In season scouting

[Boogieman1]

I’ve hunted my area since I was a kid. Believe I possibly do similar but my terminology is different. I scout in January and February. I spot check during the season. In fields I’m looking for large tracks to show up, back in the timber I’m looking for rubs or scrapes to open up. I already have scouted the where and why. I’m simply sprinkling some flour to see if the grease is hot. I’m not being intrusive and just stomping all over the place. Not saying one can’t be successful stomping all over the place. But it’s just not my mo.

[Huntress13]

I’ve hunted my area since I was a kid. Believe I possibly do similar but my terminology is different. I scout in January and February. I spot check during the season. In fields I’m looking for large tracks to show up, back in the timber I’m looking for rubs or scrapes to open up. I already have scouted the where and why. I’m simply sprinkling some flour to see if the grease is hot. I’m not being intrusive and just stomping all over the place. Not saying one can’t be successful stomping all over the place. But it’s just not my mo.

That's great if you have all those places scouted ahead. But if you don’t have that background in a lot of places and want to broaden your horizons or hunt a new place in season you never scouted. In this case, I hunted the area before and have a general idea of deer movement but being more new to beast tactics I don't have a whole lot of inventory of places yet. Home property gets burnt out pretty quick because I'm not the only one hunting it.

[seuss79]

You have to either know or get an eye for how far in you can go and still find a setup vs how far in the deer are bedding/traveling in daylight. Most times the deer are 2 sometimes 3 or more ecotones deep, especially mature bucks(unless you are talking some little overlooked spot or whatever). So generally speaking you have more room to work with than you think (in pressured areas, once velvet is stripped).

So in your example the edge from the brushy field would be the first ecotone. If that is the first edge any hunter in the area will encounter, you can be pretty sure they will no bedding on that edge. I also doubt they are just bedding up in the woods(unless it’s real thick?). So after you check where those trails meet the brushy field, you can follow the one that tickles your fancy into the woods and keep your eyes open for the next edge(ecotone) or piece of terrain, structure etc... it may be a swamp, a clear cut, a drop off, a river, whatever.

I generally walk Just off that next edge looking for exit trails. I use my binoculars a lot to spot rubs up ahead when I can. I like walking into a quartering wind. When I find what I am looking for I will drop milkweed for a while, analyze all the potential trees, predict where the thermals will go at sunset and j-hook back to the transition or just inside it to setup.

Very hard to articulate this via written word and so many variables to consider, so I hope that this makes some bit of sense.

Ecotone..... This is the second time I've heard this term. I understand what you are saying but cannot picture a second or third ecotone in areas that are bedding. Would you be able to show what the 2nd or 3rd is on the map I provided? Or is this not possible from aerials?

Screenshot_20201009-144606.png

[PK_]

That aerial is not ideal for what I am talking about.

Here is a random spot:

So the road/field could be considered first edge or ecotone. Then work your way in from there. Sometimes a 3rd or 4th edge could be a 1st or 2nd depending on where you are along the transition. This is not at all like a set in stone type of idea. But hopefully this gives you an idea of what I mean.



Ok postimg cropped the image when I posted it. Just imagine access is at the field. That would be the first ecotone then work your way to the others. Some are hard transitions some are soft. There are some smaller ones i didn’t mark and I did it quickly don’t take those lines as exact. Also it can be topography as an edge doesn’t necessarily have to be and edge/transition/ecotone...

[seuss79]

That aerial is not ideal for what I am talking about.

Here is a random spot:

So the

I think I get it. All the areas/ecotones would be considered transitions that could be bedding? So from where you access, you are saying that deer are often 2 or more deep.

Basically you don't typically see them in the first transition walking in.

If that's the case, that makes sense.

[PK_]

That aerial is not ideal for what I am talking about.

Here is a random spot:

So the

I think I get it. All the areas/ecotones would be considered transitions that could be bedding? So from where you access, you are saying that deer are often 2 or more deep.

Basically you don't typically see them in the first transition walking in.

If that's the case, that makes sense.

Yes. You got it. That is counting them if you are walking in the way most hunters would access. Meaning if you were to come in by boat in that river you wouldn’t count 2 or 3 edges back towards where other hunters would be coming in... obviously lol.