping to find something exceptional.

[Stanley]

It is a huge advantage having a good knowledge of a property. That is why people scout, to learn where a buck lives.

[mainebowhunter]

So I have scouted more public land this year than ever. I have scouted more land than I can hunt next season and there is still a lot of land near me that I haven't set foot on. My dilema is this. Scout as many new parcels before green up as I can. The other option is become more familiar with the new pieces I scouted earlier that I have only set foot on once. A lot of those places I found excellent set ups and buck beds. But I like to be more familiar with a spot than being there once if possible. So what do you guys prefer? Quantity or quality, yes I know both are prefered;)

I have both. Spots that are my goto spots. I know them intimately. I also have a range of spots that are brandnew. Every season I seem to think I have "so much property I don't need any more" only to enter Oct and realize....man I don't have enough. Everything looked so promising but when things go south, you really need to have a BUNCH of stuff in your back pocket to keep things fresh.

Last year, I started adding "brand new" deer hunting properties. Stuff I really did not care about burning out because I only planned on hunting it a few times. This year, added 5x more property. My ultimate goal is to have multiple spots where I can kill a mature buck out of any given day during the season.

My answer would be, you need BOTH.

[headgear]

When starting out with public land I like to focus on only the best of the best spots, those are likely areas that you have the best odds to take a mature buck in any given season. Those high quality or primary beds are often the only places you see them moving during shooting hours on public. My strategy has been to find as many of these spots as possible, if you have some decent scouting skills and put on some miles you can rack up a lot of these spots in a short time.

Once I have a nice "portfolio" of beds to work with then I start re-scouting the land I am familiar with. Dig in deep and find those overlooked spots, see which beds are active from year to year and start connecting the dots for the best rut locations. Things change a lot on public so be ready for that, pressure changes every year, beds go hot and cold, the number of mature bucks change too. It is great to know the land inside and out but make sure to do it in a way so all your eggs aren't in one basket.

Like JM mentioned too, one large property with a lot of target animals is worth a ton of extra effort but honestly I'm not sure if those areas exist on the public land I hunt.

[matt1336]

Don't be in a rush. Getting to know multiple properties well takes time. For me- I think I might know a property pretty well from spring scouting but come hunting season the deer teach me something different. There are too many variables to factor in when your actually hunting- the biggest being hunting pressure.
My opinion would be to get yourself a few properties and scout them hard. Take some others that interest you and find some observation stands for this year and dive into them when you have time. Do your I season scouting from what your obs sits tell you. You're going to re scout your best spots and probably not go back to others that you thought might have been good.
You can't find a seasons worth of well scouted spots in one off season. Believe me- I've tried.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[stash59]

Personally if I could be out scouting. I would cover as many spots/properties as i could before green up. Especially if the properties are small. Then starting with what looks the best. I would go back in during June and July. To learn things better. Yes it will be tougher, but if you marked all the important sign the first time. With a GPS (I used the GPS feature on my camera. During the handful of scouts I made back in the spring of 2014. Took pictures of everything. Downloaded it to the computer. Then have plotted all the coordinates on Google earth. Plus my GPS.) You can use these coordinates to go back in after green up. When things are thicker. Making it harder to see. But still able to find them.

One day in an area in June and July shouldn't booger the bucks for hunting season. Plus it will give you a better idea of what things will look like early next fall.

Even if you don't make it back to an area. You'll still have some intel. That is better than going in blind. Having just cyber scouted a property. As the years pass. You'll have so many spots scouted that you may only go back in to all he old ones in the spring. Gaining more intense knowledge then.

JMHO!!

[dan]

Everytime you enter a buck bedding area you do damage... With that said, my opinion is you get in there once and spend the time you need to pick out a tree, learn the access wrought, etc. And then you get out and leave it alone till kill time.

[Jphunter]

Before the season starts I like to have as many areas as i can find with the caliber of deer I'm after. Once the season gets rolling a lot can happen and I like having options.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Stanley]

I think Dan hit on the head, anytime you enter a bucks bedding area you do damage. So knowing this should give you an idea on how to kill the buck. Know the land like the back f your hand!!!!! If you know where the bucks bed and you know where the bucks feeds you have the two main ingredients. You can kill a buck without disturbing his bedding area if you know from experience where he is bedding.

This all plays into my low impact style. I like to have a property practically memorized. This way if there is a buck in the area I have a good idea of how to kill him. Hey.... it is never a given but sure helps not going in blind.