How did your scouting season go?

[headgear]

Well the leaves are up and I am pretty much shutting down my scouting season. So how did you do this spring?

This was my 2nd beast scouting season so I was pretty happy to double my number of huntable buck beds and also gain a more intimate knowledge of some areas I lightly scouted last year or just hunted without scouting. As usual there just never seems to be enough time (young family at home) so I still have a long list of areas I want to scout for next season but I should have plenty of beds to keep me busy this fall.

Also what do you plan to do this summer to get ready for the fall?

I am going to try and run my game cams in a more effective manner this year, years past I would check them too often or leave them in one spot for too long. I am going to try and rotate them through a variety of public locations and see what I can catch on film and do my best to take inventory. This means one trip to put the cam up and one to pull it out and that is it. I will also try and do a little more shining this year, the bigwoods areas I hunt don't really lend themselves to shining but there are a couple of old fields I can hit to see if I can find any slobs.

[Dewey]

I did more scouting than ever this late winter/spring and feel very confident going into the next season. I found quite a few new buck beds and have about 15 new stand spots ready to go with different wind directions taken into consideration.

This summer I will be doing plenty of glassing and shining to keep an eye on the bucks in the area and try to pattern them for the first few weeks of the season.

Other than that I will be attending plenty of 3D tournaments to keep my shooting up to par and will be doing lot's of mountain biking to keep in shape for the upcoming season.

[Swampthing]

I,ve pretty happy with my efforts this spring.Unfortunately my area is drying up more and more each year.I,m putting in twice as much work to find half as much sign.I really wish I woulda found Dan and Marsh Bucks tactics a few more years back.But it,s all about the challenge right ? Damn, coyotes,wolves, and few tough winters ,really have taken a toll.

[cornfedkiller]

Horrible - actually it was non-existent

Between two out-of-state turkey trips, school obligations, weddings, and my hunting land being an hour and a half away, I hate to admit but I never made it out to the woods once. This past winter, I was really looking forward to getting a bunch of scouting done once the snow was finally gone, but by the time it was gone, the busy season had started already. Not exactly sure what Im going to do in the fall now, as the good scouting is pretty much done for the year..

[RaisedByWolves]

I would have to say mine was mediocre. I made it out on some public land a couple times to check some new areas and to recheck some old beds i had found a couple years ago, all looks pretty good. I got permission to hunt another 15 acres which butts up to my parents land so i got that scouted and have another good buck bed to hunt, and a good rut spot near doe bedding. Found my first shed here too; left side off a little 8-pointer.
Now that green-up has arrived, my main goal is to start glassing/shining some public swamp areas i've never hunted just to see what the deer situation looks like...I have so many areas i'm wondering about and want to try and narrow them down so i can hunt/scout them later.

[magicman54494]

My scouting couldn't have been much better. I put on at least 30 miles but probably closer to 40 miles. I found some great spots and can't wait for bow season to get here! I'm not sure if the bucks that left the sign are still alive and I'm not going to have cameras out and I can't shine my spots so I'll just wait to see what shows during season. Those deer aren't going to know what hit them this fall!

[kenn1320]

I'm not sure if the bucks that left the sign are still alive

IF you found hair in the beds, Id say they are still alive.

I only got out a few times, but my scouting isnt over. Ive got all summer to learn the land and sort things out.

Ken

[DEERSLAYER]

Terrible, I have been sick for about five weeks now and didn't get to scout as much as I had planned. I think I only went out 5 times and those were mostly short trips. I didn't find anything outstanding. I found one decent spot to set and I never prepped it so I will have very limited shooting. I also found another spot that would be an excellent rut spot, but I won't be here during the rut. My other spots have all been over run with people because everybody has started hunting close to home the last couple years due to the economy and I haven't been out in the woods like I should. Hopefully I will find a spot or two in the summer for a couple early season hunts. I may be stocking up on does this year.

[PLB]

My scouting couldn't have been much better. I put on at least 30 miles but probably closer to 40 miles. I found some great spots and can't wait for bow season to get here! I'm not sure if the bucks that left the sign are still alive and I'm not going to have cameras out and I can't shine my spots so I'll just wait to see what shows during season. Those deer aren't going to know what hit them this fall!

Right on!!!

[Singing Bridge]

I will grade my scouting season as a solid B+

It was definitely better than average, and a whole lot better than an E, D, or C.

Still, there were places I intended to get to that I never did, stand prep in certain areas that went undone, etc. I'll still be able to correct some of these, but you get the idea. What I'm really hoping to be able to do is string a number of years together with my scouting that was as successful- and hopefully even more successful- than this one.

[Haus86]

Terrible! I just moved and have to start now. I'm starting from scratch and hope to find a couple buck beds by Monday.

[BackWoodsHunter]

Mine went okay for my standards but subpar compared to the rest on here. I have been on the Beast since its beginnings and found out about Dan and his tactics when he used to run BBO. I have had the knowledge from all the great hunters at my finger tips for years but every spring something has come up with timing where I couldn't get any spring scouting in or still couldn't put it together. This past winter I had a lot more free time to really absorb and retain a lot of the knowledge from all of the guys who scout and post frequently on here and was able to put it together to locate a lot of good sign. More importantly for me was not locating the good sign but was being able to weed out the BS and spots where I should not waste my efforts based on the info shared with me on here. I owe the success of my scouting to a lot of the guys on here who post so much and I can proudly say I located a few well used beds/bedding areas on public land. I know its not too much but its definitely a start and I am excited about it.

[Stuart]

Very well considering my circumstances, in January I had maybe 2 crappy woods to hunt but after doing some work I got every Ariel view of the public land woods in my area. Short on time with school, I scouted maybe 10 of the woodlots because of school and work but also lined up 2 private land woods as well. During the season I will have to go by hunch but hopefully will pan out.

there is still time in the summer for glassing and trail cameras so who knows what i will be saying then...

[cwoods]

Better than last year.

[Gardner Swamp]

I would say it has been quite the learning experience. This is the most I have scouted and Iam excited for the upcoming season. I was able to meet and cover some ground with Black Squirrel and also take part in the outing with Dan. Soon I plan on doing some glassing and do some late night early morning shinning.Also I will be getting my cameras out mid June.